The northwest-trending Sawatch Range normal fault system is the principal r
ange-bounding fault of the northern Rio Grande Rift of central Colorado. It
displays a geometric segment boundary in the form of a prominent en echelo
n step at the Chalk Cliffs, a zone of highly fractured and hydrothermally a
ltered quartz monzonite. There, the modern fault geometry suggests that the
Sawatch Range fault is presently breaching the boundary. Immediately north
of the Chalk Cliffs, the range front fault is active whereas immediately s
outh, the range front fault is inactive. Instead, it is replaced by a north
-trending break that transects much of the boundary.
The Chalk Cliffs also display a four-stage history of faulting and alterati
on/mineralization that appears to track the boundary's evolution. First-sta
ge chlorite-filled faults and second-stage laumontite-filled faults affect
the entire boundary and likely pre-date the breach. They record a change of
fluid chemistry during oblique extension associated with the boundary's ea
rly history. Third stage, calcite-filled fractures are generally restricted
to the eastern half of the boundary, between the breaching fault's project
ion into the Chalk Cliffs and the active range front fault. These fractures
probably coincide with initiation of the breach. Modern (fourth stage) hyd
rothermal activity occurs at, and slightly beyond, the eastern edge. This c
oincidence of hydrothermal events with changes in large-scale fault geometr
y illustrates how normal fault zones, through breaching, can simplify their
geometries and localize associated deformation and hydrothermal activity.
(C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.