Tectonic Events Since Early Paleozoic in 

the Carlin-Pinon Range Area, Nevada 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 867-C 

Prepared in cooperation with Nevada 

Bureau of Mines and Geology 

Tectonic Events Since Early Paleozoic in 

the Carlin-Pinon Range Area, Nevada 

By]. FRED S~fiTH, JR., and KEITH B. KETNER 

GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA. 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 867-C 

Prepared in coopPration ·with N n'ada 

Bureau of Mines and Geology 

Of Sf''Vf'n rPcognizPd dPformational episodes 

thP ParliPst occurrPd in Late Devonian to 

Early Mississippian. tim£' and a prirtcipal 

orogrnic evpnf occurred in Mesozoic tim£' 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1977 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

Smith, Joe Fred, 1911-

Tectonic events since early Paleozoic in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada. (Geology of the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada) 

(Geological Survey Professional Paper 867-C) 

Bibliography: p. 

Supt. of Docs. no.: I 19.16:867-C 

1. Geology-Nevada-Elko Co. 2. Geology-Nevada-Eureka Co. I. Ketner, Keith Brindley, 1921- joint author. II. 

Nevada. Bureau of Mines and Geology. III. Title. IV. Series. V. Series: United States Geological Survey Professional Pa 

Paper 867-C. 

QE138.E4S64 551.8'09793' 16 76-608351 

For -,ale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Go\'ernment Printing Office 

Washington, D.C. 20402 

Stock Number 024-001-02953-7 
CONTENTS 

Page 

i\bstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C1 

Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 

The stratigraphic column _____________________________________ ------------------------- 1 

(}eneral structure _____________________________________________________________________ _ 1 

Structural events ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 

Late Late Devonian to early Early Mississippian deformation ------------------------ 3 

Early Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian uplift and downwarp ____________________ 10 

Late Middle to early Late Pennsylvanian deformation-------------------------------- 10 

Early Mesozoic uplift ____________________________________________________ ---------- 11 

Late Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous deformation---------------------------------- 11 

Early Oligocene deformation ____________________________________________ ------------ 12 

Miocene and younger deformation __________________________________________ -------- 13 

Deformation of uncertain age ________________________________________ -------------- 13 

Conclusion ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14 

References cited ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

FIGURE 1. Index map of the Carlin-Pinon Range area and neighboring region, northeast Nevada ______ ------------------------ C3 

2. Sketch map of the Carlin-Pinon Range area showing ages of principal folds and thrust faults -------------------------- 8 

3. Chart showing intervals of Devonian and younger tectonic and igneous activity, Carlin-Pinon Range area and some parts 

of the neighboring region ______________________________________________________________________________________ 15 

TABLE 

Page 

TABLE 1. Rock units exposed in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada C4 

III 
IV CONTENTS 

SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT UNITS 

This report uses both metric and English systems of units. In the text, metric units appear first and equivalent measurements in 

English units follow in parentheses. The units are abbreviated using the notation in the following list, and metric units were converted to 

English units by means of the multiplication factors shown. 

To convert: 

(Metric unit) 

kilometers (km) 

meters (m) 

To: 

(English unit) 

miles (mil 

feet (ft) 

Multiply by: 

(Multiplication factor) 

0.6214 

3.281 
GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN 

THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

By J. FRED SMITH, JR., and KEITH B. KETNER 

ABSTRACT 

Following a long tranquil interval in early Paleozoic time, rocks of 

the area were subjected to at least seven distinct deformational 

episodes as follows: (1) multiple subparallel thrusts of great displacement in late Late Devonian to early Early Mississippian; (2) 

deep subsidence in the area coupled with strong uplift close to the 

west edge of the area beginning in middle Early Mississippian; (3) 

regional uplift and local folding and eastward-directed thrusting in 

late Middle to early Late Pennsylvanian; {4) renewed uplift and 

permanent end of marine conditions in early Mesozoic; (5) igneous 

intrustion followed by intense folding, some of very large scale, and 

westward-directed thrusting climaxing in Late Jurassic to Early 

Cretaceous; (6) igneous intrusion and local folding in early 

Oligocene; and (7) normal faulting climaxing in Miocene. Evidence 

from this area suggests that the displacement on the Roberts thrust 

at this latitude was at least 110 km (68 mi) and probably much more. 

The leading edge of the upper plate of that thrust probably lay 

diagonally or irregularly across the area after movement ceased. 

Sedimentation was scarcely interrupted near this leading edge of the 

upper plate, but other areas nearby to the west were emergent and 

were deeply eroded immediately after emplacement. Mesozoic tectonism involving prolonged uplift, injection of large igneous bodies, 

volcanism, intense folding, and thrusting constitutes a complex 

orogenic event of major importance and is a principal orogenic event 

in the history of the area. 

INTRODUCTION 

The country here designated the Carlin-Pinon 

Range area comprises four 15-minute quadranglesthe Carlin, Dixie Flats, Pine Valley, and Robinson 

Mountain quadrangles-in northeast Nevada (fig. 1). 

J. F. Smith, Jr., and K. B. Ketner have mapped the 

geology of these four quadrangles at a scale of 1:62,500 

and prepared accompanying structure sections (Smith 

and Ketner, 1977). 

Past work in the immediate area includes the reports of the 40th Parallel Survey, in which Hague 

(1877) alluded to structures in the Pinon Range. In an 

early report on the mineral districts of the region, 

Emmons (1910, p. 88-95) noted the anticlinal structure 

of the Pinon Range near the Railroad mining district. 

Kay (1952) and Dott (1955) recognized evidence of 

Paleozoic orogeny equivalent to the three separate tectonic events that we recognize between Late Devonian 

and Late Pennsylvanian time. Roberts, Hotz, Gilluly, 

and Ferguson (1958) described regional aspects of the 

Antler orogeny and presented convincing evidence of 

the age of that event that was based on our work in the 

Carlin-Pinon Range area. 

Fieldwork for this report extended, with interruptions, mainly from 1955 to 1964; it was continued for a 

few days each year in 1965, 1969, and 1971. 

The stratigraphic sequence and structural relations 

could not have been determined without a large 

number of paleontologic and radiometric ages supplied 

by specialists. These paleontologists, geologists, and 

chemists are acknowledged individually at appropriate 

places in Chapters A (Smith and Ketner, 1975) and B 

(Smith and Ketner, 1976) of this report. We were fortunate in having the able assistance in the field of the 

following geologists: Jose B. Alarcon of Chile, John R. 

Algor, David D. Blackwell, William M. Briggs, John B. 

Corliss, Robert S. Crosson, Robert N. Diffenbach, 

George Ditsworth, Pedro A. Gelabert, Richard S. Kopp, 

William L. Lehmbeck, Lucian B. Platt, Robert K. 

Smith, Jack A. Wolfe, and John C. Young. 

THE STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN 

Rocks ranging in age from Ordovician to Holocene 

make up the stratigraphic column in the Carlin-Pinon 

Range area and have been described in Chapters A 

(Smith and Ketner, 1975) and B (Smith and Ketner, 

1976) of this report. Brief descriptions and thicknesses of the rock units are presented in table 1. 

GENERAL STRUCTURE 

Structural features in the Carlin-Pinon Range area 

include folds and both normal and thrust faults. A 

north-northwest-trending anticline follows the crest of 

the Pinon Range for much of its length; a northeasttrending syncline crosses the northern part of the area 

Cl 
C2 

We lisp 

Elko0 

0 Reno Eureka 0 

Enlarged area1 Ely 0 

50 100 150 MILES 

GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

0 10 20 30 40 50 MILES 

0 10 20 30 40 50 Kl LOMETERS 
TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C3 

for about 24 km (15 mi); and shorter folds of varying 

trends occur throughout the area and are clustered in 

some parts of it, as from Smith Creek south to Willow 

Creek. East of the Pinon Range to Cedar Ridge, the 

older rocks are apparently synclinal. A fault bounds 

part of the west side of the Pinon Range, but no bounding fault is evident on the east side. A prominent 

basin-and-range fault bounding the west side of the 

Cortez Mountains extends into the mapped area for 

about 1.6 km (1 mi). Other normal faults of varying 

trends, mostly breaking Paleozoic rocks, are scattered 

throughout the area. Several thrust faults of different 

ages are recognized; none can be traced for more than a 

few kilometers. 

STRUCTURAL EVENTS 

During a long tranquil interval in early Paleozoic 

time, materials deposited in the Cordilleran geosyncline consisted of miogeosynclinal carbonate sediments in the east, including the area of this report, 

eugeosynclinal siliceous sediments in the west, and 

both carbonate and siliceous sediments transitional 

between the other two. This period of relative structural quiescence came to a close in Late Devonian time 

and the character of the Cordilleran geosyncline 

changed importantly, with the result that the regular 

east-to-west facies changes no longer persisted for the 

entire region. With this change in the Cordilleran 

geosyncline, rocks of the Carlin-Pinon Range area 

were subjected to at least seven distinct deformational 

(fig. 2) and igneous episodes: (1) multiple subparallel, 

generally eastward directed thrusts of great displacement in late Late Devonian to Early Mississippian; (2) 

deep subsidence generally north trending through the 

area coupled with strong uplift close to the west edge of 

the area, beginning about middle Early Mississippian; 

(3) regional uplift and local folding with northwest 

trends and eastward-directed thrusting in late Middle 

to early Late Pennsylvanian; (4) renewed uplift and 

permanent end of marine conditions in early Mesozoic; 

(5) igneous intrusion followed by intense folding, some 

of it on a large scale, and westward-directed thrusting 

climaxing in Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous; (6) 

FIGURE 1.-Part of northeast Nevada showing the locations of the 

quadrangle maps that make up the Carlin-Pinon Range area 

(shaded area): (1) Robinson Mountain, (2) Dixie Flats, (3) Carlin, 

and ( 4) Pine Valley; and the locations of recently published maps 

of nearby quadrangles: (5) Antler Peak (Roberts, 1964), (6) Mount 

Lewis and Crescent Valley (Gilluly and Gates, 1965), (7) Cortez 

(Gilluly and Masursky, 1965), (8) Frenchie Creek (Muffler, 1964), 

(9) Jiggs (Willden and Kistler, 1969), (10) Swales Mountain and 

part of Adobe Summit (Evans and Ketner, 1971), (11) Schroeder 

Mountain (Evans and Cress, 1972), (12) Welches Canyon (Evans, 

1974a), (13) Rodeo Creek NE (Evans, 1974b), and (14) Mineral 

Hill (C. A. Nelson and D. C. Carlisle, unpub. mapping, 1960(?) ). 

igenous intrusion and local folding with generally 

north trends in early Oligocene; and (7) normal faulting and volcanism climaxing in Miocene time. We are 

reluctant to assign these tectonic events to any previously recognized and named orogenies, such as the 

Antler, Sonoma, Nevadan, Sevier, or Laramide, until 

there is a clearer consensus on the temporal and geographic limits of orogenic events in the region. The 

major thrusting occurred during the DevonianMississippian and the major folding, during the 

Mesozoic. 

Some structures, both folds and normal faults, may 

have been enhanced or reactivated during late deformations. The direction of displacement of some normal 

faults seems to have reversed during younger deformation. Older structural features have been so modified 

by younger tectonic events and so obscured by younger 

sedimentation that the geologic map shows no consistent structural grain. However, both local and regional 

evidence indicates that the deformational forces, 

whether compressional or tensional, have consistently 

operated in a generally east-west direction. 

LATE LATE DEVONIAN TO EARLY EARLY 

MISSISSIPPIAN DEFORMATION 

The oldest structures in the area are those formed 

when lower Paleozoic siliceous rocks were thrust from 

distant sites of deposition eastward over contemporaneous autochthonous carbonate rocks. Although 

certain breccias and small folds were formed at this 

time, the most important structures formed were the 

thrust faults within and at the base of the upper plate 

of the thrust. Generally, a thrust fault such as this one 

that separates the siliceous from the carbonate facies 

of lower Paleozoic rocks is conventionally called the 

Roberts Mountains thrust or, more simply, the Roberts 

thrust. We use this term in the generally accepted descriptive sense but with some misgivings, because we 

cannot be sure that our Roberts Mountains thrust fault 

is the same age as the corresponding fault of the type 

area in the Roberts Mountains (fig. 1 ). If future investigations in the Roberts Mountains show that they are 

of widely disparate ages, our use of the term could be 

questioned. As used in the present report, the Roberts 

Mountains thrust is a thrust on which lower Paleozoic 

siliceous and carbonate rocks were juxtaposed during 

late Late Devonian to early Early Mississippian time. 

The Late Devonian or early Early Mississippian age 

of the Roberts Mountains thrust and genetically associated structures in this area is demonstrated in a 

previous report (Smith and Ketner, 1968). The 

youngest beds involved in this deformation are middle 

Famennian as indicated by goniatites (Mackenzie 

Gordon, Jr., in Smith and Ketner, 1975, p. A29) from 

the Woodruff Formation in the upper plate. According 
C4 

System 

Quaternary 

Quaternary and 

Tertiary 

Tertiary 

GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

TABLE 1.-Rock units exposed in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada 

Senes 

Pleistocene and 

Pliocene 

Miocene 

Oligocene 

Stratigraphic unit 

Landslide debris 

Alluvium and 

colluvium 

Thickness in meters (fti 

Gravel, sand, and silt Commonly 6-18 

(20-60) 

Hay Ranch Formation At least 400 (1,300) 

..., 

;j Q) 

0 bJl .D C\l 

C\l Q) 

Basalt plugs 

Lithology and remarks 

Nontuffaceous deposits on benches and 

terraces_ 

Clay, tuff, limestone, tuffaceous siltstone, 

sandstone, and fanglomerate. 

Small plugs at north end of Pine Valley. 

~ §·~------------~-------------------+----------------------------------

-g rJJ 

..D Q) 

o,..c: 

.... ..., p.., 

Andesite and 

basaltic 

andesite 

Humboldt Formation 

Palisade Canyon 

Rhyolite 

Rhyolitic welded tuff 

Mafic to intermediate 

plugs and dikes 

Younger intermediate 

to silicic volcanics 

Indian Well 

Formation 

Silicic intrusive 

rocks 

Mafic to silicic 

volcanics 

Minimum about 305 

(1,000) 

About 580 (1,900) 

Maximum about 245 

(800) 

About 60 (200) 

275-305 

(900-1,000) 

1,015 (3,300) 

maximum measured 

About 90-120 

(300-400) 

Dark-gray to black, mostly dense and 

aphanitic flows. 

Tuff, vitric ash, tuffaceous siltstone and 

sandstone, conglomerate, and limestone, 

some diatomite. 

Rhyolite flows. Forms wedge in Humboldt 

Formation. 

Covers small area on east flank of Cortez 

Mountains. 

Dark-gray to black, dense, and aphanitic 

intrusive rocks. 

Mostly lavas ranging from andesite to 

quartz latite; some inter layered ash-flow 

tuffs and volcanic breccias. 

Rhyolitic to dacitic ash-flow tuffs ranging 

from nonwelded to densely welded. 

Tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. Upper, 

fluviatile tuffaceous sandstone dominant, but evenly bedded tuff and lacustrine limestone interbedded with sandstone. Lower 305-360 m (1,000-1,200 ft) 

are fluviatile deposits dominantly of 

sandstone with some conglomerate, 

siltstone, and mudstone; many beds tuffaceous. 

Interlayered ash-flow tuff and tuffaceous 

sedimentary rocks. 

Basal unit in scattered outcrops of tuff and 

tufl'aceous sedimentary rocks; includes 

volcaniclastic conglomerate and sandstone, which also have fragments of 

Paleozoic rocks; some welded tuff. 

Mostly rhyolite. Stock near Bullion has 

outer shell of granite, quartz monzonite, 

monzonite, and quartz diorite and a core 

of rhyolite. 

Dark fine-grained lavas; thin beds of volcaniclastic sandstone. 
System 

Tertiary-Continued 

Tertiary(?) 

Cretaceous 

Jurassic 

TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C5 

TABLE 1.-Rock units exposed in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada-Continued 

Series 

Oligocene or Eocene 

Eocene 

Eocene(?) 

Upper and Lower 

Cretaceous 

Upper Jurassic 

Upper and Upper(?) 

Jurassic 

Stratigraphic unit 

Older intermediate 

volcanics 

Elko Formation 

Limestone 

Cherty limestone 

Conglomerate, 

sandstone, siltstone 

and limestone 

Limestone and 

limestone-clast 

conglomerate 

Newark Canyon 

Formation 

Alaskite 

Granodiorite 

Frenchie Creek o.. Rhyolite ;:j 

0 

..... 

0 

Thickness in meters lftl 

150+ (500+) 

Maximum about 760 

(2,500) 

305 (1,000) 

About 305 (1,000) 

Maximum about 760 

(2,500) 

Maximum 195 

(635) 

Maximum about 885 

(2,900) 

Maximum may be 

2,135 (7,000) 

Lithology and remarks 

Latitic to andesitic lavas. 

Thin-bedded, light-gray and tan limestone 

with yellow tint; ostracode coquinites; 

laminated shale and siltstone; oil shale; 

claystone and marl; tuff in upper part. 

Gray to tan and white, dense, sugary, 

thick-bedded limestone. 

Gray and tan dense limestone; much black, 

brown, and tan opaline chert in pods and 

lumps; contains snail shells. 

Pebble to boulder conglomerates of clasts 

derived from Paleozoic rocks; interbedded sandstone and siltstone; brown and 

gray limestone weathers tan, brown, and 

red. 

Gray limestone, commonly dense; con- glomerate of pebble- to boulder-size 

clasts of mostly carbonate rocks derived 

from nearby Paleozoic formations. 

Main body gray, tan, brown, and red 

sandstone and conglomerate with less 

siltstone and a little limestone in Cortez 

Mountains; gray shale, sandstone, con- glomerate, and limestone in Pinon 

Range. Maximum thickness about 670 m (2,200 ft). 

Basal member of poorly consolidated, 

dark-gray to black mudstone, some siltstone, thin pebble layers, and sandstone 

and conglomerate lenses. Maximum 

thickness about 215m (700ft). 

Mostly fine grained to medium grained, 

much-altered intrusive rock. 

Medium-grained, much-altered, gray intrusive rock. Outcrop area very small. 

Mostly rhyolite to andesite lavas, com- monly fine grained, porphyritic; light 

gray to black and reddish brown are most 

common colors. 

Flows, tuffs, and clastic sedimentary rocks. 

Rhyolite(?) plug much altered, with very 

small outcrop area. 

'§ r---------------~-------------------r----------------------------------

E-< Sod House Tuff ;>, 

~ 

0 

About 305 

(1,000) 

Mostly altered white silicic ash-flow tuff. 

~ r---------------~-------------------r----------------------------------

Big Pole 

Formation 

At least 305 

(1,000) Mostly poorly sorted sedimentary rocks 

composed of volcanic fragments and plagioclase and quartz; some lava flows. 
C6 

System 

Permian and 

Pennsylvanian 

Pennsylvanian 

Pennsylvanian and 

Mississippian 

Mississippian 

Devonian 

Silurian 

GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

TABLE 1.-Rock units exposed in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Neuada-Continued 

Series 

Lower Permian 

and Upper 

Pennsylvanian 

Middle 

Pennsylvanian 

Middle and Lower 

Pennsylvanian 

Lower Pennsylvanian, 

Upper and Lower 

Mississippian 

Upper and Lower 

Mississippian 

Lower 

Mississippian 

Upper to Lower 

Devonian 

Middle or Lower 

Silurian 

Stratigraphic unit Thickness in meters 1ft 1 

290+ (950+) 

1,200± 

(4,000±) 

Strathearn Formation 365-610 

Tomera Formation 

Moleen Formation 

( 1,200-2,000) 

520-610 

(1,700-2,0001 

365-490 

(1,200-1,6001 

Undivided Tomera and Maximum 1,005 

Moleen Formations (3,3001 

Diamond Peak 

Formation 

Chainman Shale 

Undivided Diamond 

Peak and Chainman 

Formations 

Webb Formation 

Argillite of Lee 

Canyon 

1,435± 14,700± I 

About 490-760 

(1 ,600-2,500) 

1,830-2,135 

(6,000-7,000) 

0-245 (0-8001 

1,525+ (5,000+) 

Upper Plate of Roberts Mountains Thrust 

Siliceous assemblage 

Woodruff Formation 915-1,830(?) 

(3,000-6,000?) 

Chert and siltstone Few hundred meters 

(few hundred feet) 

Lithology and remarks 

Mostly carbonate rocks (limestone to dolomite) containing much tan and brown 

chert in beds and pods; some siltstone. 

Thin-bedded calcareous siltstone and 

sandstone that weather to yellow and tan 

platy fragments; limestone, dolomitic 

limestone, and dolomite; some black 

platy limestone; conglomerate and conglomeratic sandstone. 

Sandy limestone, tan and yellow calcareous quartz siltstone; crossbedded sandy 

and pebbly limestone; quartzite- and 

chert-clast conglomerate. 

Interbedded and interfingering limestone 

and conglomerate. 

Gray limestone, commonly !edgy, and interbedded silty and sandy limestone; 

pods and layers of chert; conglomerate 

lenses. 

1 Complete mixture of rock types that occur 

: in the two formations. 

Mainly siliceous-clast conglomerate and 

sandstone. 

Conglomerate of mostly chert and 

quartzite clasts ranging from pebbles to 

boulders; sandstone; some marl and 

shaly beds and limestone; lenticular 

units. 

, Mostly gray and some almost black shale : and sandstone of quartz and chert grains; 

some conglomerate lenses, some thin ! limestone and calcareous sandstone; 

pebbly mudstone. 

Conglomerate, sandstone, and shale; no 

one lithology dominant. 

Gray siliceous mudstone; black to gray, 

tan-weathering, dense limestone in 

lenses near top. 

Black siliceous argillite and a little black 

chert; very little conglomerate and 

sandstone near top. 

Dark-gray to black siliceous mudstone and 

chert; lesser amounts of shale, siltstone, 

dolomitic siltstone, dolomite, and limestone. 

Gray, tan, brown, and green chert and 

lesser amounts of siltstone. 
System 

Ordovician 

Devonian 

Ordovician 

Devonian 

Devonian and 

Silurian 

Ordovician 

TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C7 

TABLE 1.-Rock units exposed in the Carlin-Pinon Range area, Nevada-Continued 

Series Stratigraphic unit Thickness in meters (ftl 

Upper Plate of Roberts Mountains Thrust-Continued 

Siliceous assemblage-Continued 

Middle Ordovician 

Upper, Middle, 

and Lower 

Ordovician 

Upper and Middle 

Devonian 

Lower Devonian 

Upper, Middle, 

and Lower 

Ordovician 

Upper and Middle 

Devonian 

Middle and Lower 

Devonian 

Lower Devonian 

and Upper Silurian 

Upper and Middle 

Ordovician 

Middle Ordovician 

Valmy Formation 50+ (150+) 

Vinini Formation Probably at least 

1,000 (3,000) 

Upper Plate of Roberts Mountains Thrust 

Transitional assemblage 

Limestone and chert Few hundred meters 

(few hundred feet) 

Roberts Mountains 90± (300±) 

Formation 

Claystone, shale, 490+ (1,600+) 

and limestone 

Lower Plate of Roberts Mountains Thrust 

Carbonate assemblage 

Devils Gate 

Limestone 

Upper dolomite 

~ member 

.8 

...., 

(1j 

8 Oxyoke Canyon ;.... 

0 Sandstone ~ Member (1j 

"0 

(1j 

;;. 

Q) Beacon Peak 

z Dolomite 

Member 

Lone Mountain 

Dolomite 

Hanson Creek 

Formation 

Eureka Quartzite 

Pogonip Group 

285+ (940+) 

257-630 

(845-2,065) 

{}-185 

({}-600) 

205 (675) 

425+ (1,400+) 

40 (130) 

21 (70l 

About 105 

(350l exposed 

Lithology and remarks 

Shale, quartzite, and greenstone. 

Dominantly black chert, and shale and 

siliceous mudstone. 

I Gray limestone, sandy limestone, chert, 

j and chert-pebble conglomerate. 

