The present geologic framework of southwestern Montana is the result of the interactions of several structural units during the Laramide orogeny. The Lewis and Clark lineament is the oldest of these, having been in existence since the Precambrian when some of its elements bounded the Belt embayment. It is composed of five or six parallel features with differing geologic histories. During the Laramide orogeny, horizontal compression initiated deep-seated wrench faulting along the Lewis and Clark lineament. This faulting allowed the transition from the continued Sevier

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style of thin-skinned overthrust deformation, which occurred north of the lineament, to the foreland basement-involved thrust deformation, which occurred to the south. The differential motion of the basement was absorbed by small amounts of left-lateral transform motion.

This lineament may also have created a weak zone in the crust into which the Boulder batholith intruded during the early stages of the Laramide. The voluminous volcanic material associated with the batholith created a supracrustal load which downwarped the adjacent lithosphere. If the batholith itself slid eastward, as advocated by Hyndman in 1979, the load was enhanced. Decoupling of the lithosphere along the southernmost elements of the Lewis and Clark lineament localized and accentuated the load-induced subsidence, creating the Crazy Mountains basin and localizing the accumulation of the thick volcaniclastic sediments of the Livingston Group.

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