| Basin and Range Province | |
| physiographic region | |
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The Basin and Range physiographic province (22) is bordered by the Pacific Mountain (23, west), Columbia Plateau (20, north), Colorado Plateau (21, east), Great Plains (13, southeast), and Pacific Border province (24, southwest); as well as physigraphic regions in Mexico.
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| Countries | United States, Mexico |
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| Location | western United States |
| - coordinates | |
| Area | 170,000 sq mi (440,298 km2) |
| Biome | North American Desert ecoregion |
The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region defined by a unique topographic expression. Basin and Range topography is characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins. The region covers most of the western United States, extends into northwestern Mexico and is mostly desert, as well as numerous ecoregions. The physiography of the province is the result of tectonic extension that began around 17 Ma (million years ago) in Early Miocene time.
Clarence Dutton famously compared the many narrow parallel mountain ranges that distinguish the unique topography of the Basin and Range to an "army of caterpillars marching toward Mexico", which is a helpful way to visualize the overall appearance of the region.[1] The Basin and Range province should not be confused with The Great Basin, which is a sub-section of the greater Basin and Range physiographic region defined by its unique hydrological characteristics (internal drainage).
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The Basin and Range Province includes much of western North America. In the United States, it is bordered on the west by the eastern fault scarp of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and spans over 500 miles (800 km) to its eastern border marked by the Wasatch Fault, the Colorado Plateau and the Rio Grande Rift. The Basin and Range Province extends north to the Columbia Plateau and south as far as the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in Mexico, though the southern boundaries of the Basin and Range are debated.[2] Evidence suggests that the less-recognized southern portion of the Basin and Range Province is bounded on the east by the Laramide Thrust Front of the Sierra Madre Oriental and on the west by the Gulf of California and Baja Peninsula with notably less faulting apparent in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the center of the southernmost Basin and Range Province.[3] In the adjacent figure the province includes the Great Basin section (22a, including part of the Mojave Desert), the Sonoran Desert (22b) & Salton Trough (22c) sections, the Mexican Altiplano (22d), and Sacramento section (22e).
It is generally accepted that basin and range topography is the result of extension and thinning of the lithosphere, which is composed of crust and upper mantle. Extensional environments like the Basin and Range are characterized by listric normal faulting, or faults that level out with depth. Opposing normal faults link at depth producing a horst and graben geometry, where horst refers to the upthrown fault block and graben to the down dropped fault block.
The average crustal thickness of the Basin and Range Province is approximately 30 – 35 km and is comparable to extended continental crust around the world.[4] The crust in conjunction with the upper mantle comprises the lithosphere. The base of the lithosphere beneath the Basin and Range is estimated to be about 60 – 70 km.[5] Opinions vary regarding the total extension of the region, however the median estimate is about 100% total lateral extension.[6] Total lateral displacement in the Basin and Range varies from 60 – 300 km since the onset of extension in the Early Miocene with the southern portion of the province representing a greater degree of displacement than the north. Evidence exists to suggest that extension initially began in the southern Basin and Range and propagated north over time.[7]
The tectonic mechanisms responsible for lithospheric extension in the Basin and Range province are controversial, and several competing hypotheses attempt to explain it. Key events preceding Basin and Range extension in the western United States include a long period of compression due to the subduction of the Farallon Plate under the west coast of the North American continental plate which stimulated the thickening of the crust. Most of the pertinent tectonic plate movement associated with the Basin and Range Province occurred in Neogene time and continues to the present. By Early Miocene time, much of the Farallon Plate had been consumed, and the seafloor spreading ridge that separated the Farallon Plate from the Pacific Plate (East Pacific Rise) approached North America.[8] In the Middle Miocene, the East Pacific Rise was subducted beneath North America ending subduction along this part of the Pacific margin; however, the Farallon Plate continued to subduct into the mantle.[9] The movement at this boundary divided the East Pacific Rise and spawned the San Andreas transform fault, generating an oblique strike-slip component.[10] Today, the Pacific Plate moves north-westward relative to North America, a configuration which has given rise to increased shearing along the continental margin.[11]
The tectonic activity responsible for the extension in the Basin and Range is a complex and controversial issue among the geoscience community. The most accepted hypothesis suggests that crustal shearing associated with the San Andreas Fault caused spontaneous extensional faulting similar to that seen in the Great Basin.[12] However, plate movement alone does not account for the high elevation of the Basin and Range region.[13] The western United States is a region of high heat flow which lowers the density of the lithosphere and stimulates isostatic uplift as a consequence.[14] Lithospheric regions characterized by elevated heat flow are weak and extensional deformation can occur over a broad region. Basin and Range extension is therefore thought to be unrelated to the kind of extension produced by mantle upwelling which may cause narrow rift zones, such as the Afar Triple Junction.[15] Geologic processes that elevate heat flow are varied, however some researchers suggest that heat generated at a subduction zone is transferred to the overriding plate as subduction proceeds. Fluids along fault zones then transfer heat vertically through the crust.[16] This model has led to increasing interest in geothermal systems in the Basin and Range, and requires consideration of the continued influence of the fully subducted Farallon plate in the extension responsible for the Basin and Range Province.
In some localities in the Basin and Range, metamorphic basement is visible at the surface. Some of these are metamorphic core complex (MCC), an idea that was first developed based on studies in the Basin and Range Province. A metamorphic core complex occurs when lower crust is brought to the surface as a result of extension. MCCs in the Basin and Range were not interpreted as being related to crustal extension until after the 1960s. Since then, similar deformational patterns have been identified in MCCs in the Basin and Range and has led geologists to examine them as a group of related geologic features formed by Cenozoic crustal extension. The study of metamorphic core complexes has provided valuable insight into the extensional processes driving Basin and Range formation.[17]
Prior to the Eocene Epoch (55.8 ±0.2 to 33.9 ±0.1 Ma) the convergence rate of the Farallon and North American Plates was fast, the angle of subduction was shallow, and the slab width was huge. During the Eocene the Farallon Plate subduction-associated compressive forces of the Laramide, Sevier and Nevada orogenies ended, plate interactions changed from orthogonal compression to oblique strike-slip, and volcanism in the Basin and Range Province flared up (Mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up). It is suggested that this plate continued to be underthrust until about 19 Ma, at which time it was completely consumed and volcanic activity ceased, in part. Olivine basalt from the oceanic ridge erupted around 17 Ma and extension began.[18][19][20][21]
In addition to small amounts of Nevada petroleum, the Basin and Range province supplies nearly all the copper and most of the gold, silver, and barite mined in the United States.
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