I Black shaly and platy carbonaceous silty 

1 dolomite and dolomitic marl; exposed in 

1 thrust slice. May not be in upper plate o 

I Roberts Mountains thrust. 

f 

Claystone, shale, sandy limestone, and 

chert, limestone, and quartzite. 

Medium- to thick-bedded, light- and darkgray limestone. 

Brown and gray dolomite in alternating 

layers. 

Quartzite and sandstone containing variable amounts of dolomite. 

Thin- to thick-bedded, gray to brown dolomite; peculiar grainy-appearing texture 

and thin red stylolites are characteristic. 

Upper part mostly alternating brown and 

gray dolomite in beds 0.6-4 m (2-12 ftl 

thick. Lower part mostly obscurely thick 

bedded, gray dolomite. In Chapter A of 

this report (Smith and Ketner, 1975, p. 

A17 and pl. 1 l, the Lone Mountain Dolomite is shown to be of Silurian age, but a 

possible Devonian age is suggested for 

part of the formation. In keeping with 

this suggested age, we now show the 

Lone Mountain to be Early Devonian 

and Late Silurian. · 

Thin- to thick-bedded black and gray dolomite; dolomitic and limy siltstone, silty 

limestone, and very fine grained 

sandstone that weather yellow at top. 

Thick-bedded to obscurely thin bedded 

white quartzite. 

Mostly thin bedded gray dolomite, some 

thick bedded; interbeds of shale in upper 

part. 
cs 

40 

30' 

, 

/ 

I , 

I 

I 

il 

f~ 

, 

/ 

, 

/ 

/ , 

I . 

/ !/ I I< 

~ /.' I ~~ 

I /. 

/ .J' , I 

:0 : 

·C~ESCENT FAULT 

I --,..,__ 

40H3' ·· 

GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

0 

0 5 

0 Huliiun 

Coft:n Mrn 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

_,_ 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

5 10 MILES 

10 KILOMETERS 

~ 

I 

I 

I 

~ 

I 

>- • IJJ 

-' . -' <( • 

.:::. . 0~. "' . ~0. 

;::- . ~ . .::> • 

.:t-. 

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. 

FIGURE 2.-Sketch map of the Carlin-Pinon Range area showing ages of principal folds and thrust faults. Geology by J. F. 

Smith, Jr., and K. B. Ketner, 1955-65. Base from U.S. Geological Survey, 1:62,500, Carlin, Dixie Flats, and Pine Valley, 

1952; Robinson Mountain, 1956. Explanation on opposite page. 
TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C9 

EXPLANATION 

TERTIARY STRUCTURES ----t--- Anticline- Dotted where concealed 

----f--- Syncline 

LATE LATE JURASSIC OR EARLY CRETACEOUS 

STRUCTURES 

Some of the folds may have been formed during 

Middle Pennsylvanian time and then folded again 

during Mesozoic time 

Anticline -Dotted where concealed 

U Overturned anticline 

Syncline - Dotted where concealed 

U Overturned syncline 

A A A o Thrust fault - Dotted where concealed. Sawteeth on 

upper plate. Shaded areas include all exposed upper 

plate rocks 

LATE MIDDLE TO EARLY LATE PENNSYLVANIAN 

STRUCTURES 

Anticline 

Syncline 

• • • • Thrust fault - Dotted where concealed. Sawteeth on 

. . . . 

upper plate 

LATE LATE DEVONIAN OR EARLY EARLY MISSISSIPPIAN STRUCTURES 

Windows of lower plate rocks in Roberts Mountains 

thrust fault 

Thrust fault - In upper plate of and assumed to be 

same age as Roberts Mountains thrust. Sawteeth on 

upper plate 

NO AGE INDICATED 

Normal fault- Dotted where concealed. D, downthrown side. Only a very few of the normal faults 

in the area are shown 

• • • • • • Concealed normal fault - D, downthrown side. 

Plotted strictly on basis of geophysical data from 

Mabey ( 1964) 

________ _,_ Stream -Arrow indicates direction of flow 

to the time scale of Francis and Woodland (1964), this 

age would be about 349 m.y. The oldest beds that overlap rock units brought together on the Roberts thrust 

are early Kinderhookian on the basis of conodonts 

(J. W. Huddle, D. L. Clark, and W. H. Hass, in Smith 

and Ketner, 1975, p. A37-A38). According to the same 

time scale, this age is 343-344 m.y. Thus the 

maximum time interval during which thrusting took 

place in the report area was ptobably about 5 m.y. 

Except for possible tectonic erosion and the formation of patches of silicified carbonate and patches of 

breccia just below the Roberts Mountains thrust, the 

lower plate rocks seem to have been remarkably little 

affected by the thrust. The thrust cuts beds in the area 

that range from the lowest member of the Nevada 

Formation to the Devils Gate Limestone, producing a 

stratigraphic relief at one place of about 760 m 

(2,500 ft) within a distance of about 1.6 km (1 mi). The 

amount of stratigraphic relief accords with that in 

some neighboring areas such as the southern Independence Mountains (Lovejoy, 1959) where thrusts fail 

to cut below Devonian carbonates; but it differs from 

some other areas such as the northern Shoshone Range 

(Gilluly and Gates, 1965) to the west and the Snake 

Mountains (Gardner, 1968) about 130 km (80 mi) to 

the northeast where rocks as old as Cambrian are cut 

by the Roberts thrust. 

Relief on the lower plate could have been produced 

either tectonically during thrusting or by stream erosion immediately before thrusting. We find little convincing evidence to support either hypothesis. However, the greatest relief is in the southern part of the 

area close to a clastic carbonate deposit of uncertain 

affinities. We have interpreted this deposit as a transitional facies of the Devonian brought to the area on the 

Roberts Mountains thrust, but it could conceivably be 

a more local deposit eroded from the carbonate sequence immediately prior to thrusting. 

The impression given by most exposures of the upper 

plate rocks in this and neighboring areas is that they 

have been only moderately disturbed when compared 

with a thrust plate that consists of a melange or chaotic assemblage of genetically incompatible rocks. 

Metamorphism and plastic deformation are absent. 

Breccias and tight folds are fairly common but are of 

local extent and uncertain age. Many small tight folds 

probably are restricted to single thrust platelets in 

which the rocks were crumpled, but the platelet 

boundaries were not appreciably folded. Very commonly the upper plate rocks dip steeply and consistently over large areas. Many of these attitudes, however, seem to be more logically attributable to younger, 

principally Mesozoic deformation than to folding related to the Roberts Mountains thrust. At Marys 

Mountain the Ordovician sequence overlies Devonian 

rocks and is itself overlain by Silurian rocks on a 

thrust which appears to be about parallel to the bedding. Moreover, reversals in the sequence of graptolite 

zones within the Ordovician beds there indicate the 

presence of several inconspicuous thrust faults. In 

neighboring areas to the north and northeast (Ketner, 

1974, and unpub. data; Gardner, 1968), single beds of 

chert, quartzite, or limestone within the upper plate 

can be traced almost continuously for as much as 

14 km (9 mi). 

Rocks of the upper plate are much folded as well as 

thrust faulted (for example, Gilluly and Gates, 1965; 

Evans, 1974a), but some folding must be attributable 

to deformation younger than the time of the Roberts 
C10 GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

Mountains thrusting. In the Pinon Range and in the 

Adobe Range to the northeast, we find that the major 

folding occurred during Mesozoic time; we believe that 

other nearby areas must also have been involved in 

folding at this time. It appears to us that in places the 

rocks of the upper plate are remarkably little deformed 

and altered for having traveled very long distances on 

thrust faults and for having undergone additional 

periods of deformation in late Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and 

Cenozoic times. When these younger structures are 

subtracted, the remaining deformation ascribable to 

latest Devonian and earliest Mississippian time seems 

to be largely a shuffling of broad thin plates on thrust 

faults that are commonly subparallel to the bedding of 

both the lower and upper plate of the Roberts thrust. 

Data on the Lower Mississippian Webb Formation 

yield some information on events during the time of 

development of the Upper Devonian to Lower Mississippian unconformity. In the northern part of the area 

near Emigrant Spring, the Lower Mississippian (lower 

Kinderhookian) Webb Formation lies directly on the 

Middle and Upper Devonian Devils Gate Limestone. 

The short hiatus of this disconformity seems hardly 

long enough for thrusting, uplift, complete erosion of 

the upper plate, and resubmergence to have occurred. 

Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that little or 

none of the Devils Gate is missing. Thus, it seems quite 

possible that the upper plate was never present here 

and that the original leading edge of this plate lies 

covered by upper Paleozoic rocks 1-2 km (1 mi) to the 

southwest of Emigrant Spring. Probably the east edge 

of the thrust plate was irregular, and parts of the autochthon near the front edge could have been bypassed 

by the thrust. 

In an area northwest of Coffin Mountain, near the 

south edge of the map (fig. 2), the Webb and Devils 

Gate Formations are absent and the Chainman Shale 

must have been deposited directly on lower and middle 

parts of the Nevada Formation. The hiatus of the unconformity was somewhat longer here than in the 

Emigrant Spring area. Upper plate rocks are exposed a 

short distance southeast of this locality where they 

have been dropped down on normal faults; they, too, 

probably rest on lower and middle parts of the Nevada 

Formation. It seems certain, therefore, that the upper 

plate covered this area and was completely eroded in 

places before the Chainman was deposited. 

The composition of the Webb Formation in the 

northern part of the area indicates that its provenance, 

in large part, was the upper plate of the Roberts thrust. 

The age of the formation corresponds roughly to the 

hiatus between the Nevada and Chainman Formations 

in the southern part of the area near Coffin Mountain, 

although the Chainman in the south and the Webb are 

partly time equivalents. It could be concluded that the 

marine Webb Formation is a depositional product of 

the upper plate rocks that have been eroded from the 

southern part of the area. If so, the terrain immediately after thrusting was one of subdued relief 

where upper plate rocks near the leading edge of the 

thrust were being eroded and the resulting fine detritus was being deposited over the leading edge a 

short distance away. 

EARLY MISSISSIPPIAN TO MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN 

UPLIFT AND DOWNWARP 

Following emplacement of the upper plate of the 

Roberts Mountains thrust, a north-south linear uplift 

and a parallel downwarp on the east formed along the 

leading edge of the upper plate (Poole, 1974). The 

amount of uplift is unknown, but the amount of 

downwarp was probably on the order of 3. 7 km 

(12,000 ft) in the Carlin-Pinon Range area. Although 

some coarse gravels from the uplifted upper plate were 

deposited very early in the Mississippian, the principal 

flood of coarse sediments and the required major uplift 

in the source area began about middle Early Mississippian time, somewhat later than cessation of movement on the Roberts thrust. Coarse gravels continued 

to be deposited at intervals through Early Pennsylvanian time. The lack of sorting and large size of the 

boulders in parts of the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Diamond Peak Formation in the Pinon Range 

suggest that an uplifted source area was nearby, 

perhaps as close as the present position of the Cortez· 

Mountains along the west edge of the report area. 

LATE MIDDLE TO EARLY LATE PENNSYLVANIAN 

DEFORMATION 

This event in the report area was one of moderate 

deformation in which the rocks were uplifted irregularly and much eroded in places. Folds and thrusts of 

small displacement formed locally, but the most 

characteristic regional feature of this event was a gentle upwarp resulting in an unconformity over most of 

northern Nevada (Steele, 1960; Roberts, 1964; Nolan 

and others, 1956). This deformational style was distinctly different from that of the Late Devonian to 

Early Mississippian event which featured multiple 

subparallel thrusts of great displacement, the basal 

thrust of this event being the Roberts Mountains 

thrust. 

One clear indication of Pennsylvanian deformation 

occurs near the west end of Carlin Canyon where the 

Upper Pennsylvanian basal beds of the Strathearn 

Formation rest with an angular discordance of about 
TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C11 

45° on middle Mississippian beds in the lower part of 

the Diamond Peak Formation. An indication of the 

long time break and locally extensive erosion during 

this interval is evident on the west side of the Pinon 

Range where lower Upper Permian strata lie concordantly but disconformably on Lower Mississippian beds. 

Elsewhere the Strathearn Formation is nearly concordant with the Tomera Formation of Middle Pennsylvania age. 

This tectonic event is dated by the ages of the 

youngest beds underlying and the oldest beds overlying the unconformity. The youngest identified fossils 

in the deformed beds of the Tomera Formation below 

the unconformity are of early Des Moinesian age 

(Westphalian of European nomenclature). The oldest 

fossils in the Strathearn Formation above the unconformity are of Missourian age (Stephanian). According 

to the time scale of Francis and Woodland (1964), the 

age of the youngest beds beneath the unconformity is 

about 294-299 m.y. and the age of the oldest beds 

above the unconformity is about 288-293 m.y. Thus 

the duration of deformation and development of the 

unconformity approximates 6 m.y. 

Certain folds are probably of Pennsylvanian age 

(fig. 2). Northwest-trending folds in Mississippian 

strata near Spring Canyon Mountain are truncated by 

much more gently dipping Permian strata and are 

therefore probably Pennsylvanian. Several folds in the 

Willow Creek to Smith Creek area that are more or 

less parallel to those of Spring Canyon Mountain may 

have formed initially during the same time of deformation. If so, they were refolded later because Permian 

rocks in the vicinity are similarly although more 

gently deformed. The axis of a broad, northwesttrending anticline in Mississippian rocks, paralleling 

Woodruff Creek, is crossed by a younger syncline and 

probably was modified by this syncline and mostly covered by the Woodruff thrust plate in Mesozoic time; 

the anticline is therefore possibly of Pennsylvanian 

age. 

Two thrust faults are attributed to Pennsylvanian 

deformation. West of Woodruff Creek the Devonian 

Woodruff Formation was thrust over shale and 

sandstone of the Mississippian Chainman Shale, and 

east of the upper part of Ferdelford Creek the Woodruff, the Chainman Shale, and the Webb Formation 

were thrust over sandstone of the Chainman Shale. 

The thrust west of Woodruff Creek occurs in two parts, 

one dipping west, the other east (fig. 2). Movement was 

apparently generally eastward on both faults, and because no pronounced facies changes occur across the 

faults, it was probably of small magnitude. Although 

proof of their exact age is lacking, these two thrusts 

definitely postdate the Roberts Mountains thrust inasmuch as they involve Mississippian rocks. One of 

them is cut by the Mesozoic Lee thrust, but there is 

little other indication of a younger limit on their ages. 

They could be of Mesozoic age but somewhat older than 

the more definitely established Mesozoic thrusts. 

Movement on these possible Pennsylvanian thrusts 

was apparently eastward, whereas movement on the 

Mesozoic thrusts was generally westward. 

EARLY MESOZOIC UPLIFT 

Triassic rocks have not been found in the CarlinPinon Range area, and all younger rocks are continental deposits. Because marine Lower Triassic rocks are 

present a short distance north of the Carlin-Pinon 

Range area (Ketner, 1970), we tentatively conclude 

that correlative marine rocks formerly covered the 

area of the present report, and were uplifted and 

eroded in later Triassic or earliest Jurassic time. This 

uplift was of regional extent (McKee and others, 1959) 

and was permanent; the area has remained above sea 

level to the present time. The uplift foreshadowed the 

more violent events of later Mesozoic time and may 

have been genetically related to them. 

LATE LATE JURASSIC OR EARLY CRETA CEO US 

DEFORMATION 

Middle Mesozoic deformation in and near the report 

area is far more pervasive and intense than anyone has 

previously reported, and the style of this deformation 

is quite different from that of earlier tectonic events. 

The middle Mesozoic deformation is characterized by 

strong, large-scale and small-scale folds mostly 

trending nearly north or northeast, with overturns 

commonly to the west and northwest, accompanied by 

relative westward movement of small thrust plates. 

Some folds of this age trend northwest, however, and 

may have been folded earlier and then folded again 

during the Mesozoic deformation. Permian and lower 

Mesozoic rocks elsewhere in northern Nevada are also 

strongly folded, and the axes of those folds generally 

parallel the principal Jurassic-Cretaceous folds in the 

Carlin-Pinon Range area. 

Initial uplift, probably in Triassic time, was followed 

in Jurassic time by granitic intrusions and a great outburst of volcanic activity. This activity was followed by 

climactic folding and thrust faulting. From evidence in 

this area, the time of most intense folding can only be 

designated as being younger than early Late Permian 

time as represented by undivided Permian rocks and 

being older than early Late Cretaceous time as represented by the Newark Canyon Formation. One of the 

principal folds, a syncline in the north-central part of 

the area, continues northeastward into the Adobe 
C12 GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

Range where it folded Triassic rocks; it is probably also 

represented in the Cortez Mountains just west of the 

mapped area (Muffler, 1964) where Upper Jurassic 

rocks are involved (Ketner and Smith, 1974). On this 

basis, the time of folding is very Late Jurassic or Early 

Cretaceous. 

Prominent Mesozoic folds in the area include the 

following: 

1. The crestal fold of the range-the Pinon Range 

anticline-trends slightly west of north and is 

traceable for almost 24 km (15 mi) although it 

is covered by younger material locally and is 

cut by a stock. Near its north end this anticline 

is sharply overturned to the west, and the overturned limb has dips as low as 20°. 

2. The syncline near the north edge of the mapped 

area extends southwestward along a sinuous 

trace. This syncline continues also northeastward for about 65 km (40 mi) along the Adobe 

Range, beyond the area of the present report 

(Ketner and Smith, 1974). 

3. An anticline and two synclines on Cedar Ridge 

have curving but generally north trending 

crestlines. 

4. Folds in the Willow Creek area are Mesozoic; 

some may have been formed first during the 

Pennsylvanian deformation. The closely 

spaced anticlines and synclines near the head 

of Willow Creek are narrow sharp folds with 

limbs dipping as much as 70°. 

5. The westward-overturned anticline, the 

southeasternmost fold in the area, is a prominent structure although it is exposed only on 

one small hill. 

6. The anticline north of the Humboldt River is exceptional for this area because it is partially 

overturned to the southeast. In this it resembles the northern part of the Adobe syncline 

(north of the report area), part of which is overturned east and south. Possibly a significant 

change in structural style takes place near the 

Humboldt River. 

The Carlin-Pinon Range area contains four distinct 

thrust plates whose emplacement we attribute to the 

Jurassic-Cretaceous deformational episode. They are 

here informally called the Woodruff, Lee, Willow, and 

Robinson plates. Three of these plates exhibit pronounced similarities, and if exposures were better, the 

fourth (Robinson) probably would be seen to fit the 

same pattern. Erosion has trisected the Willow plate 

and doubtless has altered the outlines of all of them, 

but it seems likely that steep (vertical to near-vertical) 

faults bounding the south sides of the Woodruff and 

Lee plates and the north side of the Willow plate mark 

the original edges of these essentially spoon-shaped 

plates. 

The nature of the faults that bound two of these 

plates on the west is somewhat problematic. The fault 

along the west side of the Willow plate is straight and 

steep and could be interpreted as a post-thrust normal 

fault, but at the northwest corner of the plate it joins 

the north-side lateral tear and the two faults appear to 

be one. Such a relationship suggests that the west 

boundary of the plate is an upturned part of the thrust 

fault on which the plate moved. The westernmost part 

of the Woodruff plate terminates against a normal 

fault buried by Tertiary deposits. The northwest and 

southwest bounding faults apparently merge to form 

the west corner. The northeast side of the plate is 

marked by a thrust that overrides and is slightly 

younger than the thrust on which the Woodruff plate 

moved. Movement on this younger thrust probably was 

no more than a few thousand meters. The exposed part 

of the west edge of the Lee plate is at a steep normal 

fault which is younger than the thrusting. All these 

plates lie on various lithologic units of the Chainman 

Shale. The Woodruff plate, in addition, lies partly on 

the Diamond Peak Formation. 

The Mesozoic age of movement of these plates is indicated principally by their relations to Mesozoic folds. 

The Woodruff plate lies discordantly across a Mesozoic 

syncline and the Lee plate is intimately associated 

with a westward-overturned anticline of Mesozoic age. 

The Robinson plate involves Permian rocks. Movement 

on the Willow plate cannot be dated closely from direct 

evidence, but this plate is structurally similar to the 

other plates and is inferred to be of the same age. 

Ev1dence for considering thrust movement to have 

been generally westward directed is gained largely 

from relations at two of the thrust plates. Rocks composing the Lee plate are Mississippian argillite of Lee 

Canyon, with overlying small patches of Chainman 

Shale. The lithology of the argillite suggests that it 

was deposited east of this area; thus it must have been 

thrust westward to its present position. In addition, the 

westward-overturned part of the Pinon Range crestal 

anticline in the lower plate of the thrust is just east of 

the outcrop of this plate. Mississippian strata just west 

of the Willow thrust plate and evidently in the lower 

plate of the Willow thrust are also overturned to the 

west. 

EARLY OLIGOCENE DEFORMATION 

The Elko Formation and other units of early Tertiary age were folded rather strongly in early 

Oligocene time. Dips of about 45° are fairly common, 

and in one place the Elko Formation is folded in a 

partially overturned syncline. Because of the positions, 
TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C13 

sizes, and forms of these folds, it seems unlikely either 

that they could be drag folds caused by normal faults or 

that they are due to differential compaction. They 

must be the result of compressional forces that mark 

the final compressional deformation in the area. These 

folds are almost exactly the same age as the exposed 

igneous intrusive bodies: 36.8± 1.1 m.y. and 35.4± 1.1 

m.y. ages were determined on biotite and feldspar respectively from the stock west of Bullion (R. F. Marvin, 

H. H. Mehnert, and J.D. Mensik, written commun., 

1965); in this respect early Oligocene and JurassicCretaceous tectonic events are alike in the close 

association of igneous intrusion and compressional 

folding. 

Limits on the duration of early Oligocene deformation and erosion are established by K-Ar ages, determined on units below and above the unconformity developed on the Elko Formation. These bracketing ages 

are 38.6± 0.8 m.y. on biotite from tuff (McKee and 

others, 1971, p. 32, No. 73) in the upper part of the Elko 

Formation and 33.2±0.7 m.y. on sanidine and 34.9±0.7 

m.y. on biotite from ash-flow tuff (McKee and others, 

1971, p. 33, No. 76) in the Indian Well Formation. The 

time interval suggested from these figures is about 4 

m.y. 

MIOCENE AND YOUNGER DEFORMATION 

Immediately before and during the deposition of the 

upper Miocene Humboldt Formation, the crust was 

broken by normal faults that completely disrupted the 

early Tertiary surface configuration and formed the 

blocky collapse features of the modern topography. The 

ubiquitous normal faults and the tensional stresses 

they imply set this tectonic episode apart from all the 

others, which were generally characterized by uplift, 

thrusting, or folding. 

The principal normal faults of the area are the 

north- to northeast-trending Crescent, Pine Valley, 

and Huntington Valley faults. The Crescent fault (Gilluly and Masursky, 1965; Muffler, 1964) forms a spectacular scarp on the west side of the Cortez Mountains 

but it extends only a short distance into the Pine Valley quadrangle. Though the Pine Valley fault is inconspicuously exposed along part of the west side of the 

Pinon Range, as inferred from geophysical data 

(Mabey, 1964) it is a major fault that extends for a long 

distance between Pine Valley and the Pinon and Sulphur Spring Ranges. The Huntington Valley fault is 

not exposed; it is inferred strictly from geophysical 

data (Mabey, 1964) to separate Cedar Ridge from 

Huntington Valley. Although the topography might 

suggest the presence of a fault between the Pinon 

Range and Cedar Ridge, geophysical data indicate that 

the Tertiary beds in Dixie Flats are very thin and are 

probably not separated from the Paleozoic rocks of the 

Pinon Range or Cedar Ridge by a significant fault. 

The combined topographic, geologic, and geophysical 

data (Mabey, 1964) suggest that the Cortez Mountains 

and the pre-Pliocene rocks underlying Pine Valley 

form a single east-tilted block that is faulted deeply 

downward against the Pinon Range, as originally indicated by Regnier (1960). Similar data indicate that the 

Ruby Mountains (Sharp, 1939; Mabey, 1964; Gibbs, 

Willden, and Carlson, 1968) and the pre-Tertiary rocks 

underlying Huntington Valley also constitute a single 

block tilted westward and faulted downward against 

Cedar Ridge. Some short faults are exposed on the uptilted side of Pine Valley, but their displacement evidently is only minor (Muffler, 1964). As a result of 

these major basin-and-range faults, the Pinon Range 

and outlying ridges of Paleozoic rock such as Cedar 

Ridge form parts of an untilted block or horst between 

two convergently rotated blocks. The moderate elevation and subdued relief of the area suggest that the 

Pinon-Cedar block was relatively stable in late 

Miocene and Pliocene time. 

