Geology of the western margin of the Grand Forks complex, southern British Columbia: high-grade Cretaceous metamorphism followed by early Tertiary extension on the Granby fault

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Laberge ◽  
D RM Pattison
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Normal Displacement ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Temperature Conditions ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Grand Forks

The Grand Forks complex, in the southern Omineca belt of British Columbia, is a fault-bounded tectonic window exposing Proterozoic sediments and associated mafic rocks metamorphosed to upper amphibolite to granulite facies. Its western margin is marked by the Granby fault, an Eocene west-dipping, low-angle, normal fault characterized by brittle deformation. The metasediments of the Grand Forks complex consist of migmatitic paragneiss containing a peak metamorphic assemblage of garnet + cordierite + sillimanite + K-feldspar ± biotite + quartz. Pressure–temperature conditions for this assemblage are 800 ± 35 °C and 5.8 ± 0.6 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa). Resorption of garnet to cordierite ± spinel suggests nearly isothermal decompression of about 2 kbar from peak conditions, interpreted to have occurred prior to normal displacement on the Granby fault. Laser ablation U–Pb dating of monazite from the metasediments suggests a dominant episode of Late Cretaceous metamorphism at 84 ± 3 Ma, with evidence for earlier episodes of Cretaceous metamorphism at 119 ± 3 and 104 ± 3 Ma. Early Tertiary recrystallization at 51 ± 2 Ma is coeval with the emplacement of the nearby Coryell plutonic suite. In the hanging wall of the Granby fault, allochthonous sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Quesnel terrane contain mineral assemblages indicative of the upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies. Pressure–temperature conditions are estimated at 425 ± 40 °C and 2.3 ± 0.7 kbar. The throw (vertical displacement) on the Eocene Granby fault is estimated to be on the order of 5 km. While significant, the fault cannot account for the entire amount of tectonic uplift of the core complex.

Cretaceous sedimentation and tectonics, Tyaughton–Methow Basin, southwestern British Columbia

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen L. Kleinspehn
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Dispersal Patterns ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Active Intermediate ◽  
Major Strike ◽  
Fault Displacement

The Mesozoic Tyaughton–Methow Basin straddles the Fraser–Yalakom–Pasayten – Straight Creek (FYPSC) strike-slip fault zone between six tectono-stratigraphic terranes in southwestern British Columbia. Data from Hauterivian–Cenomanian basin fill provide constraints for reconstruction of fault displacement and paleogeography.The Early Cretaceous eastern margin of the basin was a region of uplifted Jurassic plutons and active intermediate volcanism. Detritus shed southwestward from that margin was deposited as the marine Jackass Mountain Group. Albian inner to mid-fan facies of the Jackass Mountain Group can be correlated across the Yalakom Fault, suggesting 150 ± 25 km of post- Albian dextral offset. Deposits of the Jackass Mountain Group overlap the major strike- slip zone (FYPSC). If that zone represents the eastern boundary of the tectono-stratigraphic terrane, Wrangellia, then accretion of Wrangellia to terranes to the east occurred before late Early Cretaceous time.The western margin of the basin first became prominent with Cenomanian uplift of the Coast Mountain suprastructure. Uplift is recorded by dispersal patterns of the volcaniclastic Kingsvale Group southwest of the Yalakom Fault.Reversing 110 km of Late Cretaceous – early Tertiary dextral motion on the Fraser – Straight Creek Fault followed by 150 km of Cenomanian – Turonian motion on the Yalakom – Ross Lake Fault restores the basin to a reasonable depositional configuration.

The Great Tonalite Sill of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia: emplacement into an active contractional high angle reverse shear zone (extended abstract)

1992 ◽  
Vol 83 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 383-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. W. Hutton ◽  
Gary M. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Metamorphic Grade ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Metamorphic Complex ◽  
High Angle ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Western Cordillera ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
The World ◽  
Gravina Belt

The Great Tonalite Sill (GTS) of southeastern Alaska and British Columbia (Brew & Ford 1981; Himmelberg et al. 1991) is one of the most remarkable intrusive bodies in the world: it extends for more than 800 km along strike and yet is only some 25 km or less in width. It consists of a belt of broadly tonalitic sheet-like plutons striking NW–SE and dipping steeply NE, and has been dated between 55 Ma and 81 Ma (J. L. Wooden, written communication to D. A. Brew, April 1990) (late Cretaceous to early Tertiary). The sill (it is steeply inclined and rather more like a “dyke”) is emplaced along the extreme western margin of the Coast Plutonic and Metamorphic Complex (CPMC), the high grade core of the Western Cordillera. The CPMC forms the western part of a group of tectonostratigraphic terranes including Stikine and Cache Creek, collectively known as the Intermontane Superterrane (Rubin et al. 1990). To the W of the GTS, rocks of the Insular Superterrane, including the Alexander and Wrangellia terranes and the Gravina belt, form generally lower metamorphic grade assemblages. The boundary between these two superterranes is obscure but it may lie close to, or be coincident with, the trace of the GTS.

