The Luning–Fencemaker fold-thrust belt (LFTB) of central Nevada reflects major Mesozoic shortening in the western US Cordillera, and involved contractional deformation in Triassic and lower Jurassic back-arc basinal strata. Structural analyses in the Santa Rosa Range, in the northern LFTB, provide new insight into the evolution of this belt. Four phases of deformation are recognized in the Santa Rosa Range. D1involved tight to isoclinal folding, cleavage development under low-grade metamorphic conditions, and reverse faulting. This deformation phase reflects NW–SE shortening of ≧55–70% in the Early and/or Middle Jurassic. D2structures are similar in orientation to D1but involved much less overall strain and are well developed only to the southeast. D2appears to be related to thrusting along the eastern margin of the LFTB in the Middle and/or Late Jurassic. D3deformation reflects very minor shortening (<5%) in a subvertical direction, and is tentatively interpreted to reflect stresses generated during initial intrusion of mid-Cretaceous plutons in the area. D4deformation demonstrably occurred synchronously with emplacement of Cretaceous granitoids dated at 102Ma (U–Pb zircon) based on syntectonic relations between D4structures and thermal metamorphism associated with intrusion, and an upgrade in D4strain in the thermally softened metamorphic aureoles of the intrusions. This last phase of deformation reflects minor regional NE–SW shortening, coupled with localized strain associated with pluton emplacement.