Jurassic plutonism and crustal evolution in the central Mojave Desert, California

Miller, Jonathan S.; Glazner, Allen F.

doi:10.1007/s004100050021

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…The Eastern Mojave region is notable for several geologic features that may explain the local enrichments of Ti, Zr, and REE in Av samples: (1) the granitic‐dominated sand transport corridor that begins near the southwestern edge of Soda Lake and extends east through Kelso Dunes past site T‐28 [ Lancaster , 1993; Zimbelman et al , 1995], (2) the extensive volcanic plateaus and cinder cones of the Cima Volcanic Field surrounding site T‐29, and (3) an REE‐enriched region between sites T‐29 and T‐23, exemplified by the carbonatite‐hosted rare earth mine at Mountain Pass on the California‐Nevada border [ Woolley , 1987]. Analyses of Jurassic plutons that are widespread in the Mojave Desert [ Miller and Glazner , 1995] and a few analyses of Mojave River sand from upstream of Soda Lake (J. R. Budahn, unpublished data, 2008) have Zr contents ranging from 100 to 400 ppm, not high enough to account for the Zr contents in Av samples of the Eastern Mojave group. However, the eolian sand transport corridor could concentrate Zr in resistant zircon grains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositions of modern dust and surface sediments in the Desert Southwest, United States

et al. 2009

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[1] Modern dusts across southwestern United States deserts are compositionally similar to dust-rich Av soil horizons (depths of 0-0.5 cm and 1-4 cm at 35 sites) for common crustal elements but distinctly different for some trace elements. Chemical compositions and magnetic properties of the soil samples are similar among sites relative to dust sources, geographic areas, and lithologic substrates. Exceptions are Li, U, and W, enriched in Owens Valley, California, and Mg and Sr, enriched in soils formed on calcareous fan gravel in southeast Nevada. The Av horizons are dominated by dust and reflect limited mixing with substrate sediments. Modern dust samples are also similar across the region, except that Owens Valley dusts are higher in Mg, Ba, and Li and dusts both there and at sites to the north on volcanic substrates are higher in Sb and W. Thus, dust and Av horizons consist of contributions from many different sources that are well mixed before deposition. Modern dusts contain significantly greater amounts of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Sb than do Av horizons, which record dust additions over hundreds to thousands of years. These results suggest that modern dust compositions are influenced by anthropogenic sources and emissions from Owens (dry) Lake after its artificial desiccation in 1926. Both modern dusts and Av horizons are enriched in As, Ba, Cu, Li, Sb, Th, U, and W relative to average crustal composition, which we interpret to indicate that the geologic sources of dust in the southwestern United States are geochemically distinctive.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositions of modern dust and surface sediments in the Desert Southwest, United States

et al. 2009

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“…(3) Cretaceous plutons of the Sierra Nevada batholith that intrude the Snow Lake terrane have initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of ~0.706-0.709 and δ 18 O < 9‰, whereas Mojave Desert Cretaceous intrusives into hypothetically correlative rocks exhibit initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr of ~0.708-0.719 and δ 18 O > 9‰ (Kistler and Peterman, 1973;DePaolo, 1981;Masi et al, 1981;Kistler et al, 1986;Hill et al, 1988;Kistler and Lee, 1989;Kistler and Fleck, 1994;Miller and Glazner, 1995). As argued by Lahren et al (1990), isotopic comparisons between intrusive suites with potentially correlative host rocks are not especially defi nitive, given that individual pluton Sr, Nd, Pb, and/or O isotopic values refl ect the age, degree of contamination, and the isotopic compositions of the magma source(s) and contaminant(s).…”

Section: Implications For the Mojave-snow Lake Fault Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Detrital zircon geochronology of Neoproterozoic–Lower Cambrian passive-margin strata of the White-Inyo Range, east-central California: Implications for the Mojave–Snow Lake fault hypothesis

