The uplift history of the Sierra Nevada, California, is a topic of long-standing disagreement with much of it centered on the timing and nature of slip along the range-bounding normal fault along the east flank of the southern Sierra Nevada. The history of normal fault slip is important for characterizing the uplift history of the Sierra Nevada, as well as for characterizing the geologic and geodynamic factors that drove, and continue to drive, normal faulting. To address these issues, we completed new structural studies and extensive apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) thermochronometry on samples collected from three vertical transects in the footwall to the east-dipping southern Sierra Nevada normal fault (SNNF). Our structural studies on bedrock fault planes show that the SNNF is a steeply (~70°) east-dipping normal fault. The new AHe data reveal two elevation-invariant AHe age arrays, indicative of two distinct periods of cooling and exhumation, which we interpret as initiation of normal faulting along the SNNF at ca. 28–27 Ma with a second phase of normal faulting at ca. 17–13 Ma. We argue that beginning in the late Oligocene, the SNNF marked the now long-standing stable western limit, or break-away zone, of the Basin and Range. Slip along SNNF, and the associated unloading of the footwall, likely resulted in two periods of uplift of Sierra Nevada during the late Cenozoic. Trench retreat, driven by westward motion of the North American plate, along the Farallon–North American subduction zone boundary, as well as the gravitationally unstable northern and southern Basin and Range pushing on the cold Sierra Nevada, likely drove the late Oligocene- aged normal slip along the SNNF and the similar-aged but generally local and minor extension within the Basin and Range. We posit that the thick proto–Basin and Range lithosphere was primed for late Oligocene extension by replacement of the steepening Farallon slab with hot and buoyant asthenosphere. While steepening of the Farallon slab had not yet reached the southern Sierra Nevada by late Oligocene time, we speculate that late Oligocene slip along the SNNF reactivated a late Cretaceous dextral shear zone as the Sierra Nevada block was pulled and pushed westward in response to trench retreat and gravitational potential energy. The dominant middle Miocene normal fault-slip history along the SNNF is contemporaneous with high-magnitude slip recorded along range-bounding normal faults across the Basin and Range, including the east-adjacent Inyo and White mountains, indicating that this period of extension was a major regional tectonic event. We infer that a combination of slab-driven trench retreat along the Juan de Fuca–North America subduction zone boundary and clockwise rotation of the southern ancestral Cascade Range superimposed on continental lithosphere pre-conditioned for extension drove this episode of middle Miocene normal slip along the SNNF and extension to the east across the Basin and Range. Transtensional plate motion along the Pacific–North America plate boundary, and likely a growing slab window, continued to drive extension along the SNNF and the western Basin and Range, but not until ca. 11 Ma when the Mendocino triple junction reached the latitude of our northernmost (U-Th)/He transect.
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Reconstruction of the Cenozoic deformation of the Bohai Bay Basin, North China
A well‐constrained plate deformation model may lead to an improved understanding of sedimentary basin formation and the connection between subduction history and over‐riding plate deformation. Building quantitative models of basin kinematics and deformation remains challenging often due to the lack of comprehensive constraints. The Bohai Bay Basin (BBB) is an important manifestation of the destruction of the North China Craton, and records the plate kinematic history of East Asia during the Cenozoic. Although a number of interpretations of the formation of the BBB have been proposed, few quantitative basin reconstruction models have been built to test and refine previous ideas. Here, we developed a quantitative deformation reconstruction of the BBB constrained with balanced cross‐sections and structural, stratigraphic and depositional age data. Our reconstruction suggests that the basin formation process was composed of three main stages: Paleocene‐early Eocene (65–42 Ma) extension initiation, middle Eocene‐early Oligocene (42–32.8 Ma) extension climax and post‐Oligocene (32.8–0 Ma) post‐extensional subsidence. The deformation of the BBB is spatially heterogeneous, and its velocity directions rotated clockwise during the basin formation process. The reconstruction supports the interpretation that the BBB formed via strike‐slip faulting and orthogonal extension and that the basin is classified as a composite extensional‐transtensional basin. We argue that the clockwise rotation of the basin velocity field was driven by the counter‐clockwise rotation in the direction of Pacific Plate subduction. The kinematics of the BBB imply that the Pacific Plate may have been sufficiently coupled to the over‐riding East Asian Plate during the critical period of Pacific Plate reorganization. The new reconstruction provides a quantitative basis for studies of deformation processes not only in the vicinity of the BBB, but also more broadly throughout East Asia.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1645775
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10447466
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Basin Research
- Volume:
- 33
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0950-091X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 364-381
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 352 recovered sedimentary‐volcaniclastic successions and extensional structures (faults and extensional veins) that allow the reconstruction of the Izu‐Bonin forearc tectonic evolution using a combination of shipboard core data, seismic reflection images, and calcite vein microstructure analysis. The oldest recorded biostratigraphic ages within fault‐bounded sedimentary basins (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene) imply a ~15 Ma hiatus between the formation of the igneous basement (52 to 50 Ma) and the onset of sedimentation. At the upslope sites (U1439 and U1442) extension led to the formation of asymmetric basins reflecting regional stretch of ~16–19% at strain rates of ~1.58 × 10−16to 4.62 × 10−16s−1. Downslope Site U1440 (closer to the trench) is characterized by a symmetric graben bounded by conjugate normal faults reflecting regional stretch of ~55% at strain rates of 4.40 × 10−16to 1.43 × 10−15s−1. Mean differential stresses are in the range of ~70–90 MPa. We infer that upper plate extension was triggered by incipient Pacific Plate rollback ~15 Ma after subduction initiation. Extension was accommodated by normal faulting with syntectonic sedimentation during Late Eocene to Early Oligocene times. Backarc extension was assisted by magmatism with related Shikoku and Parece‐Vela Basin spreading at ~25 Ma, so that parts of the arc and rear arc, and the West Philippine backarc Basin were dismembered from the forearc. This was followed by slow‐rift to postrift sedimentation during the transition from forearc to arc rifting to spreading within the Shikoku‐Parece‐Vela Basin system.
