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Sierra Nevada–Basin and Range transition near Reno, Nevada: Two-stage development at 12 and 3 Ma

¹ Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557, USA
² Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA

Relative and absolute elevations of the Sierra Nevada and adjacent Basin and Range province, timing of their differentiation, and location, amount, and timing of strike-slip movement between them are controversial. The provincial boundary near Reno developed in two stages. (1) At ca. 12 Ma, the 700 km² Verdi-Boca sedimentary basin formed across what was to become the boundary, probably as a result of a small-magnitude but regional extensional episode that affected much of the western Basin and Range. (2) At 3 Ma, the basin was complexly faulted and folded during a larger magnitude extensional episode that established the modern Sierran structural and topographic boundary in this area. The boundary is really a transition zone with a western edge along the Donner Pass, California, fault zone, which is farther west than previously placed. Both episodes appear to have resulted from east-west extension only, which suggests that northwest motion of the Sierra Nevada relative to the Basin and Range shown by geodetic data began after 3 Ma or was taken up farther east.

Key Words: Sierra Nevada • Basin and Range • extension • ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar • tephrochronology • sedimentary basins

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