Large-magnitude miocene extension in the central Mojave Desert: Implications for Paleozoic to Tertiary paleogeography and tectonics

This is the published version. Copyright 1990 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.The main Cenozoic extensional structure in the central Mojave Desert is the Waterman Hills detachment fault, which places brittlely deformed synorogenic Miocene rocks on ductilely and cataclastically deformed footwall rocks. New data are presented regarding the timing, distribution, magnitude, and significance of early Miocene extension in the area. The mylonitic fabric in the lower plate was formed at 23 Ma, based on a zircon U/Pb age from a synmylonitic intrusion. Upper plate strata consist of rhyolite flows overlain by sedimentary rocks that were apparently deposited during extensional faulting. These strata were tilted, folded, and intruded by synkinematic rhyolite plugs that are cut off at the detachment fault. Potassium metasomatism of the rhyolitic rocks is pervasive. Upper plate detrital sediment was derived from the rhyolitic rocks and from metamorphic and plutonic basement rocks not present in the area. The probable source of the exotic basement clasts is the Alvord Mountain area, presently located 35 km east-northeast of the Waterman Hills area. This source was probably much nearer to the Waterman Hills during deposition of the synorogenic deposits and has been subsequently shifted by extensional deformation. Distinctive Mesozoic plutonic rocks provide a possible tie between upper and lower plate rocks. Similar poikilitic gabbro bodies in the Goldstone area and the Iron Mountains suggest slip on the Waterman Hills detachment fault to be about 40–50 km. This is also consistent with other offset markers, such as the western edge of a Mesozoic dike swarm. When 15–20 km(?) of Tertiary extension is restored, Paleozoic eugeoclinal rocks are placed structurally above their miogeoclinal counterparts. Combined with the distribution of Triassic and Jurassic rocks, this implies post-Early Triassic and pre-Late Jurassic stacking of these lithologies

Marine Volcaniclastic Record of Early Arc Evolution in the Eastern Ritter Range Pendant, Central Sierra Nevada, California

Marine volcaniclastic rocks in the Sierra Nevada preserve a critical record of silicic magmatism in the early Sierra Nevada volcanic arc, and this magmatic record provides precise minimum age constraints on subduction inception and tectonic evolution of the early Mesozoic Cordilleran convergent margin at this latitude. New zircon Pb/U ages from the Ritter Range pendant and regional correlations indicate arc inception no later than mid‐Triassic time between 37 and 38°N. The regional first‐order felsic magma eruption rate as recorded by marine volcanic arc rocks was episodic, with distinct pulses of ignimbrite emplacement at ca. 221 to 216 Ma and 174 to 167 Ma. Ignimbrites range from dacite to rhyolite in bulk composition, and are petrographically similar to modern arc‐type, monotonous intermediate dacite or phenocryst‐poor, low‐silica rhyolite. Zircon trace element geochemistry indicates that Jurassic silicic melts were consistently Ti‐ and light rare earth‐enriched and U‐depleted in comparison to Triassic melts of the juvenile arc, suggesting Jurassic silicic melts were hotter, drier, and derived from distinct lithospheric sources not tapped in the juvenile stage of arc construction. Pulses of ignimbrite deposition were coeval with granodioritic to granitic components of the underlying early Mesozoic Sierra Nevada batholith, suggesting explosive silicic volcanism and batholith construction were closely coupled at one‐ to two‐million‐year time scales

Provenance of Cretaceous through Eocene strata of the Four Corners region: Insights from detrital zircons in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado

Cretaceous through Eocene strata of the Four Corners region provide an excellent record of changes in sediment provenance from Sevier thin-skinned thrusting through the formation of Laramide block uplifts and intra-foreland basins. During the ca. 125–50 Ma timespan, the San Juan Basin was flanked by the Sevier thrust belt to the west, the Mogollon highlands rift shoulder to the southwest, and was influenced by (ca. 75–50 Ma) Laramide tectonism, ultimately preserving a >6000 ft (>2000 m) sequence of continental, marginal-marine, and offshore marine sediments. In order to decipher the influences of these tectonic features on sediment delivery to the area, we evaluated 3228 U-Pb laser analyses from 32 detrital-zircon samples from across the entire San Juan Basin, of which 1520 analyses from 16 samples are newly reported herein. The detrital-zircon results indicate four stratigraphic intervals with internally consistent age peaks: (1) Lower Cretaceous Burro Canyon Formation, (2) Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma) Gallup Sandstone through Campanian (83.6–72.1 Ma) Lewis Shale, (3) Campanian Pictured Cliffs Sandstone through Campanian Fruitland Formation, and (4) Campanian Kirtland Sandstone through Lower Eocene (56.0–47.8 Ma) San Jose Formation. Statistical analysis of the detrital-zircon results, in conjunction with paleocurrent data, reveals three distinct changes in sediment provenance. The first transition, between the Burro Canyon Formation and the Gallup Sandstone, reflects a change from predominantly reworked sediment from the Sevier thrust front, including uplifted Paleozoic sediments and Mesozoic eolian sandstones, to a mixed signature indicating both Sevier and Mogollon derivation. Deposition of the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone at ca. 75 Ma marks the beginning of the second transition and is indicated by the spate of near-depositional-age zircons, likely derived from the Laramide porphyry copper province of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Paleoflow indicators suggest the third change in provenance was complete by 65 Ma as recorded by the deposition of the Paleocene Ojo Alamo Sandstone. However, our new U-Pb detrital-zircon results indicate this transition initiated ∼8 m.y. earlier during deposition of the Campanian Kirtland Formation beginning ca. 73 Ma. This final change in provenance is interpreted to reflect the unroofing of surrounding Laramide basement blocks and a switch to local derivation. At this time, sediment entering the San Juan Basin was largely being generated from the nearby San Juan Mountains to the north-northwest, including uplift associated with early phases of Colorado mineral belt magmatism. Thus, the detrital-zircon spectra in the San Juan Basin document the transition from initial reworking of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic cratonal blanket to unroofing of distant basement-cored uplifts and Laramide plutonic rocks, then to more local Laramide uplifts.National Science Foundation (NSF grant EAR-1649254

