Implications of volcanism in coastal California for the Neogene deformation history of western North America

Wilson, Douglas S.; McCrory, Patricia A.; Stanley, Richard G.

doi:10.1029/2003tc001621

Cited by 118 publications

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“…Geological evidence (e.g. Wilson et al 2005), in agreement with thermo-mechanical and kinematic modelling (Nicholson et al 1994), show that the main strand of the brittle fault system jumped inland in several discrete steps to its current position, the San Andreas fault. These jumps were associated with inland diffusion of the ductile roots of the deformation system, probably triggered by lower crustal and upper mantle temperature diffusion, or controlled by integrated lithospheric strength variations (Popov 2009).…”

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confidence: 77%

“…Hosgri fault, see Wilson et al 2005) (ii) the role of the Montery Microplate, believed to be partially subducted beneath continental North America and believed to influence the developmemt of the transform margin as well as its present state (e.g. McCrory et al 2009;Popov 2009) (iii) the coast effect, a term used to describe the effect of the high-conductance ocean body on the MT responses measured far inland The main objective of this paper is to review the MT results from the SAF in combination with other geophysical, geological and geochemical data and models in order to address fluid-related processes and their potential implications on the geodynamic setting, active tectonic processes and the mechanical state of the fault.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Magnetotelluric Studies at the San Andreas Fault Zone: Implications for the Role of Fluids

Becken

Ritter

2011

Surv Geophys

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Fluids residing in interconnected porosity networks have a significant weakening effect on rheology of rocks and can strongly influence deformation along fault zones. The magnetotelluric (MT) technqiue is sensitive to interconnected fluid networks, and can image these zones on crustal and upper mantle scales. MT has imaged several prominent electrically conductive anomalies at the San Andreas fault which have been attributed to the presence of saline fluids within such networks, and which have been associated with tectonic processes. These models suggest that ongoing fluid release in the upper mantle and lower crust is closely related to the mechanical state of the crust. Where fluids are drained into the brittle portion of the crust, and where these fluids are kept at high pressures, fault creep is supported. In response to fluid flux from deeper levels in combination with meteoric and crustal metamorphic fluid supply, and in response to fault creep, high-conductivity zones develop as fault zone conductors in the brittle portion of crust. In turn, the absence of crustal fluid pathays may be characteristic for mechanically locked segments. MT models suggest that those fluids are trapped at depth and kept at high pressures. It is speculated that fluids may infiltrate neighbouring rocks and induce non-volcanic tremor. MT has imaged several prominent electrically conductive anomalies at the San Andreas fault which have been attributed to the presence of saline fluids within such networks, and which have been associated with tectonic processes. These models suggest that ongoing fluid release in the upper mantle and lower crust is closely related to the mechanical state of the crust. Where fluids are drained into the brittle portion of the crust, and where these fluids are kept at high pressures, strain provides a means to develop and maintain permeability structure, and thus electrical conductivity, within the damage zone. Accordingly, these conductivity models played an important role in pin-pointing the SAFOD drilling location near Parkfield. *abstractClick here to download abstract: abstract.txt Surv. Geophys. manuscript No.In this paper, we consider MT studies at the SAF near Hollister and Carrizo The SAF has also been a target for telluric (Madden et al. 1993;Park et al. 2007) and magnetotelluric monitoring (e.g. Kappler et al. 2010). These installations attempted to monitor long-term electric (and magnetic) field variations of internal origin due to resistivity variations assiciated with earthquakes, large scale fluid flow or other causes. To date, it was not possible to identify significant field variations which can be attributed to tectonic processes. In this paper, we don't discuss details of this issue. 7The main objective of this paper is to review the MT results from the SAF in combination with other geophysical, geological and geochemical data and models in order to address fluid-related processes and their potential implications on the geodynamic setting, active tectonic processes and the mechanical ...

