Paleomagnetic evidence for Neogene clockwise tectonic rotations in the central Mojave Desert, California

Ross, Timothy M.; Luyendyk, Bruce P.; Haston, Roger B.

doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1989)017<0470:pefnct>2.3.co;2

Cited by 37 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…This restriction could indicate that the anomalies result from inadequate structural corrections and/or inadequate averaging of secular variation, but several lines of evidence indicate that the anomalies record at least some amount of true vertical-axis rotation. First, the declination anomalies are overwhelmingly clockwise (Ross et al, 1989). Second, analysis of data from Ross (1988) indicates no correlation between average declination anomaly and either average or maximum bedding dip in a given structural subblock.…”

Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…5) contains dikes that only strike north or northeast (however, the number of such dikes is curiously small, given the widespread area over which declination anomalies are reported). This region contains some of the largest declination anomalies found by Ross et al (1989), as well as the trace of the proposed Mojave Valley fault (see the previous section on Offset of Paleogeographic Markers). We infer that these rotations may have been caused by dextral movement across this northeast-striking fault (Martin et al, 1993).…”

Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In the first type, data have been collected from several lava flows in a given structural area and averaged to smooth out secular variation and structural correction errors (e.g., Ross et al, 1989;Valentine et al, 1993). Strata involved in the studies usually are tilted to dips of Ͼ20Њ (e.g., the average dip of strata at 68 sites measured by Ross [1988] is 30Њ), at least locally in the limbs of plunging folds.…”

Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cenozoic evolution of the Mojave block of southern California

Glazner¹,

Walker

Bartley

et al. 2002

Geologic Evolution of the Mojave Desert and Southwestern Basin and Range

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The recorded Cenozoic history of the Mojave Desert region of southern California began in the latest Oligocene, when intense volcanism and tectonism interrupted a long early Tertiary silence. Volcanism commenced across the region in an east-west band ca. 24-22 Ma. Northwest of Barstow, volcanism was accompanied by intense crustal extension and development of a metamorphic core complex. Outside of this relatively restricted area, extension was minor or absent. After extension ceased ca. 18 Ma, volcanism shifted to small-volume eruptions of basalt. Post-extensional deformation has largely been by strike-slip faulting along northwest-striking dextral faults and west-striking sinistral faults, and total dextral slip across the Mojave Desert region since the early Miocene is ϳ45-60 km. Strike-slip deformation has been overprinted locally by intense north-south contraction that is the dominant style of deformation in the western Mojave block.Paleomagnetic data indicate that parts of the Mojave block were rotated clockwise, although the magnitude and timing of this rotation are poorly determined. The best evidence for large (Ͼ45Њ) rotation comes from the area east of Barstow, where large clockwise declination anomalies and Mesozoic and Cenozoic dikes with anomalous strikes may reflect early Miocene clockwise deflection along the Mojave River fault.Volcanism and tectonism in the Mojave block resulted from interactions among the North American, Pacific, and various oceanic plates. Patterns of volcanism and tectonism do not correlate with growth of slab windows beneath the continent, but do correlate with the position of the subducted Mendocino fracture zone. Plate-circuit reconstructions suggest that the driving force for extension was divergence between the Pacific and North American plates along the transform margin that separated the two. This hypothesis accounts for the direction, magnitude, and rate of extension in the Mojave block.

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Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Vertical-axis Rotationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cenozoic evolution of the Mojave block of southern California

Glazner¹,

Walker

Bartley

et al. 2002

Geologic Evolution of the Mojave Desert and Southwestern Basin and Range

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show abstract

“…Adams, written communication, 1991] show no declination anomalies. These flows have yielded K-Ar whole-rock apparent ages of 7.8-+0.7 [Carter et al, 1987] and 4.5-_.0.3 [Calzia et al, 1986] clockwiserotationsof about 50° [Ross et al, 1989]. Outcrops of Peach Springs tuff [ Young and Brennan, 1974;Nielson et al, 1990] within this domain record small (<13°) clockwise and counterclockwise rotations from three sites.…”

Section: Gravity and Paleomagnetic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…of extension and vertical-axis rotation in a large-scale, distributed strike-slip fault system dominates the Neogene geologic history of southern California [Luyendyk, 1989]. The plate tectonic framework for the evolution of western North America [Atwater, 1970[Atwater, , 1988] predicts 1360+90 km of fight slip between the Pacific and North American plates since 30 Ma [Stock and Molnar, 1988].…”

Section: The Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Palinspastic reconstruction of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona for the Middle Miocene

Richard¹

1993

Tectonics

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A paleogeographic reconstruction of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona at 10 Ma has been made based on available geologic and geophysical data. Clockwise rotation of 39° has been reconstructed in the eastern Transverse Ranges, consistent with paleomagnetic data from late Miocene volcanic rocks, and with slip estimates for left‐lateral faults within the eastern Transverse Ranges and NW‐trending right‐lateral faults in the Mojave Desert. This domain of rotated rocks is bounded by the Pinto Mountain fault on the north. The model requires that the western part of the late Miocene Pinto Mountain fault was a thrust fault, which gained displacement to the west, because of the absence of evidence for rotation of the San Bernardino Mountains or for significant right slip faults within the San Bernardino Mountains. The Squaw Peak thrust system of Meisling and Weldon (1989) may be a western continuation of this fault system. The Sheep Hole fault bounds the rotating domain on the east. East of this fault an array of NW‐trending right slip faults and south‐trending extensional transfer zones has produced a basin and range physiography while accumulating up to 16 km of right slip. This maximum is significantly less than the 37.5 km of right slip required in this region by a recent reconstruction of the central Mojave Desert (Dokka and Travis, 1990a). Geologic relations along the southern boundary of the rotating domain are poorly known, but this boundary is interpreted to involve a series of curved strike slip faults and linking normal faults that accommodated noncoaxial extension. Quaternary movement on the Pinto Mountain and nearby faults is unrelated to the rotation of the eastern Transverse Ranges, and a hiatus during part of Pliocene time followed the deformation which produced the rotation. The reconstructed Clemens Well fault in the Orocopia Mountains, proposed as a major early Miocene strand of the San Andreas fault, projects eastward towards Arizona, where early Miocene rocks and structures are continuous across its trace, making large displacements on this structure unlikely. The model predicts a 14° clockwise rotation and 32% extension during late Miocene and early Pliocene time along a NW‐trending line parallel to the present trace of the San Andreas fault. Palinspastic reconstructions of the San Andreas system based on this proposed reconstruction may be significantly modified from current models.

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Paleomagnetism and Microplate Tectonics

Hagstrum

Harbert

1991

Reviews of Geophysics

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Paleomagnetic evidence for Neogene clockwise tectonic rotations in the central Mojave Desert, California

Cited by 37 publications

References 0 publications

Cenozoic evolution of the Mojave block of southern California

Cenozoic evolution of the Mojave block of southern California

Palinspastic reconstruction of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona for the Middle Miocene

Paleomagnetism and Microplate Tectonics

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