Silurian and Devonian miogeosynclinal and transitional rocks of the Fish Creek Reservoir window, central Idaho
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Abstract
Documentation of Devonian continental-shelf shallow-water carbonate rocks in the core of the Fish Creek Reservoir window shifts the known westernmost limit of the Devonian miogeosyncline 50 km (30 mi) southwest across the structural grain from the well-known miogeosynclinal sequence in the Lost River Range. The miogeosynclinal carbonate sequence in the window has a minimum thickness of 450 m (1,500 ft). It comprises the upper Lower Devonian (Emsian) and lower Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Carey Dolomite (new), the upper Middle Devonian (Givetian) and Upper Devonian Jefferson Formation, and the Upper Devonian Picabo Formation (new). Conodont faunas precisely date the Carey. The Picabo Formation, composed of interbedded sandy dolomite-pebble conglomerate and dolomitic quartzose sandstone, is unlike any previously described formation of Late Devonian or Early Mississippian age in central Idaho. It resembles parts of the Stansbury, Beirdneau, Leatham, and Victoria Formations, which reflect areas of local Late Devonian uplift and erosion of older shelf rocks in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho. Transitional (continental-slope) rocks of the Roberts Mountains Formation representing reef and offreef facies are thrust over the Devonian shelf sequence within the Fish Creek Reservoir window. The Roberts Mountains Formation here is precisely dated as latest Silurian (Pridolian, eosteinhornensis Zone) through earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) by a sequence of conodont faunas. The easternmost known exposures of possible Devonian siliceous facies rocks assigned to the Milligen(?) Formation are present less than 4.8 km (3 mi) southwest of the shelf sequence. Structural relations and paleotectonic reconstructions suggest that they have a minimum eastward translation of 32 km (20 mi). The Devonian continent-ocean basin interface, along which the Antler orogenic belt developed at this latitude, probably was located near the east edge of the present Idaho batholith.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Silurian and Devonian miogeosynclinal and transitional rocks of the Fish Creek Reservoir window, central Idaho |
| Series title | Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Year Published | 1975 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Contributing office(s) | Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center |
| Description | 16 p. |
| First page | 691 |
| Last page | 706 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Idaho |
| Other Geospatial | Fish Creek Reservoir window |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |