Carlin Unconformity

The Carlin Unconformity or Carlin Trend is a geologic feature in northeastern Nevada which represents a period of erosion or non-deposition likely associated with a collision between a tectonic crustal block called a terrane and the North American Plate.

[1] The collision induced higher crustal temperatures and pressures which produced numerous hot springs along the suture zone.

Several episodes of subsurface magmatism are known to have occurred subsequent to the collision, associated with tectonic forces affecting the entire Basin and Range Province.

During each of these episodes, and particularly during the Eocene epoch, hot springs brought dissolved minerals toward the surface, precipitating them out along fissures.

By 2008, mines in the Carlin Trend had produced over 70 million ounces of gold, worth around $85 billion at 2010 prices.