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Below the seismogenic zone, faults are expressed as zones of distributed ductile strain in which minerals deform chiefly by crystal plastic and diffusional processes. We present a case study from the Caledonian frontal thrust system in northwest Scotland to better constrain the geometry, internal structure, and rheology of a major zone of reverse-sense shear below the brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT). Rocks now exposed at the surface preserve a range of shear zone conditions reflecting progressive exhumation of the shear zone during deformation. Field-based measurements of structural distance normal to the Moine Thrust Zone, which marks the approximate base of the shear zone, together with microstructural observations of active slip systems and the mechanisms of deformation and recrystallization in quartz, are paired with quantitative estimates of differential stress, deformation temperature, and pressure. These are used to reconstruct the internal structure and geometry of the Scandian shear zone from ~10 to 20 km depth. We document a shear zone that localizes upwards from a thickness of >2.5 km to <200 m with temperature ranging from ~450–350°C and differential stress from 15–225 MPa. We use estimates of deformation conditions in conjunction with independently calculated strain rates to compare between experimentally derived constitutive relationships and conditions observed in naturally-deformed rocks. Lastly, pressure and converted shear stress are used to construct a crustal strength profile through this contractional orogen. We calculate a peak shear stress of ~130 MPa in the shallowest rocks which were deformed at the BDT, decreasing to <10 MPa at depths of ~20 km. Our results are broadly consistent with previous studies which find that the BDT is the strongest region of the crust.

In ancient or partially eroded arc sections, a protracted history of tectonism and deformation makes interpretation of local volcanic-plutonic relationships challenging. The fragmentary preservation of volcanic rocks relative to the extensive plutonic record in upper-crustal arc sections also suggests that a broader-scale approach that includes volcanic-hypabyssal-plutonic “fields” is useful. In this context, studies of hypabyssal intrusions emplaced at the intersection of volcanic and plutonic fields provide additional physical and chemical constraints on shallow-level magmatic processes. New mapping, U-Pb zircon geochronology, and geochemistry at Tioga Pass, in the central Sierra Nevada arc section, document the physical and chemical evolution of the Tioga Pass hypabyssal complex, a ca. 100 Ma system that includes an intrusive dacite-rhyolite porphyry unit and comagmatic Tioga Lake quartz monzodiorite. We interpret these units as a Cretaceous subvolcanic magma feeder system intruding a package of tectonically displaced Triassic and Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks, rather than the previous interpretation of a Triassic caldera. The Tioga Pass magmatic system is a well-exposed example of a hypabyssal complex with meso- to micro-scale structures that are consistent with rapid cooling and emplacement between 0–6 km depth and compositions suggestive of extensive fractionation of largely mantle-derived magma. The Tioga Pass porphyry unit is one of many hypabyssal intrusions scattered along a ~50-kilometer-wide belt of the east-central Sierra Nevada that are spatially associated with coeval volcanic and plutonic rocks due to tectonic downward transfer of arc crust. They provide a valuable perspective of shallow magmatic processes that may be used to test upper-crustal plutonic-volcanic links in tectonically reorganized arc sections.

Most metasedimentary rocks in the southern Coast Mountains batholith are of uncertain tectonic affinity because they occur in discontinuous pendants surrounded by large intrusive bodies, and many protolith features are obscured by regional deformation and metamorphism. This study uses U-Th-Pb ages and Lu-Hf isotope signatures of detrital zircons in metasedimentary rocks in Bute, Loughborough, and Knight Inlets in an effort to test possible correlations with the adjacent Wrangellia, Alexander, Taku, Yukon-Tanana, and Stikine terranes. Detrital zircons from metasedimentary samples yield ages that belong to age groups of 590-528 Ma (peak age of 560 Ma), 485-432 Ma (peak age of 452 Ma), 356-286 Ma (peak age of 307 Ma), and 228-185 Ma (peak ages of 215 and 198 Ma). A small number of ~1.1-1.9 Ga grains are also present. εHft values of the 590-185 Ma grains yield a progression from intermediate (0 to +5) values to more juvenile (mostly +4 to +15) values from Neoproterozoic through early Mesozoic time. The Comparison of these results with similar data sets from adjacent terranes demonstrates that primary connections with the Yukon-Tanana and Taku terranes are unlikely but are consistent with primary connections with the Wrangellia, Stikine, and/or Alexander terranes. Unfortunately, the available constraints are not sufficient to eliminate any of these options or the possibility that the pendants are a unique tectonic fragment. Zircons from the metasedimentary samples also yield U-Th-Pb ages of 165-128 Ma (peak age of 152 Ma) and 114-88 Ma (peak age of 102 Ma). εHft values of these zircon domains are mostly juvenile (+7 to +13). Comparison of U concentrations, U/Th values, and CL textures of zircons from the metasedimentary samples, leucocratic sills that intrude the pendants, and surrounding plutonic bodies suggests that most of the young grains, as well as widespread younger rims on older grains, grew during metamorphism associated with emplacement of the adjacent plutonic bodies. Some young grains were derived from thin felsic sills or veins that were unintentionally included in the sampled material.