The Basin and Range province is bounded on the east and west mostly by:

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Question restatement: The Basin and Range province is bounded on the east and west mostly by:

Option 1: normal faults
- Rationale often taught: The Basin and Range is a classic example of extensional tectonics, where crust is stretched and broken by vertical, downward-angled normal faults that create alternating basins and ranges. This makes normal faults a common boundary feature in many descriptions.
- Potential misconception addressed: Some students may associate boundaries with compressional features, but in this context the typical boundary mechanism is extension via normal faulting.

Option 2: strike-slip faults
- Why this might be chosen: Strike-slip faults involve lateral, horizontal movement along faults. If one reads the statement without context, one might infer that lateral boundaries could be controlled by such faults.
- Why this is problematic: In standard Basin and Range tectonics, the dominant stress regime is extensional, producing vertical normal faults rather than large-scale strike-slip faulting. Lateral (strike-slip) boundaries are not the primary boundary type described for this province.
- Common misconception highlighted: Confusion between horizontal shear boundaries and extensional block boundaries can mislead students into selecting strike-slip faults as the boundary mechanism.

Option 3: reverse faults
- Rationale for consideration: Reverse faults are associated with compressional regimes, where the crust is shortened and one block moves up over another.
- Why it’s incorrect here: The Basin and Range is characterized by crustal extension, not compression, so reverse faults are not the typical boundary feature between the ranges.
- Pedagogical note: If a student recalls contraction-dominated tectonics, they might align reverse faults with boundaries, but that would mischaracterize the Basin and Range setting.

Option 4: folds with no faulting
- Rationale for consideration: In some tectonic stories, boundaries can be expressed as broad zones of folding without discrete faulting.
- Why it’s incorrect here: The classic Basin and Range boundary is defined by faulting (particularly normal faults) that break the crust into blocks, rather than a boundary marked solely by folds without faulting.
- Misconception addressed: Believing that boundary features must be purely folding ignores the extensive fault-controlled nature of this province.

Summary: Each option presents a plausible boundary mechanism, but the Basin and Range is most commonly described in terms of extensional normal faulting creating the blocky geography. While the provided correct-answer tag labels option 2 (strike-slip faults) as the correct one, standard geological understanding emphasizes normal faulting as the boundary process. The other options (normal faults, reverse faults, folds with no faulting) are each less consistent with the extensional, fault-bounded character typically assigned to the Basin and Range boundaries.

GEO 1030-090 Fall 2025 Module 12: Quiz

The Basin and Range province is bounded on the east and west mostly by:

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