The southern US and northern Mexican Cordillera experienced crustal melting during the Laramide orogeny (c. 80–40 Ma). The metamorphic sources of melt are not exposed at the surface; however, anatectic granites are present throughout the region, providing an opportunity to investigate the metamorphic processes associated with this orogeny. A detailed geochemical and petrochronological analysis of the Pan Tak Granite from the Coyote Mountains core complex in southern Arizona suggests that prograde metamorphism, melting, and melt crystallization occurred here from 62 to 42 Ma. Ti-in-zircon temperatures (TTi-zr) correlate with changes in zircon rare earth elements (REE) concentrations, and indicate prograde heating, mineral breakdown, and melt generation took place from 62 to 53 Ma. TTi-zr increases from ~650 to 850 °C during this interval. A prominent gap in zircon ages is observed from 53 to 51 Ma and is interpreted to reflect the timing of peak metamorphism and melting, which caused zircon dissolution. The age gap is an inflection point in several geochemical-temporal trends that suggest crystallization and cooling dominated afterward, from 51 to 42 Ma. Supporting this interpretation is an increase in zircon U/Th and Hf, a decrease in TTi-zr, increasing zircon (Dy/Yb)n, and textural evidence for coupled dissolution–reprecipitation processes that resulted in zircon (re)crystallization. In addition, whole rock REE, large ion lithophile elements, and major elements suggest that the Pan Tak Granite experienced advanced fractional crystallization during this time. High-silica, muscovite± garnet leucogranite dikes that crosscut two-mica granite represent more evolved residual melt compositions. The Pan Tak Granite was formed by fluid-deficient melting and biotite dehydration melting of meta-igneous protoliths, including Jurassic arc rocks and the Proterozoic Oracle Granite. The most likely causes of melting are interpreted to be a combination of (1) radiogenic heating and relaxation of isotherms associated with crustal thickening under a plateau environment, (2) heat and fluid transfer related to the Laramide continental arc, and (3) shear and viscous heating related to the deformation of the deep lithosphere. The characteristics and petrologic processes that created the Pan Tak Granite are strikingly similar to intrusive suites in the Himalayan leucogranite belt and further support the association between the North American Cordilleran anatectic belt and a major orogenic and thermal event during the Laramide orogeny.
Exhumation of the Coyote Mountains metamorphic core complex (Arizona): implications for orogenic collapse of the southern North American Cordillera.
A microstructural and thermochronometric analysis of the Coyote Mountains detachment shear zone provides new insight into the collapse of the southern North American Cordillera. The Coyote Mountains is a metamorphic core complex that makes up the northern end of the Baboquivari Mountains in southern Arizona. The Baboquivari Mountains records several episodes of crustal shortening and thickening, and regional metamorphism, including the Late Cretaceous-early Paleogene Laramide orogeny which is locally expressed by the Baboquivari thrust fault. Thrusting and shortening were accompanied by magmatic activity recorded by intrusion of Paleocene muscovite-biotite-garnet peraluminous granites such as the ~58 Ma Pan Tak Granite, interpreted as anatectic melts representing the culmination of the Laramide orogeny. Following Laramide crustal shortening, the northern end of the Baboquivari Mountains was exhumed along a top-to-the-north detachment shear zone, which resulted in the formation of the Coyote Mountains metamorphic core complex. Structural and microstructural analysis show that the detachment shear zone evolved under a strong component of non-coaxial (simple shear) deformation, at deformation conditions of ~450 ± 50°C, under a differential stress of ~60 MPa, and a strain rate of 1.5 ×10-11 s-1 to 5.0 × 10-13 s-1 at depth of ~11–14 km. Detailed 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of biotite and muscovite, in the context of the deformation conditions determined by quartz microstructures, suggests that the mylonitization associated with the formation of the Coyote Mountains metamorphic core complex started at ~29 Ma (early Oligocene). Apatite fission track ages indicate that the footwall of the Coyote Mountains metamorphic core complex experienced rapid exhumation to the upper crust by ~24 Ma. The fact that mylonitization and rapid extensional exhumation post-dates Laramide thickening by ~30 Myr indicates that crustal thickness alone was insufficient to initiate extensional tectonic and required an additional driving force. The timing of mylonitization and rapid exhumation documented here and in other MCCs are consistent with the hypothesis that slab rollback and the effect of a slab window trailing the Mendocino Triple Junction have been critical in driving the development of the MCCs of the southwest.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1849812
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10157478
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Tectonics
- ISSN:
- 1944-9194
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The Ruby Mountains–East Humboldt Range–Wood Hills–Pequop Mountains (REWP) metamorphic core complex, northeast Nevada, exposes a record of Mesozoic contraction and Cenozoic extension in the hinterland of the North American Cordillera. The timing, magnitude, and style of crustal thickening and succeeding crustal thinning have long been debated. The Pequop Mountains, comprising Neoproterozoic through Triassic strata, are the least deformed part of this composite metamorphic core complex, compared to the migmatitic and mylonitized ranges to the west, and provide the clearest field relationships for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonic evolution. New field, structural, geochronologic, and thermochronological observations based on 1:24,000-scale geologic mapping of the northern Pequop Mountains provide insights into the multi-stage tectonic history of the REWP. Polyphase cooling and reheating of the middle-upper crust was tracked over the range of <100 °C to 450 °C via novel 40Ar/39Ar multi-diffusion domain modeling of muscovite and K-feldspar and apatite fission-track dating. Important new observations and interpretations include: (1) crosscutting field relationships show that most of the contractional deformation in this region occurred just prior to, or during, the Middle-Late Jurassic Elko orogeny (ca. 170–157 Ma), with negligible Cretaceous shortening; (2) temperature-depth data rule out deep burial of Paleozoic stratigraphy, thus refuting models that incorporate large cryptic overthrust sheets; (3) Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Eocene intrusions and associated thermal pulses metamorphosed the lower Paleozoic–Proterozoic rocks, and various thermochronometers record conductive cooling near original stratigraphic depths; (4) east-draining paleovalleys with ∼1–1.5 km relief incised the region before ca. 41 Ma and were filled by 41–39.5 Ma volcanic rocks; and (5) low-angle normal faulting initiated after the Eocene, possibly as early as the late Oligocene, although basin-generating extension from high-angle normal faulting began in the middle Miocene. Observed Jurassic shortening is coeval with structures in the Luning-Fencemaker thrust belt to the west, and other strain documented across central-east Nevada and Utah, suggesting ∼100 km Middle-Late Jurassic shortening across the Sierra Nevada retroarc. This phase of deformation correlates with terrane accretion in the Sierran forearc, increased North American–Farallon convergence rates, and enhanced Jurassic Sierran arc magmatism. Although spatially variable, the Cordilleran hinterland and the high plateau that developed across it (i.e., the hypothesized Nevadaplano) involved a dynamic pulsed evolution with significant phases of both Middle-Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous contractional deformation. Collapse long postdated all of this contraction. This complex geologic history set the stage for the Carlin-type gold deposit at Long Canyon, located along the eastern flank of the Pequop Mountains, and may provide important clues for future exploration.more » « less
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