Chapman

Ernst

Gottlieb

et al. 2015

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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Correlation of lithotectonic packages across major transcurrent structures is critical to understanding the tectonic evolution of the North American continental margin.Detrital zircon geochronology of uppermost Proterozoic to Lower Paleozoic mio geo clinal strata from the White-Inyo Mountains permits evaluation of: (1) the age and provenance of these metasediments and (2) a model for truncation of the passive margin along a postulated large-magnitude Cretaceous dextral shear zone, i.e., the Mojave-Snow Lake fault. U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from the Neoproterozoic Wyman Formation, the upper most Proterozoic Reed Dolomite (Hines Tongue Member), and clastic strata of the Lower Cambrian Deep Springs, Campito (Montenegro Member), Poleta, and Harkless formations refl ect ultimate derivation from the adjacent 1.7-pre-1.8 Ga Mojavia terrane and/or 1.7-1.8 Ga Yavapai continental basement, with subsidiary sources in both the ca. 1.4 Ga Yavapai-Mazatzal anorogenic granitoids and the >2.5 Ga North American craton, and a small proportion of 1.0-1.3 Ga grains, most likely reworked from Grenville clastic wedge deposits. Detrital zircon age spectra from the Lower Cambrian Andrews Mountain Member of the Campito Formation are unique in comparison with the remainder of the studied section, containing a major age peak centered at ca. 1.1 Ga and a subsidiary Lower Cambrian age peak, permitting calculation of a ca. 527 ± 12 (2σ) Ma maximum depositional age. These features, in addition to abundant detrital magnetite-ilmenite grains, refl ect a distal source for these rocks, most likely from the ca. 1.1 Ga Pikes Peak batholith and/or the Midcontinent rift and ca. 0.53 Ga bimodal intrusions of the Oklahoma-Colorado aulacogen. In terms of zircon age distribution, allochthonous metamorphic pendants in the Snow Lake terrane of the central Sierra Nevada batholith are most similar to those of stratigraphically equivalent units in the Death Valley region and, to lesser degrees, the White-Inyo section, and the Mojave Desert region. Given the similarity and relative proximity of Death Valley facies assemblages to the Snow Lake terrane, we suggest that the latter was not transported northward from the Mojave Desert region and instead represents footwall assemblages of a late Early to early Middle Jurassic lowangle normal fault system, probably along the outer transform-truncated margin of the Last Chance thrust stack. This model implies a few tens of kilometers of offset, in contrast to the hundreds of kilometers required by the Mojave-Snow Lake fault hypothesis.

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“…Early Permian-Triassic (ca. 285-230 Ma) zircon grains were derived from East Mexican arc rocks (Sedlock et al, 1993;Torres et al, 1999), Upper Permian to Lower Triassic plutons in southern California and Nevada (Walker, 1988;Miller and Glazner, 1995;Barth et al, 1997;Stewart et al, 1997), local Permian plutons of the Caborca block Arvizu et al, 2009), and/or recycled Triassic-Lower Jurassic forearc deposits exposed on the Caborca block (Gehrels and Stewart, 1998;González-León et al, 2005). No nearby Early Cretaceous (ca.…”

Section: Sediment Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%

Stratigraphy and age of Upper Jurassic strata in north-central Sonora, Mexico: Southwestern Laurentian record of crustal extension and tectonic transition

et al. 2011

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Jurassic plutonism and crustal evolution in the central Mojave Desert, California

Cited by 21 publications

References 50 publications

Compositions of modern dust and surface sediments in the Desert Southwest, United States

Compositions of modern dust and surface sediments in the Desert Southwest, United States

Detrital zircon geochronology of Neoproterozoic–Lower Cambrian passive-margin strata of the White-Inyo Range, east-central California: Implications for the Mojave–Snow Lake fault hypothesis

Stratigraphy and age of Upper Jurassic strata in north-central Sonora, Mexico: Southwestern Laurentian record of crustal extension and tectonic transition

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