actual age of initiation of the belt is not entirely agreed upon by researchers. However, Sevier deformation had begun by the Jurassic. Deformation in the southern portion of the Sevier fold and thrust belt began around 160 Ma. Strain was transferred eastward to the Keystone thrust by 99 Ma. In northern Utah, the Willard thrust sheet was emplaced around 120 Ma. Strain was progressively transferred to the Hogsback Thrust in western Wyoming. Faults near the leading edge of the Sevier remained active until at least the Eocene. At this time the elevated crust ran into the Colorado Plateau. The collision resulted in lateral spreading of deformation and led to a weakened lithosphere and crustal thickening. Metamorphism due to the crustal heating and thickening is prevalent between 90 and 70 Ma in the present Great Basin region. Studies Transverse zones and the Uinta recess Parallel thrust faults and folds make up a fold-thrust belt on a regional scale. At the local scale segments of the belt are connected by transverse zones. The Charleston transverse zone mentioned earlier runs perpendicular to the thrust faults within the Sevier belt. It has been debated among geologists if this transverse zone developed during the Sevier orogeny or the Uinta/Cottonwood arch formation during the Laramide orogeny. Mapping Sevier thrusting in the Basin and Range Province suggests Sevier structures curve around the Uinta/Cottonwood arch defining the Uinta recess. Looking closely at Sevier faults in American Fork Canyon indicate that these faults are the oldest in the Charleston transverse zone suggested by cross cutting relationships observed in the area. The Basin and Range Province extending across Nevada, into western Utah, and south into Mexico now consists of N-S normal faulting due to crustal extension. If these normal faults show any extension in late Eocene to early Miocene, this could be evidence the Sevier orogenic event collapsing after deactivation. Thickening of the crust due to Sevier and Laramide faulting is thought to have led to current Basin and Range extension throughout the Cenozoic. This could have caused the Charleston thrust fault to reactivate as an extensional fault. The Charleston transverse zone contained high angle faults which suggests it initiated as a response to connecting the low angle thrust faults of the Sevier. The Charleston transverse zone outlines a main sidewall ramp that would have been part of the Sevier belt. To the north of the Uinta/Cottonwood arch during the