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Basement Tectonics 8 pp 145–168Cite as

Post-Archean crustal evolution, terrane accretion, and metamorphism of the Western Cordillera, with emphasis on northern and central California

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Part of the book series: Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics ((ICBT,volume 2))

Abstract

In the conterminous United States, narrow Phanerozoic high-P blueschist + serpentinized peridotite zones lie outboard from coeval high-T metamorphosed calcalkaline magmatic belts bordering the Pacific Ocean; both lie parallel to the North American margin. They represent recrystallized products of midPaleozoic and younger subduction zones, Andean margins and exotic arcs. These belts contain allochthonous oceanic units but, judging from provenance and isotope data, voluminous terrigineous debris and parental magmatic zones appear to be native to the evolving North American margin. Far-traveled sialic microcontinental scraps are rare. Metamorphic parageneses farther within the continent are associated with chiefly mesozonal granitic plutons. Glaucophane schists, eclogites, and large tracts of ophiolitic ultramafic rocks are absent, partly due to overprinting of accretionary margin assemblages by subsequent orogenies, high-T recrystallization and anatexis. For example, at depth within the California Coast Ranges, high-P phases are currently being destroyed. Inland, a paucity of petrotectonic assemblages of oceanic affinities probably reflects differential sinking of these dense crustal units during tectonism. The late Mesozoic Franciscan trench complex/Great Valley forearc basin/Sierra Nevada magmatic arc constitutes the most completely preserved accretionary segment along the western conterminous U.S. continental margin, and it serves as a type example of parautochthonous crustal evolution.

Precambrian Pb, Nd, and Sr isotope ratios and igneous/metamorphic formation ages, in comparison with Phanerozoic recrystallization and metamorphic-facies distributions, suggest a gradual zonal enlargement of the continent southward from the Wyoming craton during Early and Middle Proterozoic time, followed by Late Proterozoic-Phanerozoic westward development. Sialic growth in the western U.S. Cordillera appears to have been due chiefly to partial fusion and magma ascent above continentward subducting paleo-Pacific lithospheric plates, combined with metamorphic and sedimentary reworking in the forearc + trench + backarc regions, rather than resulting from the amalgamation of variably old and young geologically unrelated, far-traveled, exotic crustal fragments.

UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Publication No. 3217

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  1. School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305-2210, USA

    W. G. Ernst

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  1. Earth Sciences and Resources Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Mervin J. Bartholomew

  2. Department of Geology, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Donald W. Hyndman

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

    David W. Mogk

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Robert Mason

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Ernst, W.G. (1992). Post-Archean crustal evolution, terrane accretion, and metamorphism of the Western Cordillera, with emphasis on northern and central California. In: Bartholomew, M.J., Hyndman, D.W., Mogk, D.W., Mason, R. (eds) Basement Tectonics 8. Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1614-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1614-5_10

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