Distribution of Fusulinaceans in the Western Canadian Cordillera

Monger, J. W. H.; Ross, Charles A.

doi:10.1139/e71-026

Cited by 220 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Early Paleozoic faunas in the Alexander terrane are exotic and support its origin somewhere in the present circum-Arctic region (Nelson et al 2013). Permian and early Mesozoic faunas in Quesnellia, Stikinia and Wrangellia all have affinities with faunas found on northwestern Pangea (now the North American craton) and probably lived in northeastern Panthalassa (the ancestral Pacific; Monger and Ross 1971;Miller 1987;Cordey et al 1992;Fedorowski et al 1999;Belasky and Stephens 2006;Smith 2006). Notably, Early Permian coral faunas in Stikinia and Wrangellia are more similar to one another than to those in Quesnellia (Belasky and Stephens 2006).…”

Section: Terranes Involved In Coast-cascade Orogenesismentioning

confidence: 98%

Logan Medallist 1. Seeking the Suture: The Coast-Cascade Conundrum

Monger

2014

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The boundary between rocks assigned to the Intermontane superterrane in the interior of the Canadian Cordillera and those of the Insular superterrane in the westernmost Cordillera of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska lies within/along the Coast Mountains, in which is exposed the core of an orogen that emerged as a discrete tectonic entity between 105 and 45 million years ago. Evidence from the Coast Mountains and flanking areas indicates that parts of the Intermontane superterrane (in Stikinia and Yukon-Tanana terranes) were near those of the Insular superterrane (Wrangellia and Alexander terranes) by the Early Jurassic (~180 Ma). This timing, as well as paleobiogeographic and paleomagnetic considerations, appears to discount a recent hypothesis that proposes westward-dipping subduction beneath an intra-oceanic arc on Insular superterrane resulted in arc-continent collision and inaugurated Cordilleran orogenesis in the Late Jurassic (~146 Ma). The hypothesis also relates the subducted ocean that had separated the superterranes to a massive, faster-than-average-velocity seismic anomaly in the lower mantle below the eastern seaboard of North America. To create such an anomaly, subduction of the floor of a large ocean was needed. The only surface record of such an ocean in the interior of the Canadian Cordillera is the Cache Creek terrane, which lies within the Intermontane superterrane but is no younger than Middle Jurassic (~174 Ma). This terrane, together with the probably related Bridge River terrane in the southeastern Coast Mountains, which is as young as latest Middle Jurassic (164 Ma) and possibly as young as earliest Cretaceous (≥ 130 Ma), appear to be the only candidates in Canada for the possible surface record of the seismic anomaly. SOMMAIRELa limite entre les roches assignées au Superterrane d’intermont de l’intérieur des Cordillères canadiennes et celles du Superterrane insulaire dans la portion la plus à l’ouest de la Cordillère de Colombie-Britannique et du sud-est de l’Alaska se trouvent dans et au long de la Chaîne côtière, au sein de laquelle affleure le noyau d’un orogène qui est apparu comme entité tectonique distincte entre 105 et 45 millions d’années. Des indices de la Chaîne côtière et des régions environnantes montrent que des portions du Superterrane d’intermont (dans les terranes de Stikinia et de Yukon-Tanana) se trouvaient alors près de celles du Superterrane insulaire (terranes de Wrangellia et d’Alexander) au début du Jurassique (~180 Ma). Cette chronologie, ajoutée à certains facteurs paléobiogéographiques et paléomagnétiques semblent discréditer une hypothèse récente voulant qu’une subduction à pendage ouest sous un arc intra-océanique sur le Superterrane insulaire résultait d’une collision entre un arc et le continent, initiant ainsi l’orogénèse de la Cordillère à la fin du Jurassique (~146 Ma). Cette hypothèse relie aussi l’océan subduit qui séparait les superterranes à une anomalie de vitesse sismique plus rapide que la normale dans le manteau inférieur sous le littoral maritime oriental de l’Amérique du Nord. Pour créer une telle anomalie, la subduction du plancher d’un grand océan était nécessaire. La seule indication de surface de l’existence d’un tel océan à l’intérieur de la Cordillère canadienne est le terrane de Cache Creek qui, bien qu’il se trouve dans le Superterrane d’intermont, est plus ancien que le Jurassique moyen (~174 Ma). Ce terrane, avec son équivalent probable de Bridge River dans le sud-est de la Chaîne côtière, qui est aussi jeune que la fin du Jurassique (164 Ma) et peut-être aussi jeune que le début du Crétacé (≥ 130 Ma), semblent être les seuls candidats au Canada offrant des vestiges en surface de cette anomalie sismique.

