Nevadaplano

At the peak of its development, the retroarc side of the Cordillera was divided into five tectonomorphic zones, including from west to east the Luning-Fencemaker thrust belt; the central Nevada (or Eureka) thrust belt; a high-elevation plateau (the “Nevadaplano”); the topographically rugged Sevier fold-thrust belt; and the Laramide zone of intraforeland basement uplifts and basins.

Terming this now-exhumed Late Cretaceous–Eocene hinterland metamorphic belt the Nevadaplano, he estimated that its average elevation probably exceeded 3 km.

During the Late Cretaceous, central Nevada may have been a high elevation plateau, the Nevadaplano; some geodynamic models of the western US require thickened crust and high elevations during the Mesozoic to drive the subsequent tectonic events of the Cenozoic while other models do not.