Major Structural Break between Paleozoic and Mesozoic Rocks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California
A major structural break lies between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tight folds in the Paleozoic section are overturned to the west and faulted against an apparently downthrown steeply dipping sequence of Mesozoic metavolcanic rocks on the west. This fault is a segment of a large regional high-angle fault that separates the Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata in the eastern Sierra Nevada from the Pine Creek pendant northward approximately 50 mi (80 km) to Mount Dana. The development of this fault preceded the widespread intrusions of the Upper Cretaceous magmas of the John Muir sequence of the Sierra Nevada batholith.