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Horts y Graben
Horts y Graben
STEWART
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025
acute or high angles. In a few places, the pattern may even be roughly polygonal. The
distribution pattern of the grabens and the
related deep zones of extension resemble
crack patterns in small-scale tensional systems, and both patterns may be mechanically
related. By analogy with the small-scale systems, the areas of generally north-trending
and parallel grabens require east-west extension, whereas the areas with a possible polygonal pattern of grabens must extend radially.
The geometry of block faulting related to
Basin and Range structure requires sizable
east-west extension, estimated at about 1.5
mi on the average for each major valley and
at about 30 to 60 mi across the entire Great
Basin. Most of this extension has taken place
in the last 17 m.y., or perhaps even in the
last 7 to 11 m.y., indicating a rate of extension in the range of 0.3 to 1.5 cm/yr.
INTRODUCTION
Many theories have been proposed to explain Basin and Range structure; the historical development of these ideas has been summarized by Nolan (1943, p. 178-186) and
more recently by Roberts (1968). Most of
the theories discussed in the last 15 yrs can
be grouped loosely into three main categories: (l) Basin and Range structure is similar
to that produced in landslides and related
either to removal of lateral support or to
sliding off of regional highs (Mackin, 1960a,
1960b, 1969; Moore, I960); (2) Basin and
Range structure is related to strike-slip deformation and, in part at least, to a conjugate
system of strike-slip faults (Shawe, 1965;
Slemmons, 1957); and (3) Basin and Range
structure is related to deep-seated extension
and resulting fragmentation of the overlying
crust (Thompson, 1959, 1966; Hamilton and
Myers, 1966; Cook, 1966; Roberts, 1968;
Hamilton, 1969). This paper considers the
last theory. It relates Basin and Range structure to the fragmentation of the brittle upper
1020
UTAHARIZONA
Figure 1. Index map of Great Basin showing mountains, major Basin and Range faults,
and localities mentioned in text. Mountain areas
1021
1022
High-angle fault
Dashed where approximately located;
dotted where concealed. Ball on
downthrown side
Figure 4. Generalized block diagram of bedrock surface of central and northern Dixie
Valley (redrawn from Burke, 1967, Fig. 6).
Alluvium is removed and eroded bedrock is
restored.
1023
1024
Jurassic and Tertiary granitic rocks, and Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks, mostly
The Shoshone Range and Cortez Moun- basaltic andesite flows dipping 5 to 8 SE.
tains are both considered typical Basin and A southeastern tilt of the ranges is suggested
Range tilted blocks (Gilluly and Gates, 1965, by the dip of the Tertiary volcanic rocks and
p. 126-127; Gilluly and Masursky, 1965, p. by the shape of the ranges, which are dis95-97; Muffler, 1964, p. 71-77; Wallace, tinctly asymmetrical with steep northwest
1964, p. 37; Moore> I960, Table 188.1). flanks 2000 to 3000 ft high, with long, gentle
They are composed of highly faulted and southeastern slopes. Important Basin and
folded lower Paleozoic sedimentary and vol- Range high-angle faults bound the northcanic rocks, less deformed upper Paleozoic western sides of both ranges (Fig. 5), but no
and Triassic sedimentary and volcanic rocks, such faulting is evident on the southeastern
Shoshone Range and Cortez Mountains
Geology from Gilluly and Masursky (1965); Gilluly and Gates (1965);
Muffler (1964); Roberts and others (1967, pi. 3); and Stewart and
McKee (1970). Gravity contours after Mabey (1964)
Quaternary alluvium
High-angle fault
Dashed where approximately located;
dotted where concealed. Ball on
downthrown side
area,
Figure 6. Clay models of highly asymmetrical grabens. Thickness of clay slab about 2.5 to
3 in. Upper illustration (A) is a drawing from
Coney (1969, Fig. 1) based on model of Cloos
(1968, Fig. 16, p. 428). Lower illustration (B)
is a drawing based on model by Cloos (1968,
Fig. 18). Reprinted through the courtesy of
Ernst Cloos (1968) and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin.
1025
1026
B
0
10
20 Miles
Scale
Figure 7. Diagrammatic cross section comparing tilted block (A) and asymmetrical graben (B) models of Shoshone Range and Cortez
Mountains area. Stippled areas indicate Cenozoic valley fill. Small arrows indicate relative
movement on faults. Large opposed arrows
(model B) indicate deep zone of extension.
1027
TILTING OF RANGES
Range structure. With present knowledge, it
seems plausible that each of the major valleys
in the Great Basin is a graben.
The horst and graben model of Basin and
Range structure described here applies to the
gross structure of the major valleys and
mountain ranges, but is not intended as a
model of smaller scale block faulting within
mountain masses. These smaller scale structures consist in places of a series of tilted
blocks bounded by high-angle faults, similar
to the model of Basin and Range structure
shown by Moore (i960, Fig. 188.1, shown
here as Fig. 2A). The tilting of these smaller
blocks as well as the tilting of the entire
mountain horst, may be due to rotational
gravity sliding related to the release of lateral
pressure during the development of a graben.