Metamorphism and deformation of the Grand Forks complex: implications for the exhumation history of the Shuswap core complex, southern British Columbia

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1329-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel F. Cubley ◽  
David R.M. Pattison
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Greenschist Facies ◽  
Contact Metamorphism ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Core Complex ◽  
The West ◽  
Grand Forks ◽  
Exhumation History

The Grand Forks complex (GFC) is an elongate, north–south-trending metamorphic core complex in the Shuswap domain of southeastern British Columbia. It comprises predominantly upper-amphibolite- to granulite-facies paragneisses, schists, orthogneisses, amphibolites, and calc-silicates of the Paleoproterozoic to Paleozoic Grand Forks Group. The GFC is juxtaposed against low-grade rocks of the Quesnel terrane across two bounding Eocene normal faults: the Kettle River fault (KRF) on the east flank and the Granby fault (GF) on the west flank. Peak metamorphic Sil + Kfs ± Grt ± Crd (Sil, sillimanite; Kfs, potassium feldspar; Grt, garnet; Crd, cordierite) assemblages in paragneiss and Hbl ± Opx ± Cpx (Hbl, hornblende; Opx, orthopyroxene; Cpx, clinopyroxene) assemblages in amphibolite in the GFC formed at 750 ± 25 °C, 5.6 ± 0.5 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa; 20 ± 2 km depth). Stratigraphically overlying Sil + St-bearing pelitic schists (St, staurolite) within the complex record peak conditions of 600 ± 15 °C, 5.5 ± 0.25 kbar. Crd + Ilm + Spl (Crd, cordierite; Ilm, ilmenite; Spl, spinel) and Crd + Qtz (Qtz, quartz) coronal textures in paragneiss, and Cpx + Opx + Pl + Mt (Pl, plagioclase; Mt, magnetite) symplectites in amphibolite, formed at 735 ± 20 °C, 3.3 ± 0.5 kbar, indicating high-temperature, near-isothermal decompression of the GFC of ∼2.3 ± 0.7 kbar (∼8.2 ± 2.5 km) from peak conditions. Transitional greenschist–amphibolite metamorphic assemblages in the hanging wall of the KRF indicate conditions of ∼425 ± 25 °C and 2.2 ± 0.6 kbar (∼8 ± 2 km depth), with local contact metamorphism around Jurassic intrusions as high as 630–650 °C at ∼2.5 ± 0.5 kbar. The pressure contrast across the Kettle River fault prior to greenschist facies displacement was ∼0.8 ± 0.7 kbar, for a vertical offset of ∼2.9 ± 2.5 km. This is similar to estimates for the Granby fault on the west flank of the GFC. The GFC therefore experienced a two-stage exhumation history: early high-temperature decompression at upper-amphibolite- to granulite-facies conditions, followed by low-temperature exhumation at greenschist-facies conditions owing to movement on the Eocene Granby and Kettle River faults.

Geology of the Chatham Sound region, southeast Alaska and coastal British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1579-1599 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E Gehrels
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
The West ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
Upper Paleozoic ◽  
Coastal British Columbia

The Coast Mountains orogen is thought to have formed as a result of accretion of the Alexander and Wrangellia terranes against the western margin of the Stikine and Yukon–Tanana terranes, but the nature and age of accretion remain controversial. The Chatham Sound area, which is located along the west flank of the Coast Mountains near the Alaska – British Columbia border, displays a wide variety of relations that bear on the nature and age of the boundary between inboard and outboard terranes. Geologic and U–Pb geochronologic studies in this area reveal a coherent but deformed and metamorphosed sequence of rocks belonging to the Yukon–Tanana terrane, including pre-mid-Paleozoic marble, schist, and quartzite, mid-Paleozoic orthogneiss and metavolcanic rocks, and upper Paleozoic metaconglomerate and metavolcanic rocks. These rocks are overlain by Middle Jurassic volcanic rocks (Moffat volcanics) and Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous strata of the Gravina basin, both of which also overlie Triassic and older rocks of the Alexander terrane. This overlap relationship demonstrates that the Alexander and Wrangellia terranes were initially accreted to the margin of inboard terranes during or prior to mid-Jurassic time. Accretion was apparently followed by Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous extension–transtension to form the Gravina basin, left-slip along the inboard margin of Alexander–Wrangellia, mid-Cretaceous collapse of the Gravina basin and final structural accretion of the outboard terranes, and early Tertiary dip-slip motion on the Coast shear zone.

