Abstract. We present geochemical and isotopic data for Nisutlin assemblage metasedimentary rocks and Anvil assemblage greenstones from the Teslin tectonic zone of the northern Canadian Cordillera. This study aims to establish the tectonic setting of formation for the sedimentary and basaltic protoliths of these highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks and thereby place constraints on the origin of these enigmatic rocks for which differing tectonic models have been proposed.

Metamorphosed and ductilely deformed sedimentary, plutonic, and volcanic rocks of the Nisutlin and Anvil assemblages make up the Yukon–Tanana terrane in the Teslin tectonic zone study area. The Nisutlin assemblage consists of siliceous schist–quartzite and graphitic phyllite that share a primary depositional contact, and Early Mississippian tonalite to quartz diorite that intrudes the siliceous schist–quartzite and possibly the graphitic phyllite. The Anvil assemblage includes metagabbro and mafic schist–greenstone that share an intrusive contact relationship. Tonalite to quartz diorite of the Nisutlin assemblage is characterized by minor zircon inheritance with an average Proterozoic age, εNd(350 Ma) values of −2.5 to −6.2, and Nd model ages of 1.50–1.79 Ga. These data suggest that the magmatic bodies have inherited a component of continentally derived material. Primary contact relationships and age data indicate that the Nisutlin assemblage had formed by Mississippian time, and regional correlations show that this assemblage makes up a large part of the Yukon–Tanana terrane of southern Yukon. Assembly of the Nisutlin assemblage by Mississippian time indicates that it did not form as a late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic subduction melange, and it suggests that its tectonic fabrics did not result from the progressive growth of a Permo-Triassic subduction complex. We suggest that the Nisutlin assemblage was part of a crustal block that lay outboard of North America in Mississippian time, and that it lay in the hanging-wall plate of a Permo-Triassic subduction zone as a relatively coherent assemblage, rather than forming within the zone as a subduction complex.

The structural and tectonic evolution of the Teslin tectonic zone, a complex belt of ductilely deformed rocks forming the southern extension of the Yukon‐Tanana terrane in the northern Canadian Cordillera, is elucidated with new field data and by the reinterpretation of existing data. The zone includes greenschist to amphibolite facies metasedimentary and metaplutonic rocks of the Nisutlin and Anvil assemblages characterized by S and L‐S tectonite fabrics. Primary contact relationships and ages show that most rocks in the zone were contiguous by Mississippian time. Mapping identified a number of strain domains which preserve S fabrics dipping northeasterly or southwesterly, variable mineral lineation orientations, and a variety of shear directions including easterly and westerly vergent thrust shear, down‐to‐the‐east and down‐to‐the‐west normal shear, and dextral strike‐slip shear. Regional constraints and microstructures suggest that latest ductile deformation was Late Triassic to Early Jurassic in age. Structural characteristics are explained most effectively by convergent‐dominated transpression in combination with tectonic wedging and associated back thrusting above a low‐angle west dipping detachment. Oblique eastward and upward movement of the rocks over the detachment, which may have coincided with the top of thinned North American continental crust, produced easterly vergent shear, and localized or widespread tectonic wedging and back thrusting produced westerly vergent shear. The transpressive deformation postdates formation of the Nisutlin assemblage by Mississippian time and subduction of the Slide Mountain Ocean beneath the Nisutlin assemblage in Permian to Early Triassic time. The western margin of the Teslin tectonic zone was truncated by Cretaceous strike‐slip faults and translated northward. Rocks of the peraluminous orthogneiss assemblage of the Yukon‐Tanana terrane in central Yukon acted as the tectonic wedge and were overthrust by rocks of the Nisutlin and Anvil assemblages in Early Jurassic time before unroofing by local extension in Cretaceous time.

The Code/Theory workshop explored the process of translating between theory and code, from the perspective of those who do this work on a day to day basis. This report contains individual contributions from participants reflecting on their own experiences, along with summaries of their lightning talks and outputs from the discussion sessions. We conclude that translating between theory and code successfully requires a diversity of roles, all of which are central to the process of research.

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