Insights from the Golconda Summit Area, Nevada: Late Paleozoic Structures, Regional Strike-Slip Offset, and Correlation of the “Comus Formation”

Abstract

Detailed mapping and reevaluation of biostratigraphic data provide new insights into the regional stratigraphic significance of the Ordovician Comus Formation at its type locality at Iron Point, Edna Mountain, Humboldt County, Nevada. Mapping of the internal stratigraphy of the Comus Formation yielded six new subunits and a previously unrecognized formation that is potentially correlative to the Middle Ordovician Eureka Quartzite. The age designation of the Comus Formation was reexamined, using the most current understanding of Ordovician graptolite biostratigraphy. The species of graptolites found in the Comus strata at Iron Point are Late Ordovician, in contrast to the Middle Ordovician age assignment in previous studies. Structural analyses using the new detailed mapping revealed six deformational events at Iron Point. The first fold set, F1, is west-vergent and likely correlative to mid-Pennsylvanian folds observed nearby at Edna Mountain. The second fold set, F2, records north–south contraction and is likely correlative to Early Permian folds observed at Edna Mountain. The King fault is a normal fault that strikes north and dips east. It truncates the F1 and F2 fold sets and has not been active since the Early Permian. The Silver Coin thrust strikes east, places the Ordovician Vinini Formation over the Comus Formation, truncates the King fault, and is not affected by the F1 and F2 fold sets. Timing of the Silver Coin thrust is unknown, but it is likely post-Early Permian based on crosscutting relationships. The West fault strikes southeast and dips southwest. It truncates the Silver Coin thrust on the west, and the fault surface records several phases of motion. Finally, Iron Point is bounded on the east side by the Pumpernickel fault, a normal fault that strikes north and dips east. The movement on this structure is likely related to Miocene to Recent Basin and Range faulting. Several key findings resulted from this detailed study of the Ordovician rocks at Iron Point. (1) Based on detailed mapping of the internal stratigraphy of the Comus Formation at Iron Point, it is here interpreted to be correlative with the autochthonous Late Ordovician Hanson Creek Formation rather than the well-known “Comus Formation” that hosts Carlin-style gold mineralization in the Osgood Mountains to the north. (2) The Comus Formation at Iron Point is autochthonous, and the Roberts Mountains thrust is not present at Iron Point, either at the surface or in the subsurface. (3) The stratigraphic mismatch between Iron Point and Edna Mountain requires a fault with significant lateral offset between the two areas; its current expression could be the West fault. (4) West- and southwest-vergent structures at Iron Point and Edna Mountain are rotated counterclockwise relative to northwest-vergent structures at Carlin Canyon and elsewhere in northern Nevada. This relationship is consistent with large-scale sinistral slip along the continental margin to the west.