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confidence: 77%

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Magnetotelluric Studies at the San Andreas Fault Zone: Implications for the Role of Fluids

Becken

Ritter

2011

Surv Geophys

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“…Asthenospheric upwelling associated with this slab removal presumably gave rise to increased heat flow, partial melt, and the observed volcanism. Subsequent events in the Mojave Desert include reestablishment of subduction west of the Mojave Desert region, followed by slab removal again in the wake of the subducted Mendocino fracture zone and associated volcanism (Wilson et al, 2005). Thus, at least two episodes of Cenozoic volcanism and inferred asthenospheric upwelling occurred in the Mojave Desert region; either or both may have contributed to the observed low upper-mantle velocities in this region.…”

Section: Appendix Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Perspective on the Geometry of the San Andreas Fault in Southern California and Its Relationship to Lithospheric Structure

Fuis¹,

Scheirer²,

Langenheim³

et al. 2012

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

128

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“…Furthermore, we assumed that the subducted slab does not form a slab window; as Erkan and Blackwell [2008] suggested, formation of large-scale slab windows is incompatible with the very low postsubduction heat flow regime of the GV and western SN regions. Nevertheless, partial slab windows may have formed as suggested by Wilson et al [2005], but the previous 1-D modeling showed that these differences have no significant effect for cases of deep slab/window locations [also see Van Wijk et al, 2001].…”

Section: Two-dimensional Thermal Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transient thermal regimes in the Sierra Nevada and Baja California extinct outer arcs following the cessation of Farallon subduction

Erkan

Blackwell

2009

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] We examine the thermal relaxation of the Sierra Nevada and Baja California extinct outer arc blocks following the progressive cessation of Farallon subduction under western North America beginning at $30 Ma. Being parts of the same outer arc until the inland jump of the San Andreas transform fault at $5 Ma, these two regions show many similarities in their geology, geomorphology, rigid body behavior, and their relatively low seismicity. In the thermal model, we combine results of different geophysical and geophysical studies to constrain the thermal state and geometry of the outer arcs before the cessation of subduction and then model the postsubduction temperature responses in these regions using the results of the tectonic reconstructions. A well-constrained regional thermal model of these blocks using the results of many earlier studies in these regions confirms that the present low heat flow values in these regions are the remnants of the very cold outer arc thermal regime of the subduction zone even as long as 30 Ma after cessation of subduction. Thus the entire Pacific boundary of the North American plate is still in a transient thermal state. The calculated low lithospheric temperatures in the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular blocks correlate very well with their rigid body behavior obtained from geodetic studies, and seismogenic layer thicknesses obtained from seismological studies. This is in contrast with the fact that both regions are surrounded by intense deformation associated with the western North America intraplate and extraplate motions. These low-temperature islands play important roles in the present interaction of the North American and Pacific plates and contribute to the broad deformation of the transform boundary. The thermal relaxation of the extinct outer arcs includes both vertical heating from the underlying asthenosphere and the lateral heating from the extinct back arc (Basin and Range), which has remained as a high heat flow region after the cessation of the subduction. We suggest that the significant lateral heat transfer from the Basin and Range in the Sierra Nevada (and from the Gulf of California spreading center in the Peninsular block since $5 Ma) may be the main driving mechanism of the postsubduction volcanism/magmatism along the extinct volcanic arc and the recent tilted uplift of the Sierra Nevada block. The low lithospheric temperatures in Sierra Nevada region may also explain the observation of the high seismic velocities in the mantle beneath the southern Sierra Nevada where the downwelling of the mantle lithosphere proposed.

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Implications of volcanism in coastal California for the Neogene deformation history of western North America

Cited by 118 publications

References 96 publications

Magnetotelluric Studies at the San Andreas Fault Zone: Implications for the Role of Fluids

Magnetotelluric Studies at the San Andreas Fault Zone: Implications for the Role of Fluids

A New Perspective on the Geometry of the San Andreas Fault in Southern California and Its Relationship to Lithospheric Structure

Transient thermal regimes in the Sierra Nevada and Baja California extinct outer arcs following the cessation of Farallon subduction

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