New U–Pb age constraints on latest Cretaceous magmatism and associated mineralization in the Fawnie Range, Nechako Plateau, central British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
R M Friedman ◽  
L J Diakow ◽  
R A Lane ◽  
J K Mortensen
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The North ◽  
Continental Arc ◽  
Igneous Activity ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Plateau Central ◽  
Cretaceous Magmatism

New U–Pb ages and K–Ar dates, primarily for rocks proximal to mineral occurrences in the Fawnie Range of central British Columbia, document latest Cretaceous (ca. 74–66 Ma) continental-arc igneous activity and date associated base and precious metal mineralization. U–Pb ages of ca. 73–69 Ma for the Capoose pluton and hypabyssal to extrusive garnet rhyolites at the Capoose prospect demonstrate a latest Cretaceous age for mineralization and a likely plutonic source for mineralizing fluids. A U–Pb age of ca. 67 Ma for a late mineralized felsic dyke and two K–Ar dates (ca. 70 and 68 Ma) for hornfelsed Jurassic volcanic rocks at the Blackwater–Davidson prospect constrain a latest Cretaceous age for mineralization. A U–Pb age of ca. 74 Ma for a fine grained diorite sill that cuts a significant epithermal gold vein at the Tsacha prospect places a minimum age on mineralization at this probable Jura-Cretaceous deposit and documents latest Cretaceous magmatism. Latest Cretaceous K–Ar dates are reported for an andesite flow adjacent to the Eocene Holy Cross deposit (ca. 66 Ma), about 35 km north of the Fawnie Range, and a Kasalka Group rhyolite (ca. 68 Ma) exposed near the western margin of the Nechako Plateau. Latest Cretaceous magmatism and mineralization in the Fawnie Range represent the waning stages of Bulkley suite magmatism and porphyry-style mineralization, which was concentrated along the western margin of the Nechako Plateau at circa 88–70 Ma. The distribution of latest Cretaceous arc igneous rocks along the North American Cordilleran is reviewed and tectonic implications discussed.

40Ar/39Ar thermochronometric constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Clachnacudainn complex, southeastern British Columbia

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 1989-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Colpron ◽  
Raymond A Price ◽  
Douglas A Archibald
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Closure Temperature ◽  
Widespread Distribution ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Structural Levels

40Ar/39Ar thermochronometry from the Clachnacudainn complex indicates that the thermal evolution of the complex was controlled primarily by the intrusion of granitoid plutons in mid- and Late Cretaceous times. Hornblendes from the eastern part of the complex cooled below their Ar closure temperature (ca. 500°C) shortly after intrusion of the mid-Cretaceous plutons; those from the western part of the complex have latest Cretaceous cooling dates, indicating cooling of these hornblendes after intrusion of the leucogranite plutons at ca. 71 Ma. Micas from the southern Clachnacudainn complex exhibit a pattern of progressive cooling toward lower structural levels, where Late Cretaceous and younger intrusions occur. The occurrence of Late Cretaceous - Paleocene mica cooling dates in both the hanging wall and footwall of the Standfast Creek fault refutes the hypothesis that there has been significant Tertiary extensional exhumation of the Clachnacudainn complex along the Standfast Creek fault. Furthermore, the widespread distribution of Late Cretaceous - Paleocene mica cooling ages suggests that an important volume of Late Cretaceous - early Tertiary intrusive rocks must be present in the subsurface beneath the Clachnacudainn complex.

scholarly journals Volcanism in The Pre-Semilir Formation at Giriloyo Region; Allegedly as Source of Kebo-Butak Formation in the Western Southern Mountains

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Sri Mulyaningsih ◽  
Muchlis Muchlis ◽  
Nur W.A.A.T. Heriyadi ◽  
Desi Kiswiranti
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Geological Mapping ◽  
Surface Mapping ◽  
Clastic Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Sequence ◽  
Rock Formations ◽  
Basaltic Composition ◽  
Absolute Age