TILTING OF RANGES
The ranges of the Great Basin classically
have been considered to be tilted blocks and,
as Mackin (I960b, p. 110) stated, any theory
of Basin and Range structure must take tilting into account. Does the horst and graben
theory discussed here conflict with the observed tilting ?
The clay model studies of Cloos (1968,
Figs. 16 and 18, reproduced here in Fig. 6)
indicate that tilting goes hand in hand with
the formation of grabens. The upper surface
of the clay model in the upper part of Figure
6 has rotated about 20 (Cloos, 1968, p. 424),
much more than that required in such typical
"tilted blocks" as the Shoshone Range and
Cortez Mountains, where Tertiary volcanic
rocks are tilted 5 to 8 (Gilluly and Gates,
1965, p. 127; Gilluly and Masursky, 1965,
p. 97). A series of tilted slices also occurs in
the lower half of the clay model in Figure 6
(upper illustration), and the analogous structure could be exposed in the Great Basin.
Some of the observed tilting in the Great
Basin, however, could be due to rotational
gravity sliding. Page (1965), for example,
suggested that large tilted blocks bounded
by normal faults slid off the Stillwater Range.
Mackin (I960a, 1960b, and 1969) and Moore
(I960) related tilting to rotation of entire
ranges along downward-flattening faults and
suggested that this structure is analogous to
that in rotational landslides. Moore (in Wallace, 1964, p. 37, and 1969, oral commun.)
suggested that many of the blocks are tilted
toward regional topographic highs and that
they may have been tilted by sliding off these
Plastically
extending
substratum
Figure 8. Diagrammatic cross section comparing tilted block (A) and horst and graben
(B) models of Basin and Range structure. Valley
d shows rotational tilting of the mountain block
in both models. Stippled areas indicate Cenozoic valley fill. Small arrows indicate relative
movement on faults. Large opposed arrows
(model B) indicate deep zones of extension.
TABLE 1.
Area
Evidence of graben
Source of information*
Surprise Valley,
California and
Nevada
Death Valley,
California
Death Valley
Klamath Falls
Goose Lake,
Klamath Falls,
Oregon
Summer Lake,
Klamath Falls
Oregon
Warner Lake Valley, Adel
Oregon
Guano Valley,
Oregon
Adel
Adel
McDermitt Valley,
Oregon
Jordan Valley
Long Valley,
Nevada
Vya
Northern part
Winnemucca
Reese River Valley,
Nevada
Boulder Valley,
Nevada
Crescent Valley,
Nevada
Winnemucca
Pine Valley,
Nevada
Winnemucca
Diamond Valley,
Nevada
Winnemucca
Ruby Valley,
Nevada
Elko
Humboldt Sink,
Nevada
Dixie Valley,
Nevada
Reno
Winnemucca
TABLE 1.
Army Map
Service Sheet
Area
Smith Creek Valley, Millet
Nevada
Big Smoky Valley
(near Kingston
Canyon), Nevada
Millet
Steptoe Valley,
Nevada
Ely
Tonopah
(Continued)
Evidence of graben
Source of Information*
D. L. Healey, 1967,
written commun.; Osmond,
I960, Fig. 2
Healey and Miller, 1962
1030
TABLE 1.
Army Map
Service Sheet
Area
Delta
Price
Pocatello
Curlew Valley,
Idaho
Pocatello
(Continued)
Evidence of graben
Source of Information*
Cook and Berg, 1961, PI. 13,
and p. 79-80
Cook and others, 1964, PI.
13, and p. 81-82
Mabey and Morris, 1967;
Cook and Berg, 1961, PI.
13 and p. 85
Cook and Berg, 1961, PI. 13,
and p. 82
Cook and others, 1964, PI.
1, and Fig. 3
Cook and others, 1964, PI.
1, and Fig. 4
Such a structural interpretation is correct provided that most of the gravity low is produced by downdropped blocks of low-density
Tertiary rocks and by thick deposits of lowdensity alluvial fill in topographic and structural depressions above the grabens. The
gravity anomalies associated with some of the
valleys consist of a series of aligned gravity
basins and intervening saddles, rather than a
well-defined trough. Gravity values in both
the basins and saddles, however, are significantly lower than that of adjacent mountains,
and such valleys can be considered as complex grabens with local deep sags.