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The Alaska Range suture zone exposes Cretaceous to Quaternary marine and nonmarine sedimentary and volcanic rocks sandwiched between oceanic rocks of the accreted Wrangellia composite terrane to the south and older continental terranes to the north. New U-Pb zircon ages, 40Ar/39Ar, ZHe, and AFT cooling ages, geochemical compositions, and geological field observations from these rocks provide improved constraints on the timing of Cretaceous to Miocene magmatism, sedimentation, and deformation within the collisional suture zone. Our results bear on the unclear displacement history of the seismically active Denali fault, which bisects the suture zone. Newly identified tuffs north of the Denali fault in sedimentary strata of the Cantwell Formation yield ca. 72 to ca. 68 Ma U-Pb zircon ages. Lavas sampled south of the Denali fault yield ca. 69 Ma 40Ar/39Ar ages and geochemical compositions typical of arc assemblages, ranging from basalt-andesite-trachyte, relatively high-K, and high concentrations of incompatible elements attributed to slab contribution (e.g., high Cs, Ba, and Th). The Late Cretaceous lavas and bentonites, together with regionally extensive coeval calc-alkaline plutons, record arc magmatism during contractional deformation and metamorphism within the suture zone. Latest Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary strata are locally overlain by Eocene Teklanika Formation volcanic rocks with geochemical compositions transitional between arc and intraplate affinity. New detrital-zircon data from the modern Teklanika River indicate peak Teklanika volcanism at ca. 57 Ma, which is also reflected in zircon Pb loss in Cantwell Formation bentonites. Teklanika Formation volcanism may reflect hypothesized slab break-off and a Paleocene–Eocene period of a transform margin configuration. Mafic dike swarms were emplaced along the Denali fault from ca. 38 to ca. 25 Ma based on new 40Ar/39Ar ages. Diking along the Denali fault may have been localized by strike-slip extension following a change in direction of the subducting oceanic plate beneath southern Alaska from N-NE to NW at ca. 46–40 Ma. Diking represents the last recorded episode of significant magmatism in the central and eastern Alaska Range, including along the Denali fault. Two tectonic models may explain emplacement of more primitive and less extensive Eocene–Oligocene magmas: delamination of the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene arc root and/or thickened suture zone lithosphere, or a slab window created during possible Paleocene slab break-off. Fluvial strata exposed just south of the Denali fault in the central Alaska Range record synorogenic sedimentation coeval with diking and inferred strike-slip displacement. Deposition occurred ca. 29 Ma based on palynomorphs and the youngest detrital zircons. U-Pb detrital-zircon geochronology and clast compositional data indicate the fluvial strata were derived from sedimentary and igneous bedrock presently exposed within the Alaska Range, including Cretaceous sources presently exposed on the opposite (north) side of the fault. The provenance data may indicate ~150 km or more of dextral offset of the ca. 29 Ma strata from inferred sediment sources, but different amounts of slip are feasible. Together, the dike swarms and fluvial strata are interpreted to record Oligocene strike-slip movement along the Denali fault system, coeval with strike-slip basin development along other segments of the fault. Diking and sedimentation occurred just prior to the onset of rapid and persistent exhumation ca. 25 Ma across the Alaska Range. This phase of reactivation of the suture zone is interpreted to reflect the translation along and convergence of southern Alaska across the Denali fault driven by highly coupled flat-slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate, which continues to accrete to the southern margin of Alaska. Furthermore, a change in Pacific plate direction and velocity at ca. 25 Ma created a more convergent regime along the apex of the Denali fault curve, likely contributing to the shutting off of near-fault extension- facilitated arc magmatism along this section of the fault system and increased exhumation rates.more » « less