Kebo-Butak Formation was known to be the oldest volcanic rocks limited in regional terms in the lower Baturagung Hills, Gedangsari area, Gunungkidul Regency. The main constituents of the Kebo-Butak Formation consist of intersection of volcanic-clastic rocks and calcareous sediments, locally also found basalt lava with pillow structures; which distinguished it from other volcanic rock formations in the Southern Mountains. This study aims to determine the relationship of volcanic rocks exposed in Giriloyo with the Kebo-Butak Formation in the Baturagung Hills; the chronostratigraphy and the history of volcanic  activities that produced the volcanic rocks of Giriloyo. This research was approached by volcanic geological mapping using surface mapping suported by gravity anayses. From the bottom to the top of the frontier areas result volcaniclastic rocks consisting of black tuffs with several fragments of volcanic bombs with basalt composition intersecting with thin basaltic lava inserted by calcareous claystone having an age of N5-7 (Early Miocene); pyroxene-rich basalt volcanic sequence consists of thick layers of tuff with creamy-brown color intersecting with lava and breccia inserted by calcareous sandstone aged N7-8; dikes, lava and agglomerates with basaltic composition and lava and agglomerates with andesitic composition. Stratigraphically, the volcanic rocks exposed at Giriloyo correlated with the volcanic rocks exposed at Karangtalun (Wukirsari) were under the Semilir Formation, bordered with normal fault N210oE/77o, the hanging wall composed by light grey tuff of Semilir Formation. Gravity analyses found high anomalies below the Semilir Formation exposed at Karangtalun-Munthuk (east of study area) continued to below the Giriloyo area. The high anomalies were identified as the igneous/ignimbrite volcanic sequence. Descriptively and stratigraphically, the Giriloyo volcanic sequence are a part of Kebo-Butak Formation. The petrogenesis of the volcanic rocks will be discussed in further research to interpret magmatological properties, the evolving paleo-volcano, and the absolute age of the rocks.

Age and geological setting of Gold Creek gneiss, crystalline basement of the Windermere Supergroup, Cariboo Mountains, British Columbia

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 1217-1231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Murphy ◽  
R. T. Walker ◽  
R. R. Parrish
Keyword(s):  
High Strain ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Crystalline Basement ◽  
Normal Displacement ◽  
The North ◽  
Bearing Unit ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Windermere Supergroup ◽  
Displacement Based

Gold Creek gneiss, the most recently discovered body of crystalline basement in the Canadian Cordillera, is a northwest-trending granitic to dioritic orthogneiss straddling the eastern end of the Canoe River valley, near the southeastern end of the Cariboo Mountains. U–Pb geochronometry of zircons from two samples of quartz diorite orthogneiss from two separate localities yielded similar, nearly linear, discordant arrays with upper intercepts of 2.08 Ga. The patterns of discordance in both samples preclude assigning a precise age, although a date between 2.0 and 2.1 Ga is geologically reasonable.North of Canoe River, Gold Creek gneiss is inferred to be nonconformably overlain by quartzite and marble, which in turn are inferred to be unconformably overlain by a conglomerate- and diamictite-bearing unit at the base of the lower Kaza Group of the Windermere Supergroup. In contrast with other exposures of basement and cover in the area, neither contact is marked by anomalously high strain or mylonitic rocks. Gold Creek gneiss therefore represents the crystalline basement upon which the Windermere Supergroup was deposited.Gold Creek gneiss occurs in a multiply deformed domain bounded on the north by the Purcell thrust and on the east by the North Thompson – Albreda fault (NTAF), an Eocene, down-to-the-west normal fault. Gneiss and overlying Windermere Supergroup are folded by the Canoe River anticline and lie in the hanging wall of a recently identified folded, premetamorphic, southwest-vergent shear zone, the Sir Arthur Meighen thrust. The footwall consists of Mica Creek succession, a sequence of metaclastic rocks, amphibolite, and marble which is in part equivalent to the Windermere Supergroup but may include younger rocks. Hanging wall and footwall rocks and structures are folded by Early Cretaceous, synmetamorphic, northeast-vergent folds.Gold Creek and Malton gneisses are both in the hanging wall of the Purcell thrust but on opposite sides of the NTAF. Strike separation of the Purcell thrust across the NTAF suggests 0.5–4.5 km of normal displacement, affirming earlier estimates of displacement based on geobarometry. This amount of displacement and the consideration that Gold Creek gneiss is thrust over Mica Creek succession, which structurally overlies Malton gneiss along Malton décollement, preclude the interpretation that Gold Creek and Malton gneisses were physically continuous prior to displacement on the NTAF. It is more likely that Gold Creek gneiss lies in the hanging wall of Malton décollement and would restore an unknown distance to the southwest along it. Gold Creek gneiss also lies in the hanging wall of Monashee décollement and would restore at least as far southwest as the western edge of Monashee Complex, or over 100 km.

Isotopic evidence for complex Pb sources in the Ag–Pb–Zn–Au veins of the Kokanee Range, southeastern British Columbia

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georges Beaudoin ◽  
D. F. Sangster ◽  
C. I. Godwin
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Isotopic Signature ◽  
Fracture Permeability ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Pb Isotopic Composition ◽  
Lower Crustal

In the Kokanee Range, more than 370 Ag–Pb–Zn–Au vein and replacement deposits are hosted by the Middle Jurassic Nelson batholith and surrounding Cambrian to Triassic metasedimentary rocks. The Kokanee Range forms the hanging wall of the Slocan Lake Fault, an Eocene, east-dipping, low-angle normal fault. The Pb isotopic compositions of galenas permit the deposits to be divided into four groups that form linear arrays in tridimensional Pb isotopic space, each group having a distinct geographic distribution that crosses geological boundaries. The Kokanee group Pb is derived from a mixture of local upper crustal country rocks. Ainsworth group Pb and Sandon group Pb plot along a mixing line between a lower crustal Pb reservoir and the upper crustal Pb reservoir. The Ainsworth group Pb isotopic signature is markedly lower crustal, whereas the Sandon group Pb is slightly lower crustal. The Bluebell group Pb plots along a mixing line between a depleted upper mantle Pb reservoir and the lower crustal Pb reservoir.The geographic distribution and the Pb isotopic composition of each group probably reflect deep structures that permitted mixing of lower crustal, upper crustal, and mantle Pb by hydrothermal fluids. Segments of, or fluids derived from, the lower crust and the upper mantle were leached by, or mixed with, evolved meteoric water convecting in the upper crust. Fracture permeability, hydrothermal fluid flow, and mineralization resulted from Eocene crustal extension in southeastern British Columbia.

Regionally continuous Miocene rhyolites beneath the eastern Snake River Plain reveal localized flexure at its western margin: Idaho National Laboratory and vicinity

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-270
Author(s):  
Kyle L. Schusler ◽  
David M. Pearson ◽  
Michael McCurry ◽  
Roy C. Bartholomay ◽  
Mark H. Anders
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Snake River Plain ◽  
North American Plate ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Trace Element Geochemistry ◽  
Deep Borehole ◽  
Age Progression ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Silicic Volcanic ◽  
River Plain

The eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) is a northeast-trending topographic basin interpreted to be the result of the time-transgressive track of the North American plate above the Yellowstone hotspot. The track is defined by the age progression of silicic volcanic rocks exposed along the margins of the ESRP. However, the bulk of these silicic rocks are buried under 1 to 3 kilometers of younger basalts. Here, silicic volcanic rocks recovered from boreholes that penetrate below the basalts, including INEL-1, WO-2 and new deep borehole USGS-142, are correlated with one another and to surface exposures to assess various models for ESRP subsidence. These correlations are established on U/Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar sanidine age determinations, phenocryst assemblages, major and trace element geochemistry, δ18O isotopic data from selected phenocrysts, and initial εHf values of zircon. These data suggest a correlation of: (1) the newly documented 8.1 ± 0.2 Ma rhyolite of Butte Quarry (sample 17KS03), exposed near Arco, Idaho to the upper-most Picabo volcanic field rhyolites found in borehole INEL-1; (2) the 6.73 ± 0.02 Ma East Arco Hills rhyolite (sample 16KS02) to the Blacktail Creek Tuff, which was also encountered at the bottom of borehole WO-2; and (3) the 6.42 ± 0.07 Ma rhyolite of borehole USGS-142 to the Walcott Tuff B encountered in deep borehole WO-2. These results show that rhyolites found along the western margin of the ESRP dip ~20º south-southeast toward the basin axis, and then gradually tilt less steeply in the subsurface as the axis is approached. This subsurface pattern of tilting is consistent with a previously proposed crustal flexural model of subsidence based only on surface exposures, but is inconsistent with subsidence models that require accommodation of ESRP subsidence on either a major normal fault or strike-slip fault.

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