Within the Pinon-Cedar block are networks of lesser 

normal faults. Unlike the principal faults which trend 

north to northeast, these lesser faults trend in all directions. Whereas many of these faults have moderate 

vertical displacement, they tend to be relatively short; 

they terminate against other faults, merge with 

others, or simply die out. Most of the normal faults in 

the area seem to be concentrated in carbonate rocks. 

Presumably the carbonate rocks that underlie areas 

covered by siliceous detrital rocks are similarly faulted 

but these faults are not generally recognizable in the 

siliceous clastic rocks at the surface. Poor exposures in 

the clastic rocks may hide faults in some places, but 

even where exposures are excellent, few high-angle 

faults have been found. Apparently the siliceous detrital rocks, whether they be lower Paleozoic shales, 

upper Paleozoic conglomerates and sandstone, or 

Cenozoic gravels, may accommodate some differential 

vertical movement without development of distinct 

faults. 

DEFORMATION OF UNCERTAIN AGE 

A north-northwest-trending high-angle fault with 

some apparent strike-slip displacement cuts between 

the Sulphur Spring and Pinon Ranges near the south 

border of the mapped area. These two ranges stand on 

separate structural blocks of contrasting stratigraphy 

and structure. The Devonian limestone and chert unit 

of the transitional assemblage (table 1) is present only 

west of the fault. Ordovician rocks in the upper plate of 

the Roberts Mountains thrust possess contrasting 

lithology on opposite sides of the fault. Paleozoic carbonate rocks west of the fault in the Mineral Hill quadrangle to the south (C. A. Nelson and D. C. Carlisle, 
C14 GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

unpub. mapping, 1960(?)) dip 30°-45°E., whereas the 

equivalent rocks east of the fault commonly dip gently 

west. The Sulphur Spring Range south and west of the 

fault is topographically asymmetrical; the range has a 

somewhat steeper east face than the west face. Such 

asymmetry indicates that this range has been tilted 

westward in Tertiary time, whereas adjacent parts of 

the Pinon Range are virtually untilted. The Sulphur 

Spring Range west of the fault is out of alinement with 

the Pinon Range east of the fault. Although the Devonian transitional unit and the upper plate Ordovician 

rocks probably owe part of their positions west of the 

fault to original structures within the upper plate of 

the Roberts thrust, we tentatively conclude from their 

contrasting stratigraphy and structure that rocks 

making up the two ranges were brought together from 

a moderate distance on this high-angle strike-slip 

fault. However, the amount of topographic offset across 

the fault inferred from misalinement of the Sulphur 

Spring and Pinon Ranges is small. Therefore, most of 

the strike-slip movement on this fault evidently took 

place before Tertiary normal faulting, and a small 

amount took place during or afterward as present 

range forms developed. 

CONCLUSION 

Early Paleozoic time in the Carlin-Pinon Range area 

was one of remarkable tectonic tranquillity. Sediments 

deposited during this interval suggest little more than 

gradual subsidence. This tranquillity was broken permanently at the end of the Devonian Period by the first 

in a series of at least seven significant and many lesser 

tectonic events spanning the rest of geologic time. 

Each of these events apparently had a characteristic 

style; each seems to be separated from the others by 

lengthy intervals of relative quiet. From the local 

viewpoint, the tectonism was episodic and the principal events were not obviously related. Episodic tectonism and volcanism are suggested too in some other 

parts of the region as shown in figure 3. This chart also 

demonstrates that Mesozoic tectonism and volcanism 

were widespread in the region. 

Data from the Carlin-Pinon Range region indicate 

that some previous estimates of the displacement on 

the Roberts thrust have been too conservative. No 

rocks of the upper plate have been positively identified 

directly east of the Pinon Range, but we infer that they 

extend, or formerly extended, several kilometers in 

that direction. As explained in another section of this 

report, we interpret some of the rocks of the upper 

plate of the Roberts Mountains thrust in the area to 

have ridden back westward on younger thrust faults 

from locations east of the Pinon Range. If this interpretation is correct (and it appears well founded), the 

determinable east-west extent of the upper plate is 

greater than was previously thought, and the determinable movement on the Roberts Mountains thrust is 

accordingly greater than was previously thought. The 

minimum distance of movement on the thrust between 

the easternmost exposure in the Pinon Range and the 

westernmost window in which lower plate rocks are 

exposed in the Shoshone Range (Gilluly and Gates, 

1965) is 82 km (51 mi). Although Stewart (1971) argued persuasively that basin-and-range structure in 

general is essentially horst-and-graben structure and 

therefore the basin-and-range structure represents 

considerable crustal extension, the geomorphic and 

gravity evidence in the Carlin-Pinon Range area is 

more indicative of tilted-block structure and therefore 

that area represents minimal crustal extension. However, even by Stewart's estimates of crustal extension, 

the extension between the Pinon and Shoshone Ranges 

would amount to only 5 km (3 mi) and the pertinent 

distance from the westernmost window to the most 

easterly extent of the upper plate would be 77 km (48 

mi) rather than 82 km (51 mi). Because the upper plate 

was folded in Mesozoic time (Ketner and Smith, 1974), 

its original extent between these two points, based on 

the form of mapped folds, is calculated to be 110 km (68 

mi). To this must be added the inferred extent of the 

Roberts Mountains thrust plate east of the Pinon 

Range. If dark chert and siliceous shale now exposed 

on a Cenozoic thrust fault in the Ruby Mountains 

(Willden and Kistler, 1969) are part of the upper plate 

ofthe Roberts thrust (and if Cenozoic displacement has 

been relatively small), the movement on the Roberts 

thrust was at least 140 km (90 mi). The speculative 

extent of the upper plate west of the Shoshone Range 

added to 140 km (90 mi) equals the total minimum 

displacement of upper plate rocks. Part of this speculative distance to the west may be 64--80 km (40--50 mi) if 

the Lower Cambrian(?) Osgood Mountain Quartzite 

(which is probably correlative to part of the Precambrian Z and Lower Cambrian Prospect Mountain 

Quartzite and thus evidently part of the miogeosynclinal sequence that forms the autochthon) is autochthonous or parautochthonous in the Osgood Mountains (Hotz and Willden, 1964) and Sonoma Range 

(Gilluly, 1967). These two ranges are 64-80 km (40--50 

mi) northwest of the Shoshone Range. With these additions the displacement is 210--225 km (130--140 mi), 

and it could be greater. 

Upper plate rocks of the Roberts Mountains thrust in 

the Carlin-Pinon Range area are composed mostly of 

shale and chert, rocks not noted for resistance to deformation by compressive forces. As discussed previously, when the effects of post-Early Mississippian de-
Geologic time scale' 

in millions of 

years before 

present 

PLIOCENE 

MIOCENE 

Sierra 

Nevada 

N~ 

Northwestern 

Nevada 

North-central and 

western Nevada 

Carlin-Pinon Range I Northeastern and 

area, Nevada (this eastern Nevada 

report) 

I Normal 

faulting, 

volcanism 

Western Utah, southEast-central Nevada I eastern and southern 

(Eureka area) Nevada, southeastern 

California 

-N' 

OLIGOCENE I Granitic 1 Intrusion, 

volcanism, 

folding 

EOCENE 50 

PALEOCENE 

CRETACEOUS 

100 

150 

JURASSIC 

200 

TRIASSIC 

PERMIAN 250 

Granitic 

intrusion 

(Evernden and 

Kistler, 1970) 

Folding, 

thrusting 

(Willden, 

1958) Granitic 

intrusion 

(Smith and 

others, 1971) 

intrusion 

I (Silberman 

and McKee, Intrusion, 

I Thrusting 

(Willden, ----~ Thrusting _ _j volcanism 

folding ' 1 folding, ' 1961) (Silberling I 1971 ) thrusting 

and Roberts, 

1962; 

Wallace and 

Silberling, 

1964) 

