--> Abstract: Analysis of the Early Jurassic Sailor Canyon-Gardnerville Basin (SCGB) of Western Nevada and Northeastern California, by D. A. Davis and R. A. Schweickert; #90959 (1995).

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Abstract: Analysis of the Early Jurassic Sailor Canyon-Gardnerville Basin (SCGB) of Western Nevada and Northeastern California

David A. Davis, Richard A. Schweickert

The SCGB extends from Butt Lake and Burnside Lake in California to the Wassuk Range in Nevada. Basin fill consists of volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks with minor quartzite, limestone, lava flows, and tuffs. The SCGB includes the lower Mt. Jura sequence, the Sailor Canyon, Blackwood Canyon, Ellis Peak, Gardnerville, and Preachers Fms., and unnamed related rocks.

SCGB rocks overlie upper Triassic shallow marine deposits. The Hardgrave Fm. of the Mt. Jura sequence is a shallow marine deposit near Taylorsville. The Sailor Canyon and Gardnerville Fms. are deep marine units forming the remainder of the basin. The upper Pliensbachian-lower Toarcian Thompson Limestone of the Mt. Jura sequence, post-lower Toarcian Sailor Canyon limestones, and an upper Toarcian Gardnerville limestone reflect basinwide shallowing. Sandy limestone turbidites in the Blackwood Canyon Fm. and southernmost parts of the Sailor Canyon Fm. suggest the Tahoe area remained deep. A post-Thompson unconformity and post-Gardnerville subaerial deposits suggest the Taylorsville and Pine Nut Mtns. areas remained subaerial while subsidence and deposition resumed elsewhere and lasted un il the Early Bajocian. Volcaniclastic deposits unconformably overlying the Sailor Canyon Fm. and Thompson Lms. suggest Mid-Jurassic uplift followed by arc-derived sedimentation. The SCGB, a probable forearc basin between an eastern arc and a western subduction zone, formed west of the Inyo Mtns. The Mojave-Snow Lake fault transported it northward. SCGB sediment was derived from underlying pre-Jurassic arc rocks and the eastern arc. Quartzose detritus in the Preachers and Ellis Peak Fms. and portions of the Sailor Canyon Fm. near Cisco Grove and Mt. Tallac was derived from the Mojave Desert region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90959©1995 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Reno, Nevada