Outside of the areas of detailed gravity
surveys, grabens can be inferred to underlie
major valleys, and the midline of the valley
can be inferred to be near the position of the
structurally lowest part of the underlying
graben. In parts of the Great Basin, such as
in the region near Winnemucca (A in Fig. 9)
in northwestern Nevada and near Dugway
Valley (B in Fig. 9) in west-central Utah, the
mountain ranges are isolated, irregular, circular or elliptical masses, surrounded by alluvium. The shape and spacing of these mountains might be partially due to erosion which
destroyed more typical elongate ranges, but
1031
Figure 9. Distribution and symmetry of grabens in Great Basin. (A) Winnemucca region,
1032
116-00'
40'30'
39-30'
EXPLANATION
.
200
Gravity contour
Contour interval 5 milligals
lowest part of grabens in Eureka County, northcentral Nevada (gravity data/row/ Mabey, 1964).
1034
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AMOUNT OF EXTENSION
The importance of regional extension in
the formation of Basin and Range structure
has been emphasized by Carey (1958), Thompson (1959,1966), Hamilton and Myers (1966,
p. 527-528), and Wright and Troxel (1968).
A fault that dips 60, which is perhaps an
average figure for the faults bounding many
of the ranges in the Great Basin, requires 1
mi of lateral extension for each 2 mi of dip
slip. From the number of major faults along
the 40th Parallel across the Great Basin, and
an estimate of the average displacement on
these faults, Hamilton and Myers estimated
that the total extension amounted to 30 to
60 mi (50 to 100 km) in the late Tertiary.
Thompson (1959) estimated 1.5 mi of extension across Dixie Valley to account for
the observed structure and, using that area as
a sample of the Great Basin, suggested a total
extension of about 30 mi (48 km).
A similar figure can be obtained for the
total extension across the Great Basin by
using the "graben rule" devised by Hansen
(1965, p. A4l) for grabens developed by
translatory slides during the Alaskan earthquake of 1964. This rule relates the lateral
displacement producing the graben, 1, to the
cross sectional area of the surface trough of
the graben, A, and the depth of failure, D, by
the following formula:
1 = A_
D
This relationship follows because the cross
sectional area of the surface trough of the
graben approximates the cross sectional area
voided behind the block as the block moves
outward. An average area of a graben trough
in the Great Basin, including that buried
under alluvium, may be about 15 sq mi (a
trapezohedron averaging 10 mi across and
1.5 mi high), and the depth of failure (the
depth of the deep zones of extension), as
described above, may be about 10 mi. If these
figures are correct, the "graben rule" indicates that an average Great Basin graben re-
1036
quires 1.5 mi of extension. About 30 such most Basin and Range structure in central
grabens occur across the width of the Great Nevada is also late Cenozoic in age and
Basin at the 40th Parallel, thus indicating probably younger than 17 m.y.
Much of the Basin and Range structure in
about 45 mi of total extension.
the Great Basin may therefore have formed
in 17 m.y. or less. This date and a total exTIME AND RATE OF EXTENSION
tension of 50 to 100 km across the entire
Most of the extension related to forming Great Basin (see section on amount of extenBasin and Range structure has occurred in sion), give a rate of extension of about 0.3
the late Cenozoic, starting no more than 17 to 0.6 cm/yr across the region. If most of the
m.y. ago and culminating in the last 7 to 11 movement has occurred in the last 7 to 11
m.y. Dating is based primarily on the rela- m.y., as suggested by Ekren and others
tionship of Basin and Range faulting to (1968), the rate of extension would be on
radiometrically dated silicic ash-flow sheets the order of 0.5 to 1.5 cm/yr.
that cover large parts of central and southern
SIMILARITY OF THE GREAT BASIN
Nevada and adjacent parts of Utah.
Ekren and others (1968) have concluded GRABEN SYSTEM TO
that north-trending faults related to the pres- SMALL-SCALE TENSIONAL CRACKS
ent north-trending basins and ranges began
As envisioned here, Basin and Range structo form between 14 and 17 m.y. ago in ture is produced by fragmentation of a crustal
southern Nevada. They noted two systems slab above a plastically extending substratum.
of faults in the area: an older one of both The pattern and spacing of the zones of exnortheast- and northwest-striking faults, and tension may be related in some respects to
a younger system of north-striking faults, the the mechanisms that control the pattern and
latter being related to Basin and Range struc- spacing of cracks in small-scale tensional
ture. The older set occurs in rocks as young systems. In both systems, widespread tensile
as 17 m.y., but not in 14 m.y. old rocks, stress is relieved by failure and pulling apart
which are cut only by the younger set. Rhyo- of material along narrow zones. In the Basin
lite, intruded into the younger north-trending and Range province, this pulling apart occurs
faults and truncating the older set, can also along deep zones of extension and results in
be dated as 14 to 17 m.y. old. Ekren and graben formation; in small-scale tensional
others (1968) also noted that an 11 m.y. old features it results in vertical cracks.
