Initial deposition in the Sevier foreland basin of southern Nevada: Conglomerates of the Cretaceous Willow Tank Formation, Clark County, Nevada

The basal conglomerate of the Willow Tank Formation is the initial foreland basin sediment that was derived from highlands created by the Sevier thrust belt and dispersed across an irregular surface of Jurassic Aztec Sandstone in southern Nevada. The conglomerate varies from 5.5 to 34.5 m in thickness and is composed of two compositionally distinct units. The lower conglomerate is composed of Precambrian and Ordovician metaquartz-arenites, and Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary clasts, and its sandstone interbeds and matrix are chert-arenite. This unit represents the initial uplift and erosion of the Gass Peak and William Tank thrusts. The predominance of Paleozoic limestone clasts in the upper conglomerate suggests subsequent erosion of Arrow Canyon, Dry Lake or Muddy Mountain thrusts. The relative timing of movement on these latter three thrusts cannot be determined from the conglomerate composition because they all carry similar Paleozoic limestone sequences; Conglomerate and sandstone lithofacies represent deposition by aggrading and migrating longitudinal bars, dunes, ripples and horizontal plane beds in a braided stream system. Comparison of the vertical and lateral distribution of these lithofacies suggests that the sediments were part of a large proximal braid-plain complex. Measurements of imbricated clasts indicate a predominant west-northwest to east-southeast transport direction.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geoscience

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1989

Author dc:creator

• Reese, Julie Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Margaret N. Rees

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/61

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1060