Detrital zircon provenance and paleogeography of the Pahrump Group and overlying strata, Death Valley, California

• Published in: Precambrian research 2014-09, Vol.251, p.102-117
• Main Authors: Mahon, Robert C., Dehler, Carol M., Link, Paul K., Karlstrom, Karl E., Gehrels, George E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Death Valley; Detrital zircon; Pahrump Group; Proterozoic; Rodinia; Snowball Earth
• ISSN: 0301-9268; 1872-7433
• DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2014.06.005

•New detrital zircon ages for Pahrump Group and Noonday Dolomite, spanning 500Ma.•Development of six paleogeographic time slices based on paleodrainage development.•Pahrump Group comprises discrete sedimentation intervals, not aulacogen deposition. The Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic Pahrump Group of Death Valley, California spans ca. 1300–635Ma and provides a >500 million-year record of geologic events in southwestern Laurentia. The strata analyzed include preserved sequences separated by unconformities recording syn-Rodinia basin development (Crystal Spring Formation); Rodinia stability; regional extension culminating in Neoproterozoic rifting of the Laurentian margin of Rodinia (Horse Thief Springs through Johnnie Formations); and multiple phases of glacial sedimentation and subsequent cap carbonate deposition (Kingston Peak Formation and Noonday Dolomite). U-Pb detrital zircon analyses were conducted on samples from the entire Pahrump Group and the Noonday Dolomite in the southeastern Death Valley region (20 samples, 1945 grains) to further constrain hypotheses for regional basin development during the development of the southwestern Laurentian margin. Our interpretation of provenance data expands upon and clarifies previous models defining a series of tectonostratigraphic units including: (A) the