Detrital zircon provenance and depositional links of Mesozoic Sierra Nevada intra-arc strata

Abstract

A compilation of new and published detrital zircon U-Pb age data from Permo-Triassic to Cretaceous intra-arc strata of the Sierra Nevada (eastern California, USA) reveals consistent sedimentary provenance and depositional trends across the entire Sierra Nevada arc. Detrital zircon age distributions of Sierra Nevada intra-arc strata are dominated by Mesozoic age peaks corresponding to coeval or just preceding arc activity. Many samples display a spread of pre-300 Ma ages that is indistinguishable from the detrital age distributions of pre-Mesozoic prebatholithic framework strata and southwestern Laurentian continental margin deposits. Synthesis of detrital zircon age data with tectonostratigraphic constraints indicates that a marine to subaerial arc was established in Triassic time, giving way to widespread shallow- to deep-marine deposition in latest Triassic to Early Jurassic time that continued until the emergence of the arc surface in the Early Cretaceous. No data presented herein require the existence of Mesozoic exotic terranes and/or outboard arcs that were previously hypothesized to have been accreted to the Sierra Nevada. We conclude that Sierra Nevada intra-arc strata formed within a coherent depositional network that was intimately linked to the southwestern United States Cordilleran margin throughout the span of Mesozoic arc activity.

Spatiotemporally heterogeneous deformation, indirect tectonomagmatic links, and lithospheric evolution during orogenic activity coeval with an arc flare-up

“…metavolcanic and metasedimentary strata of the Ritter Range pendant are intruded by numerous Triassic,Jurassic, plutonic and hypabyssal intrusions (Fig. 4; Huber and Rinehart, 1965;Kistler, 1966;Tobisch et al, 1977Tobisch et al, , 2000Attia et al, 2018Attia et al, , 2020Attia et al, , 2021Barth et al, 2018). These intrusions provide many opportunities for dating crosscutting relationships that constrain the development timing of structural features, and the Ritter Range pendant thus preserves a rich record of Mesozoic deformation.…”

Multi-scale, open-system magmatic and sub-solidus processes contribute to the chemical and isotopic characteristics of the Jurassic Guadalupe Igneous Complex, Sierra Nevada, California, USA

“…The Mariposa Formation overlies the Jurassic-Triassic volcano-sedimentary Peñon Blanco Formation, which is exposed to the north of the GIC (e.g., Bogen, 1984), and the Late Jurassic Gopher Ridge island-arc volcanics exposed to the west (Clark, 1964;Tobisch et al, 1989;Schweickert, 2015). The Jurassic arc during the time of formation of the GIC is interpreted as a fringing oceanic arc built on slightly older dominantly marine sedimentary and volcanic units and local ophiolites (Schweickert and Cowan, 1975;Attia et al, 2021). The exposed base of the GIC intersects with the BMFZ, a zone of Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous multi-stage ductile deformation and metamorphism (Fig.…”

“…Silicic volcanism was active ~2-3 m.y. prior to the onset of GIC construction, as evident by zircon U-Pb crystallization ages of a rhyolitic unit interbedded with the Mariposa Formation (Ratschbacher et al, 2018;Attia et al, 2021; Fig. 12A).…”

Using discordant U-Pb zircon data to re-evaluate the El Paso terrane: Late Paleozoic tectonomagmatic evolution of east-central California (USA) and intense hydrothermal activity in the Jurassic Sierra Nevada arc

“…These broad, multimodal age distributions are unusual. Attia et al (2018Attia et al ( , 2021 speculate that these enigmatic distributions may record either an exotic provenance sourced in a late Paleozoic fringing arc system or sources in the northern and eastern orogens of Laurentia.…”