Revised Lithostratigraphy of the Sonsela Member (Chinle Formation, Upper Triassic) in the Southern Part of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

BACKGROUND: Recent revisions to the Sonsela Member of the Chinle Formation in Petrified Forest National Park have presented a three-part lithostratigraphic model based on unconventional correlations of sandstone beds. As a vertebrate faunal transition is recorded within this stratigraphic interval, these correlations, and the purported existence of a depositional hiatus (the Tr-4 unconformity) at about the same level, must be carefully re-examined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our investigations demonstrate the neglected necessity of walking out contacts and mapping when constructing lithostratigraphic models, and providing UTM coordinates and labeled photographs for all measured sections. We correct correlation errors within the Sonsela Member, demonstrate that there are multiple Flattops One sandstones, all of which are higher than the traditional Sonsela sandstone bed, that the Sonsela sandstone bed and Rainbow Forest Bed are equivalent, that the Rainbow Forest Bed is higher than the sandstones at the base of Blue Mesa and Agate Mesa, that strata formerly assigned to the Jim Camp Wash beds occur at two stratigraphic levels, and that there are multiple persistent silcrete horizons within the Sonsela Member. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We present a revised five-part model for the Sonsela Member. The units from lowest to highest are: the Camp Butte beds, Lot's Wife beds, Jasper Forest bed (the Sonsela sandstone)/Rainbow Forest Bed, Jim Camp Wash beds, and Martha's Butte beds (including the Flattops One sandstones). Although there are numerous degradational/aggradational cycles within the Chinle Formation, a single unconformable horizon within or at the base of the Sonsela Member that can be traced across the entire western United States (the "Tr-4 unconformity") probably does not exist. The shift from relatively humid and poorly-drained to arid and well-drained climatic conditions began during deposition of the Sonsela Member (low in the Jim Camp Wash beds), well after the Carnian-Norian transition

Structures Related to the Emplacement of Shallow-Level Intrusions

A systematic view of the vast nomenclature used to describe the structures of shallow-level intrusions is presented here. Structures are organised in four main groups, according to logical breaks in the timing of magma emplacement, independent of the scales of features: (1) Intrusion-related structures, formed as the magma is making space and then develops into its intrusion shape; (2) Magmatic flow-related structures, developed as magma moves with suspended crystals that are free to rotate; (3) Solid-state, flow-related structures that formed in portions of the intrusions affected by continuing flow of nearby magma, therefore considered to have a syn-magmatic, non-tectonic origin; (4) Thermal and fragmental structures, related to creation of space and impact on host materials. This scheme appears as a rational organisation, helpful in describing and interpreting the large variety of structures observed in shallow-level intrusions

Intra-arc strike-slip fault exposed at batholithic levels in the southern Sierra Nevada, California

The Kern Canyon fault is a major north-trending fault that is continuous for a distance of 140 km in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. Previous geologic mapping and geochronological work along the northern third of the fault indicate that dextral offset occurred sometime after 80 Ma and before 3.5 Ma; this offset was interpreted to be the result of Cenozoic basin-and-range extension. Our new results from the central third of the fault (Kernville-Lake Isabella region) indicate an earlier right-lateral movement history, contemporaneous with emplacement of the largest plutons in the Sierra Nevada. The older structure is termed the proto-Kern Canyon fault zone. The Cenozoic fault trace is a narrow zone of brittle deformation, whereas the Cretaceous fault zone is a broad zone of ductile deformation. U-Pb zircon geochronology on plutonic and metavolcanic rocks involved in the ductile deformation, as well as a pluton that postdates ductile deformation, demonstrate that the proto-Kern Canyon fault zone was active at 85 Ma, and may have begun to move as early as 105 Ma. Longitudinal strike-slip faults are common in modern magmatic arcs where convergence is oblique. The proto-Kern Canyon fault zone may have originated in response to a moderate northward component in subduction of the Farallon plate or perhaps a strong northward component for the Kula plate