tuff, which must have been deposited on a
Although the mechanisms that control the
fairly flat surface, occurs high on mountains, pattern and spacing of the zones of failure in
in places over 4000 ft above valleys. A 7 m.y. the crustal slab and in the small-scale tenold tuff, on the other hand, seems to have sional systems may be similar, the manner of
been extruded into an area with a topographic failure along these zones is different in the
grain similar to that of today. They con- two cases. In the crustal slab, extension occluded, therefore, that although Basin and curs along narrow zones at the base of the
Range structure started to form from 14 to slab, and failure of the overlying material
17 m.y. ago in the southern Great Basin, occurs along normal faults. These normal
most of the structural movement has occur- faults are shears with a vertical axis of maxired in the last 11 m.y.
mum principal stress (maintained by gravity)
Volcanic rocks 17 to 34 m.y. old are ex- and a horizontal axis of least principal stress
tensively faulted in much of central Nevada perpendicular to the strike of the normal
(Kleinhampl and Ziony, 1967; Anderson and fault. In small-scale tensional systems, failure
Ekren, 1968; Stewart and McKee, 1970). is along vertical cracks. In spite of these
Most of these volcanic units are sheet-like different details of failure, both systems fail
ash-flow tuffs, and individual units commonly along narrow zones and the failure is the
occur in several ranges and at many different result of widespread tensile stress. Study of
elevations along the flanks and tops of indi- the characteristics of small-scale tensional
vidual ranges. As these units formed as crack systems, therefore, may provide insight
highly mobile ash flows which tend to fill into what controls the pattern and spacing of
troughs much like water, their position high the zones of extension in the crustal slab.
on mountains and at diverse structural levels
The pattern of failure in small-scale tencan only be explained by faulting. Thus, sional systems depends on the stress distribu-
tion. In a system in which the stress is virtually radial, a roughly polygonal pattern forms
(Fig. 13), such as in mud cracks and in contraction cracks in permafrost (Lachenbruch,
1961, 1962, 1966). Polygonal patterns also
were seen in ground cracks related to the
Alaskan earthquake of 1964 where a surface
layer was under stress due to dilation of the
underlying material (McCulloch and Bonilla,
1967, p. 98-99, and Fig. 96). The size of the
polygons within a particular stress field tends,
to be similar, and the cracks join at right
angles (orthogonal intersections of Lachenbruch, 1962).
In a system in which the stress is virtually
unidirectional, the cracks formed are evenly
spaced, generally parallel, and straight and
gently curved (Fig. 13). Crack intersections,
although sparse in this sytem, are also orthogonal. This system of generally parallel cracks
was seen in ground cracks produced by the
Alaskan earthquake where brittle failure of a
surface layer occurred in response to stress
created by the downslope displacement of
more plastic underlying sediment (McCulloch and Bonilla, 1967, p. 98-99 and Fig. 96).
The straight and slightly curved inferred
deep zones of extension (similar to the pattern of graben axes shown in Figure 9),
typical of Basin and Range structure in the
Great Basin, correspond to small-scale tension cracks produced by unidirectional movement. Locally, in the Great Basin, roughly
polygonal patterns appear to occur, perhaps
as a response to radial movements. In these
1037
1038
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polygonal pattern of fracturing is suggested
by the distribution of mountains and valleys.
These areas, if analogous to polygonal cracking in small-scale features, would require a
local radial spreading. In the western part of
the Great Basin, the grabens commonly trend
northwest and are more widely spaced and
less systematically distributed than elsewhere
in the Great Basin. This pattern seems to be
due to the interaction of right-lateral displacement and the more general east-west
extension.
As envisioned here, considerable variety of
movement is possible in the plastically deforming layer oelow the brittle upper crust.
The dominant east-west extension could have
been interrupted at times by local radial
spreading and at other times by strike-slip
displacement. Such a variety of movement
could account for the local complexity of
Basin and Range structure such as the complex system of faults noted by Donath (1962)
in south-central Oregon and interpreted by
him to indicate original strike-slip movement
followed by dip-slip movement, and by Pease
(1969) in northeastern California and interpreted by him as due to deep-seated shear
related to the Walker Lane. Strike-slip movement along historic faults in Nevada (Slemmons, 1957, 1967; Whitten, 1957; Shawe,
1965) can be considered either as a shortterm interruption, or as a permanent change
from the dominant east-west extension.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The ideas presented here have benefited
from discussions with many geologists, including D. S. McCulloch, J. G. Moore, R.
W. Kopf, and J. I. Ziony of the U.S. Geological Survey, and from thoughtful comments and reviews of the manuscript by G.
A. Thompson of Stanford University and
A. H. Lachenbruch, D. R. Shawe, and G. W.
Walker of the U.S. Geological Survey.
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1043
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MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED BY THE SOCIETY APRIL
3, 1970
REVISED MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED OCTOBER 5,
1970
PUBLICATION AUTHORIZED BY THE DIRECTOR,
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY