An early Cambrian rift to post-rift transition in the Cordillera of western North America

Bond, Gérard C.; Christie‐Blick, Nicholas; Kominz, Michelle A.; Devlin, William J.

doi:10.1038/315742a0

Cited by 116 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…2C). Quantitative subsidence analysis of the early Paleozoic intraplate margin indicates that thermal subsidence (drifting of the margin away from the spreading center) began 600 to 550 Ma, very close to the ProterozoicPhanerozoic boundary (Bond et al, 1985). This transition is expressed as a time-transgressive breakup unconformity (e.g., Falvey, 1974;Bond et al, 1995), separating rift facies from over lying basal transgressive marine strata.…”

Section: Proterozoic Supercontinentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Phanerozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central California and Environs

Ingersoll

1997

International Geology Review

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The use of actualistic analog models for paleotectonic reconstruction produces significant advances in our understanding of evolutionary continental tectonics. The sequential application of such models is possible in a cross section from the central California coast to Utah. This transect represents one of the best-understood Phanerozoic continental margins on Earth. Excellent exposure, detailed local studies, and regional syntheses all contribute to the choice of appropriate plate-tectonic models for successive intervals from the latest Neoproterozoic to the Quaternary. These models include craton, terrestrial rift, nascent ocean, intraplate continental margin, intraoceanic magmatic arc (both extensional and neutral), continental-margin magmatic arc (both neutral and contractional), transform continental margin, remnant ocean, suture, and successor basin. These models are useful for understanding the following stages of development of the Cordilleran margin of central California and its environs-latest Proterozoic rifting, early Paleozoic intraplate margin, Devonian-Mississippian Antler orogeny (arc-conti nent suturing), Mississippian-Pennsylvanian intraplate margin, Pennsylvanian-Permian Ancestral Rockies orogeny (Ouachita-Marathon continental suturing), Permian-Triassic Sonoma orogeny (arc-continent suturing), Triassic-Jurassic continental-margin magmatic arc, Late Jurassic Nevadan orogeny (arc-arc suturing), latest Jurassic-Late Cretaceous continentalmargin magmatic arc, latest Cretaceous-Eocene Laramide orogeny, Oligocene ignimbrite flareup, and Miocene-Holocene triple-junction migration, transform boundary, and regional exten sion of the Great Basin. The integrated result of sequential superposition of the actualistic models produces a reasonable representation of the complexity of the study area. The discipline of applying actualistic models to the evolution of this continental margin provides new insights and forces one to consider new implications of the models. The complexity of the tectonic history of this continental margin argues against simplistic general models for the growth of continental crust.

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Section: Proterozoic Supercontinentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Phanerozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central California and Environs

Ingersoll

1997

International Geology Review

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“…2). Available evidence indicates that at least some of these rocks predate the development of the Paleozoic passive continental margin and, if this is correct, must have accumulated on continental crust (3,5,31). Indeed, rocks of probable latest Proterozoic age are present in the Bull Run Mountains [BR in Fig.…”

Section: Marjorie Levy and Nicholas Christie-blickmentioning

confidence: 97%

Pre-Mesozoic Palinspastic Reconstruction of the Eastern Great Basin (Western United States)

Levy

Christie‐Blick

1989

Science

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The Great Basin of the western United States has proven important for studies of Proterozoic and Paleozoic geology [2500 to 245 million years ago (Ma)] and has been central to the development of ideas about the mechanics of crustal shortening and extension. An understanding of the deformational history of this region during Mesozoic and Cenozoic time (245 Ma to the present) is required for palinspastic reconstruction of now isolated exposures of older geology in order to place these in an appropriate regional geographic context. Considerable advances in unraveling both the crustal shortening that took place during Mesozoic to early Cenozoic time (especially from about 150 to 50 Ma) and the extension of the past 37 million years have shown that earlier reconstructions need to be revised significantly. A new reconstruction is developed for rocks of middle Proterozoic to Early Cambrian age based on evidence that total shortening by generally east-vergent thrusts and folds was at least 104 to 135 kilometers and that the Great Basin as a whole accommodated approximately 250 kilometers of extension in the direction 287 degrees +/- 12 degrees between the Colorado Plateau and the Sierra Nevada. Extension is assumed to be equivalent at all latitudes because available paleomagnetic evidence suggests that the Sierra Nevada experienced little or no rotation with respect to the extension direction since the late Mesozoic. An estimate of the uncertainty in the amount of extension obtained from geological and paleomagnetic uncertainties increases northward from +/-56 kilometers at 36 degrees 30N to (-87)(+108) kilometers at 40 degrees N. On the basis of the reconstruction, the original width of the preserved part of the late Proterozoic and Early Cambrian basin was about 150 to 300 kilometers, about 60 percent of the present width, and the basin was oriented slightly more north-south with respect to present-day coordinates.

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“…1), the Paleozoic section is approximately 1.5 km thick (e.g., Billingsley 2000), whereas in distal locations such as Death Valley, correlative Paleozoic strata are 16 km thick (e.g., McAllister 1956;Burchfiel 1969;Wright et al 1981). The regional thickness variation has been ascribed to thermal subsidence accompanying the Neoproterozoic breakup of Rodinia and the development of a western Laurentian passive margin (e.g., Burchfiel and Davis 1972;Stewart 1972;Bond et al 1985;Burchfiel et al 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

Verdel

Niemi

Pluijm

2011

The Journal of Geology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press A B S T R A C TX-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the illite to muscovite transition in pelitic rocks has been widely used in regional studies of low-grade metamorphism. Variations in detrital muscovite content of sediments are also measurable with XRD and may, in fact, be difficult to distinguish from metamorphic gradients. We utilize field transects to isolate detrital muscovite versus metamorphic reaction components of illite-muscovite variations in Paleozoic rocks of the western United States. One transect focuses on a single stratigraphic interval (Middle Cambrian pelites) and extends from Death Valley in the west to the Grand Canyon in the east. Detrital muscovite content is roughly constant along this 500-km-long transect, so illite-muscovite variations are ascribed to differences in low-grade metamorphism. In terms of both illite crystallinity and polytype composition, there is an overall increase in metamorphic grade to the west along the transect, from the diagenetic metapelitic zone at the Grand Canyon to epizone-low anchizone conditions near Death Valley. Most of the regional variation in illite parameters occurs between Frenchman Mountain and the southern Nopah Range, corresponding to the transition from cratonic to miogeoclinal facies and also to the leading edge of the Sevier thrust belt. In contrast to this "horizontal" transect that highlights metamorphic reactions, a vertical transect through the Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon targets temporal variations in the flux of detrital muscovite. In the Grand Canyon, illite crystallinity reaches a maximum at the base of the Pennsylvanian Supai Group before decreasing upsection. Deposition of the Supai Group was coeval with formation of basementcored uplifts during the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny, and we suggest that the upsection change in illite composition at the Grand Canyon reflects input of detrital muscovite eroded from these uplifts.Online enhancement: appendix. IntroductionThe transformation of illite to muscovite is the basis for defining low-grade metamorphism of pelites (e.g., Frey 1987;Merriman and Frey 1999) tal structure of illite occur during subgreenschist facies metamorphism and, given sufficient time and temperature, result in crystallites that are indistinguishable from muscovite. These crystallographic variations, which are observable with both x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), track metamorphism from the diagenetic zone to the epizone, or from roughly 100Њ to 300ЊC (Merriman and Frey 1999).However, direct inference of metamorphic grade from illite-muscovite parameters is complicated by variations in detrital musc...

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An early Cambrian rift to post-rift transition in the Cordillera of western North America

Cited by 116 publications

References 18 publications

Phanerozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central California and Environs

Phanerozoic Tectonic Evolution of Central California and Environs

Pre-Mesozoic Palinspastic Reconstruction of the Eastern Great Basin (Western United States)

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

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