Mafic magmatism in the Belt-Purcell Basin and Wyoming Province of western Laurentia

Author(s):  
C. Rogers ◽  
A. Mackinder ◽  
R.E. Ernst ◽  
B. Cousens
2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 1027-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Canil ◽  
D J Schulze ◽  
D Hall ◽  
B C Hearn Jr. ◽  
S M Milliken

This study presents major and trace element data for 243 mantle garnet xenocrysts from six kimberlites in parts of western North America. The geochemical data for the garnet xenocrysts are used to infer the composition, thickness, and tectonothermal affinity of the mantle lithosphere beneath western Laurentia at the time of kimberlite eruption. The garnets record temperatures between 800 and 1450°C using Ni-in-garnet thermometry and represent mainly lherzolitic mantle lithosphere sampled over an interval from about 110–260 km depth. Garnets with sinuous rare-earth element patterns, high Sr, and high Sc/V occur mainly at shallow depths and occur almost exclusively in kimberlites interpreted to have sampled Archean mantle lithosphere beneath the Wyoming Province in Laurentia, and are notably absent in garnets from kimberlites erupting through the Proterozoic Yavapai Mazatzal and Trans-Hudson provinces. The similarities in depths of equilibration, but differing geochemical patterns in garnets from the Cross kimberlite (southeastern British Columbia) compared to kimberlites in the Wyoming Province argue for post-Archean replacement and (or) modification of mantle beneath the Archean Hearne Province. Convective removal of mantle lithosphere beneath the Archean Hearne Province in a "tectonic vise" during the Proterozoic terminal collisions that formed Laurentia either did not occur, or was followed by replacement of thick mantle lithosphere that was sampled by kimberlite in the Triassic, and is still observed there seismically today.


2021 ◽  
Vol 314 ◽  
pp. 358-380
Author(s):  
Karine Zuccolan Carvas ◽  
Paulo Marcos de Paula Vasconcelos ◽  
Leila Soares Marques ◽  
Teresa Ubide ◽  
Isabela de Oliveira Carmo ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-388
Author(s):  
Ryan Bessen ◽  
Jennifer Gifford ◽  
Zack Ledbetter ◽  
Sean McGuire ◽  
Kyle True ◽  
...  

This project involved the construction of a detailed geologic map of the Park Reservoir, Wyoming 7.5-Minute Quadrangle (Scale 1:24,000). The Quadrangle occurs entirely in the Bighorn National Forest, which is a popular recreation site for thousands of people each year. This research advances the scientific understanding of the geology of the Bighorn Mountains and the Archean geology of the Wyoming Province. Traditional geologic mapping techniques were used in concert with isotopic age determinations. Our goal was to further subdivide the various phases of the 2.8–3.0 Ga Archean rocks based on their rock types, age, and structural features. This research supports the broader efforts of the Wyoming State Geological Survey to complete 1:24,000 scale geologic maps of the state. The northern part of the Bighorn Mountains is composed of the Bighorn batholith, a composite complex of intrusive bodies that were emplaced between 2.96–2.87 Ga. Our mapping of the Park Reservoir Quadrangle has revealed the presence of five different Archean quartzofeldspathic units, two sets of amphibolite and diabase dikes, a small occurrence of the Cambrian Flathead Sandstone, two Quaternary tills, and Quaternary alluvium. The Archean rock units range in age from ca. 2.96–2.75 Ga, the oldest of which are the most ancient rocks yet reported in the Bighorn batholith. All the Archean rocks have subtle but apparent planar fabric elements, which are variable in orientation and are interpreted to represent magmatic flow during emplacement. The Granite Ridge tear fault, which is the northern boundary of the Piney Creek thrust block, is mapped into the Archean core as a mylonite zone. This relationship indicates that the bounding faults of the Piney Creek thrust block were controlled by weak zones within the Precambrian basement rocks.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 599-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Henrique Laux ◽  
Márcio Martins Pimentel ◽  
Elton Luiz Dantas ◽  
Richard Armstrong ◽  
Alan Armele ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Clark ◽  
Christopher L. Kirkland ◽  
Catherine V. Spaggiari ◽  
Chris Oorschot ◽  
Michael T.D. Wingate ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cedric Djeutchou ◽  
et al.

Geochronology, geochemistry, and paleomagnetic datasets. <br>


2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 1399-1418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol D Frost ◽  
C Mark Fanning

The Bighorn Mountains of the central Wyoming Province expose a large tract of Archean crust that has been tectonically inactive and at relatively high crustal levels since ~2.7 Ga. Seven sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon and titanite age determinations on samples of the main lithologic units provide a geochronological framework for the evolution of this area. The oldest, precisely dated magmatic event occurred at 2950 ± 5 Ma, when diorite to granite dykes and sills intruded an older gneiss complex exposed in the central and southern Bighorn Mountains. Rocks as old as 3.25 Ga may be present in this gneissic basement, as indicated by the oldest dates obtained on areas of zircon grains that are interpreted as inherited cores. A tonalitic gneiss was intruded into the gneiss complex at 2886 ± 5 Ma. Deformation of the central and southern gneisses preceded the intrusion of the Bighorn batholith, a tonalitic to granitic intrusion that occupies the northern portion of the uplift. This composite batholith was intruded over the period 2.86–2.84 Ga. Ca. 3.0–2.8 Ga crust is also present in the Beartooth Mountains, the Washakie block of the northeastern Wind River Range, the Owl Creek Mountains, and the northern Granite Mountains, but late Archean deformation and plutonism has obscured much of the earlier history in the southern portion of this area. The entire area, referred to as the Beartooth–Bighorn Magmatic Zone, has been undeformed since 2.6 Ga. Proterozoic extension was focused in those parts of the Wyoming Province outside of this domain.


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