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Abstract The spatial distribution and kinematics of intracontinental deformation provide insight into the dominant mode of continental tectonics: rigid-body motion versus continuum flow. The discrete San Andreas fault defines the western North America plate boundary, but transtensional deformation is distributed hundreds of kilometers eastward across the Walker Lane–Basin and Range provinces. In particular, distributed Basin and Range extension has been encroaching westward onto the relatively stable Sierra Nevada block since the Miocene, but the timing and style of distributed deformation overprinting the stable Sierra Nevada crust remains poorly resolved. Here we bracket the timing, magnitude, and kinematics of overprinting Walker Lane and Basin and Range deformation in the Pine Nut Mountains, Nevada (USA), which are the westernmost structural and topographic expression of the Basin and Range, with new geologic mapping and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Structural mapping suggests that north-striking normal faults developed during the initiation of Basin and Range extension and were later reactivated as northeast-striking oblique-slip faults following the onset of Walker Lane transtensional deformation. Conformable volcanic and sedimentary rocks, with new ages spanning ca. 14.2 Ma to 6.8 Ma, were tilted 30°–36° northwest by east-dipping normal faults. This relationship demonstrates that dip-slip deformation initiated after ca. 6.8 Ma. A retrodeformed cross section across the range suggests that the range experienced 14% extension. Subsequently, Walker Lane transtension initiated, and clockwise rotation of the Carson domain may have been accommodated by northeast-striking left-slip faults. Our work better defines strain patterns at the western extent of the Basin and Range province across an approximately 150-km-long east-west transect that reveals domains of low strain (∼15%) in the Carson Range–Pine Nut Mountains and Gillis Range surrounding high-magnitude extension (∼150%–180%) in the Singatse and Wassuk Ranges. There is no evidence for irregular crustal thickness variations across this same transect—either in the Mesozoic, prior to extension, or today—which suggests that strain must be accommodated differently at decoupled crustal levels to result in smooth, homogenous crustal thickness values despite the significantly heterogeneous extensional evolution. This example across an ∼150 km transect demonstrates that the use of upper-crust extension estimates to constrain pre-extension crustal thickness, assuming pure shear as commonly done for the Mesozoic Nevadaplano orogenic plateau, may not be reliable.more » « less
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null (Ed.)The Ruby Mountains, East Humboldt Range and Wood Hills (REHW) of Elko County Nevada, one of the classic metamorphic core complexes of the Cordillera, preserves a protracted and episodic record of both ancient and modern crustal extension that has only recently been unraveled based on its thermochronometrically constrained cooling history. Extension began during the Late Eocene synchronously with a major pulse of intermediate to felsic magmatism preserved locally by plutonic rocks intruded into the REHW and regionally by widespread Late Eocene to early Oligocene volcanism (“the ignimbrite flare-up”). The Eocene-Oligocene event accommodated at least 15 km of extension concentrated in the northern half of the complex and associated with deposition in the Elko Basin to the west, a relatively thin (~1 km), broad sequence of Late Eocene lacustrine and related strata that contrasts with the younger sedimentation patterns represented by the narrower, thicker (up to 4+km), coarse clastics of the Miocene Humboldt Basin. Though locally significant, the Eocene-Oligocene extensional phase appears not to have been associated with broadly distributed regional extension, again contrasting with Miocene and younger events. The initial phase of extension slowed or halted by the mid-Oligocene, after which extension re-accelerated in the latest Oligocene to early Miocene (~25 – 21 Ma), correlative with deposition of a coarse clastic and lacustrine sequence known as the Clover Formation. This extensional phase propagated farther south than the earlier phase along the full length of the REHW. Extension likely slowed again between ~21 Ma and ~17.5 Ma, after which it abruptly re-accelerated through the Middle Miocene to ~10 Ma, synchronous with deposition of the thick, coarse clastics of the Humboldt Formation. Middle Miocene extension likely initiated with crustal-scale heating marking the impingement of the Yellowstone hot spot in NW Nevada. Sometime after 10 Ma, the interior of the core complex was transected by east-dipping normal faults that today define the steep eastern face of the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range; these face west-dipping normal faults along the west flank of the Pequop Mountains and Spruce Mountains. Extension continues today at a rate of ~1 mm/yr as represented by the 2008 MW 6.0 Wells Earthquake.more » « less
