The Sierra Nevada batholith comprises the plutonic rocks of Mesozoic age that underlie most of the Sierra Nevada, a magnificent mountain range that originated in the Cenozoic by the westward tilting of a huge block of the Earth's crust. Scattered intrusions west of the batholith in the western metamorphic belt of the Sierra Nevada and east of the Sierra Nevada in the Benton Range and the White and Inyo Mountains are satellitic to but not strictly parts of the Sierra Nevada batholith. Nevertheless, all the plutonic rocks are related in origin. The batholith lies along the west edge of the Paleozoic North American craton, and Paleozoic and early Mesozoic oceanic crust underlies its western margin. It was emplaced in strongly deformed but weakly metamorphosed strata ranging in age from Proterozoic to Cretaceous. Sedimentary rocks of Proterozoic and Paleozoic age crop out east of the batholith in the White and Inyo Mountains, and metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age crop out west of the batholith in the western metamorphic belt. A few large and many small, generally elongate remnants of metamorphic rocks lie within the batholith. Sparse fossils from metasedimentary rocks and isotopic ages for metavolcanic rocks indicate that the metamorphic rocks in the remnants range in age from Early Cambrian to Early Cretaceous. Within the map area (the Mariposa 1° by 2° quadrangle), the bedding, cleavage, and axial surfaces of folds generally trend about N. 35° W., parallel to the long axis of the Sierra Nevada. The country rocks comprise strongly deformed but generally coherent sequences; however, some units in the western metamorphic belt may partly consist of melanges. Most sequences are in contact with other sequences, at least for short distances, but some sequences within the batholith are bounded on one or more sides by plutonic rocks. Proterozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary strata east of the Sierra Nevada and Paleozoic strata in remnants of country rocks within the eastern part of the batholith, although strongly deformed, are autochthonous or have been displaced only short distances, whereas some Mesozoic strata in the western metamorphic belt may be allochthonous. Probably the strata in the western metamorphic belt were deposited in marginal basins and island arcs, but the possibility that they were transported from distant places has not been disproved. All the country rocks have been strongly deformed, most of them more than once. Tectonic disturbances occurred during the Devonian and Mississippian (Antler? orogeny), the Permian and (or) Early Triassic (Sonoman? orogeny), the Late Jurassic (Nevadan orogeny), and at various other times during emplacement of the batholith and uplift that accompanied and followed its emplace-Manuscript approved for publication, February 4, 1988. PLUTONISM IN THE CENTRAL PART OF THE SIERRA NEVADA BATHOLITH, CALIFORNIA fine-grained dolomite, which locally contains black chert nodules. It is about 275 m thick. EMIGRANT(?) FORMATION Thrust slices of the E...

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Sixty-two samples from well-established comagmatic granitoid sequences and certain unassigned formations and plutons of the central part of the Sierra Nevada batholith between latitudes 37° and 38° N. have been dated by the isotopic U-Pb method on zircon. The U-Pb ages indicate the following age distribution of the granitoids: (1) The axial part of the batholith is occupied by Cretaceous granitoid sequences that are progressively younger eastward over a 37-m.y. interval extending from about 125 m.y. to about 88 m.y. ago. (2) A single, but extensive, Triassic sequence with an optimum average age of about 210 m.y. is present in the east side of the batholith. (3) Plutons and granitoid sequences of Jurassic age, most of them with U-Pb ages between 186 and 155 m.y., occur in both margins and locally in the interior of the batholith. The distribution of Jurassic ages suggests that prior to the emplacement of the Cretaceous granitoids, Jurassic granitoids were widely distributed across the central Sierra Nevada but were not emplaced in a west-to-east succession as were the Cretaceous granitoids. Few of our ages fall between 155 and 125 m.y. However, a U-Pb age of 144 m.y. has been reported on the Sage Hen Flat pluton in the White Mountains, and U-Pb ages between 134 and 128 m.y. have been reported on remnants of older granitoids farther south in the Sierra Nevada, which are associated with roof pendants and septa. Also, numerous K-Ar ages on hornblende in the range of 152 to 131 m.y. have been reported on samples collected farther north along the west side of the batholith. The distribution of U-Pb ages is consistent with the interpretation that in the central Sierra Nevada, a belt of Cretaceous granitoids trending about N. 20° W. crosses a belt of Jurassic granitoids trending about N. 40° W. However, the U-Pb ages provide little support for the existence of five cyclic intrusive epochs for California and western Nevada. Comparison of the U-Pb ages on zircon with the K-Ar ages on biotite and hornblende shows generally good agreement for the younger granitoids but decreasing agreement for increasingly older granitoids. Most of the K-Ar ages on biotite and many on hornblende from older granitoids appear to have been reduced as a result of reheating by younger plutons. The dispersion of K-Ar ages reflects the complex structural and thermal history of the batholith.

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