I Folding, thrusting 

(Sonoma orogeny) 

(Silberling, 1973) 

I Uplift 

Granitic 

intrusion 

(Coats and 

McKee, 1972) 

Folding, 

thrusting 

(Misch, 

1960) 

Faulting, 

folding 

(Nolan, 

1962) 

Folding, thrusting 

(Sevier orogeny); 

(Armstrong, 1968; 

Fleck, 1970) 

I Folding, thrusting 

(Erickson and 

1--------------------------- Marsh, 1974) Uplift, 

folding, Uplift 

PENNSYLVANIAN 300 

MISSISSIPPIAN 

350 

DEVONIAN 

400 

SILURIAN 

A+---------

I thrusting 

Coarse clastic 

deposition and 

uplift coupled 

with downwarp 

I Uplift 

(Steele, 1960) 

I (Nolan and 

others, 1956) 

I Thrusting --------------+A' 

FIGURE 3.-Chart showing intervals of Devonian and younger tectonic and igneous activity, Carlin-Pinon Range area and some parts of the neighboring region. Ages of the 

time boundaries, except as noted, from Harland, Smith, and Wilcock, 1964, p. 260-262. Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary from Gill and Cobban, 1966; MississippianPennsylvanian boundary from Francis and Woodland, 1964, table 1, p. 222. N-N', Normal faulting of Miocene and younger age is recorded for most of the region 

(for example, Stewart, 1971; Ekren and others, 1968). A-A', Deformation (Antler orogeny) beginning at about this time is recorded for a number of areas (for example, 

Roberts, 1964; Gilluly and Gates, 1965; Nolan, 1974; Roberts and others, 1958). 

>-3 

J?:j 

0 

>-3 

0 

z 

f) 

tr_j 

< tr_j 

z 

>-3 

rn 

rn 

z 

0 

J?:j 

J?:j 

> 

~ 

r-< 

>-< 

"d 

> r-< 

tr_j 

0 

N 

0 

...... 

0 

z 

>-3 

::r: 

tr_j 

0 

> Fl 

z 

.!o 

z 

0 

z 

~ z 

~ 

> 

gg 

> 

0 

f--1. 

01 
C16 GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

formational events are removed, the Roberts Mountains allochthon appears to consist of shuffled platelets 

separated by thrusts that are not greatly folded. In 

places these thrusts are subparallel to the bedding 

within the platelets, and in other places they bound 

platelets having highly crumpled and tightly folded 

beds. Much, if not most, of the major folding of these 

rocks can be attributed to Mesozoic compression. It is 

unlikely that these broad thin sheets were pushed 

great distances against friction and the force of gravity. On the contrary, they must have been drawn by 

gravity. 

No mechanism known to us, however, appears to be 

completely satisfactory for placing these rocks into a 

position from which they might have moved by gravity. Any plate tectonics model that involves development of melanges or of high pressur~low temperature 

metamorphism and the incorporation within the allochthon of extensive ophiolite suites is unlikely, as 

little evidence of these effects has been found. Poole 

and Desborough (1973), however, have reported small 

elongate bodies of alpine-type serpentinites which they 

infer to be detached fragments of Paleozoic or older 

upper mantle incorporated into oceanic crustal and 

sedimentary rocks during lithospheric plate convergence. Any model that requires extensive lateral 

push to raise the rocks into a position for sliding is also 

unlikely because of the observed condition of the thin 

plates. If obduction (a little understood process) could 

have placed the rocks into position without excessive 

lateral push and could have peeled off the top of the 

eugeosynclinal deposits so as not to leave remnants of 

extensive ophiolite suites and high pressure metamorphic rock, it might serve as a helpful method, as recently suggested by Poole (1974) and Burchfiel and 

Davis (1975). We are reluctant, however, to accept any 

current plate tectonics model as affording a completely 

satisfactory solution to all the problems involved in the 

movement of the Roberts Mountains allochthon. 

We are equally reluctant to accept the notion that 

the allochthonous rocks simply slid, under the influence of gravity, off a static uplifted area. Using this 

hypothesis, the area tectonically denuded of Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian rocks that rode eastward 

on the Roberts Mountains thrust would have to be at 

least as wide as the upper plate and probably much 

wider, because repetition of stratigraphic units is 

characteristic of that thrust plate. The combined width 

of the allochthon and the area of tectonic denudation 

from which it came must be at least 220 km (136 mi), 

double the provable minimum width of the allochthon. 

A static sloping surface that is steep enough to permit 

the movement of the platelets by gravity alone from 

the crest of the area of denudation to the east edge of 

the upper plate entails an almost impossibly high elevation of the crest. The existence of such an eastwardsloping surface would imply a corresponding west slope 

of equal width and another, western allochthon corresponding to the Roberts Mountains allochthon somewhere west of the area of denudation. More liberal (and 

more plausible) estimates of the east-west extent of the 

Roberts Mountains thrust correspondingly imply an 

even more liberal width of the area of denudation and a 

completely unrealistic elevation of the area of denudation. We therefore feel that this concept is untenable. 

We find it more plausible and more in accord with 

the evidence to envision a succession of crustal waves, 

each of modest proportions, that migrated from the 

west edge of the denuded area to the east limit of 

thrusting. According to this hypothesis, the component 

platelets of the allochthon rode independently down 

the forward slope of the advancing waves like 

surfboards and eventually beached themselves in random order as the crustal waves lost their initial 

amplitude. This hypothesis is similar to a concept for 

nappe transport suggested by Wunderlich (1973, p. 

283) but considered improbable by Lemoine (1973, p. 

211-212). Probably the growing mass of the upper plate 

contributed to the progressive decrease in amplitude. 

The Roberts thrust is thus seen simply as the surface 

on which the upper plate accumulated by piecemeal 

accretion. 

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous uplift, plutonism, 

volcanism, folding, and thrusting constitute the major 

tectonic events of the Carlin-Pinon Range area. The 

principal tectonic events of the Late Devonian-Early 

Mississippian orogeny, although they were of firstord~r magnitude, took place mainly to the west; and 

their expression in the Carlin-Pinon Range area located at the east limit of thrusting was relatively subdued. Although the temporal limits of the Mesozoic 

tectonic events cannot be fixed exactly in the CarlinPinon Range area, these events occurred within the 

time span of similar activity elsewhere in the region 

(fig. 3). Westward-directed thrusting and overturning 

of some beds occurred during Mesozoic time in this 

area in contrast to eastward-directed thrusting that 

occurred during earlier times of deformation. No 

known evidence indicates whether this westwarddirected movement was more regional or was essentially restricted to the area of this report. 

Little real distinction in the region may exist between tectonic events that have been labeled Sonoma, 

Nevadan, and Sevier. The entire region now occupied 

by the Great Basin was affected by intense unrest 

throughout Mesozoic time. The eastern part of the 

Great Basin was permanently elevated by the Middle 

Triassic. Granitic plutonism began in Late Triassic 
TECTONIC EVENTS SINCE EARLY PALEOZOIC IN THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA C17 

time and continued in the western and northern parts 

to Late Cretaceous. Folding and thrusting began in 

Early Triassic time and continued through the 

Mesozoic. As more data have become available, it 

seems apparent that folding and thrusting were 

characteristic of the entire region and that these 

events cannot yet be dated with sufficient precision to 

determine whether they took place at distinctly different times from place to place. 

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C18 GEOLOGY OF THE CARLIN-PINON RANGE AREA, NEVADA 

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p. 271-285. 
Geology of the 

Carlin-Pinon 

Range Area, Nevada 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 867 

This volume was published 

as separate chapters A-C 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

V. E. McKelvey, Director 
CONTENTS 

[Letters designate the chapters] 

(A) Stratigraphy of Paleozoic Rocks in the Carlin-Pinon Range Area, Nevada, by J. Fred Smith, 

Jr., and Keith B. Ketner. 

(B) Stratigraphy of Post-Paleozoic Rocks and Summary of Resources in the Carlin-Pinon Range 

Area, Nevada, by J. Fred Smith, Jr., and Keith B. Ketner. 

(C) Tectonic Events since Early Paleozoic in the Carlin-Pinon Range Area, Nevada, by J. Fred 

Smith, Jr., and Keith B. Ketner. 

*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1977- 789-025/44