Structural evolution of metamorphic tectonites beneath the Silver Peak-Lone Mountain detachment fault, west-central Nevada

The Silver Peak Range of west-central Nevada reveals metamorphic tectonites below a low-angle fault deformed in a northwesterly-trending doubly-plunging anticline. The rock units in the region are divided into a lower plate, a Lower Paleozoic upper plate and an Oligocene and younger upper plate. The lower plate assemblage and Lower Paleozoic upper plate rocks share a common structural history, with the exception that peak metamorphic conditions in the lower plate reached lower amphibolite grade, whereas conditions in the upper plate never exceeded lower greenschist facies. Rocks of Oligocene and younger only experienced late-stage brittle deformation which warped the detachment fault into a doubly-plunging anticline. The cooling history of lower plate tectonites and structural evidence from the upper and lower plate rocks indicate an early history associated with Mesozoic thrusting, and a younger history of Miocene extension associated with displacement transfer between the Furnace Creek Fault and Walker Lane Belt.