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Section: Terranes Involved In Coast-cascade Orogenesismentioning

confidence: 98%

Logan Medallist 1. Seeking the Suture: The Coast-Cascade Conundrum

Monger

2014

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“…The distinct Cache Creek fauna range in age from Upper Carboniferous into the Triassic, and are characterized by the distinct Permian Veerbeekinid (Yabeina) fusulinids [5] that are known elsewhere only from the Tethyan domain of southern Asia. The benthic nature of the fusulinids allows for only limited distribution by currents, and effectively restricts the seamounts to having originated adjacent to other crustal blocks characterized by similar fauna.…”

Section: Cache Creek Terranementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the Tethyan faunal character, the Cache Creek seamounts are interpreted to have originated within or immediately adjacent to the Tethyan ocean that separated the southerly Gondwanan and northerly Laurasian portions of the supercontinent Pangea (Fig. 2) [5]. Deposition of Upper Carboniferous to Lower Triassic shallow water limestones [14] requires that the Cache Creek terrane remained within the tropics throughout this period.…”

Section: Cache Creek Terranementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The complex includes the uppermost portions of upper Paleozoic seamounts and oceanic plateau. Sedimentary rocks deposited on these seamounts are characterized by Tethyan fauna [5], implying an origin within the Tethys, the internal ocean that separated the northern (Laurasia) and southern (Gondwana) portions of Pangea, and which opened eastward into the westernmost portion of Panthalassa (Fig. 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The odyssey of the Cache Creek terrane, Canadian Cordillera: Implications for accretionary orogens, tectonic setting of Panthalassa, the Pacific superwell, and break-up of Pangea

Johnston

Borel²

2007

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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The Cache Creek terrane (CCT) of the Canadian Cordillera consists of accreted seamounts that originated adjacent to the Tethys Ocean in the Permian. We utilize Potential Translation Path plots to place quantitative constraints on the location of the CCT seamounts through time, including limiting the regions within which accretion events occurred. We assume a starting point for the CCT seamounts in the easternmost Tethys at 280 Ma. Using reasonable translation rates (11 cm/a), accretion to the StikiniaQuesnellia oceanic arc, which occurred at about 230 Ma, took place in western Panthalassa, consistent with the mixed Tethyan fauna of the arc. Subsequent collision with a continental terrane, which occurred at about 180 Ma, took place in central Panthalassa, N 4000 km west of North America yielding a composite ribbon continent. Westward subduction of oceanic lithosphere continuous with the North American continent from 180 to 150 Ma facilitated docking of the ribbon continent with the North American plate.The paleogeographic constraints provided by the CCT indicate that much of the Canadian Cordilleran accretionary orogen is exotic. The accreting crustal block, a composite ribbon continent, grew through repeated collisional events within Panthalassa prior to docking with the North American plate. CCT's odyssey requires the presence of subduction zones within Panthalassa and indicates that the tectonic setting of the Panthalassa superocean differed substantially from the current Pacific basin, with its central spreading ridge and marginal outward dipping subduction zones. A substantial volume of oceanic lithosphere was subducted during CCT's transit of Panthalassa. Blanketing of the core by these cold oceanic slabs enhanced heat transfer out of the core into the lowermost mantle, and may have been responsible for the Cretaceous Normal Superchron, the coeval Pacific-centred mid-Cretaceous superplume event, and its lingering progeny, the Pacific Superswell. Far field tensile stress attributable to the pull of the slab subducting beneath the ribbon continent from 180 to 150 Ma instigated the opening of the Atlantic, initiating the dispersal phase of the supercontinent cycle by breaking apart Pangea. Docking of the ribbon continent with the North American plate at 150 Ma terminated the slab pull induced stress, resulting in a drastic reduction in the rate of spreading within the growing Atlantic Ocean.

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“…The first suggests that various tectonic terranes derived from fragments of Asia, or from a landmass drifting in the paleo-Pacific, finally collided with the North American continent (Wilson, 1968;Danner, 1970;Moores, 1970;Nur and Ben-Avraham, 1977;Brandon, 1980). The second model involves large displacements along transform faults (Monger and Ross, 1971 ; Monger and others, 1972;Jones and others, 1972;Berg and others, 1972;Irwin and Yole, 1972;Tempelman-Kluit, 1979). In the third model, a group of continental microplates and para-autochthonous island arcs are displaced with respect to North America; this leads to the opening and closing of basins during the Paleozoic, followed in the Mesozoic by displacements along transform faults Churkin and Eberlein, 1975a).…”

Section: Tectonic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%