Cenozoic landscape evolution of the Northern Sierra Nevada and western Basin and Range : implications for tectonics, climate, and topography
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The Sierra Nevada of California reflects a complex tectonic history of late Mesozoic-early Cenozoic convergence along the western margin of North America, subsequent Laramide batholith unroofing, and Neogene-Quaternary extension and translation on the eastern edge of the range. Although long thought to be the product of very recent uplift, recent studies indicate that the Sierra Nevada has persisted as an elevated topographic feature throughout the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. This ancestral Sierra Nevada is now widely regarded to have formed the western edge of a high elevation plateau -- the 'Nevadaplano' that covered much of what is now Nevada and western Utah -- similar to the Andean Altiplano-Puna. The topography, extent, and drainage of this plateau remain uncertain, and questions persist as to the tectonic history, paleo-elevations, erosional patterns, and drainage system of the ancestral range. Cenozoic gold-bearing fluvial deposits are locally exposed in the northern part of the range, overlain by a sequence of Oligocene ignimbrites originally sourced from central Nevada. These geologic units provide an important record of the topographic and geomorphic evolution of the range during a controversial time period in the history of the region. Paleo-landscape reconstructions based on sedimentology, stratigraphy, geochronology, geochemistry, and geologic mapping provide both a detailed reconstruction of the evolution of the ancestral Sierra Nevada drainage system and multiple lines of evidence to support the conclusion that the northern range likely acted as the steep western flank of a gradually sloping high-elevation plateau in the Oligocene. Miocene to Recent extension lowered elevations across what is now the western Basin and Range, possibly associated with gravitational spreading of overthickened, magmatically and radiogenically heated crust.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Cassel, Elizabeth Justyna |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. |
| Primary advisor | Graham, S. A. (Stephan Alan), 1950- |
| Thesis advisor | Graham, S. A. (Stephan Alan), 1950- |
| Thesis advisor | Chamberlain, C. Page |
| Thesis advisor | Lowe, Donald R, 1942- |
| Advisor | Chamberlain, C. Page |
| Advisor | Lowe, Donald R, 1942- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Elizabeth Justyna Cassel. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. |
| Thesis | Ph. D. Stanford University 2010 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Elizabeth Justyna Cassel
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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