The Goldstein Peak Formation, central California: Record of a nonmarine intra-arc basin within the Early Cretaceous Sierra Nevada arc

Abstract

New mapping in the Lake Kaweah pendant of the southwestern Sierra Nevada batholith reveals a previously unrecognized nonmarine sequence of metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic strata, defi ned herein as the Goldstein Peak Formation. The nonmarine origin distinguishes the Goldstein Peak Formation from all other Sierra Nevada metasedimentary pendants and from virtually all other coeval deposits associated with the Sierra Nevada arc. Basic structural relations, supplemented by new U-Pb zircon ages, suggest an Early Cretaceous depositional age, a time that is poorly represented within the stratigraphic record of California. This unusual age makes the Goldstein Peak Formation the youngest sedimentary deposit preserved within the metamorphic framework of the exhumed batholith, one that was deposited concurrently with some of the earliest deposits in the Great Valley forearc basin and just preceding the mid-Cretaceous Sierra Nevada arc surge. Preserved sedimentary and volcanic structures, along with whole-rock geochemistry, are consistent with deposition of Goldstein Peak conglomerates and sandstones within fl uvial and alluvial fan environments, deposition of mud-rich sediments and air-fall tuffs within a lacustrine(?) environment, and subaqueous to subaerial extrusion of basaltic to dacitic arc volcanic rocks. This volcanosedimentary section was intruded soon after deposition, with peak hornblende hornfels to low-pressure amphibolite facies metamorphism ultimately driven by intrusion of the surrounding Early Cretaceous Stokes Mountain ring dike complexes. Deposition of the nonmarine Goldstein Peak Formation within a fault-bounded, possibly transtensional, intra-arc basin during the transition from the low-standing, moderately extensional, Late Jurassic fringing arc to the high-standing, compressional mid-to Late Cretaceous arc indicates that at least one section of the Sierra Nevada arc was a fully emergent continental margin arc by the Early Cretaceous Epoch.

Detrital zircon geochronology and evolution of the Nacimiento block late Mesozoic forearc basin, central California coast

“…Early Cretaceous zircon in lower Nacimiento forearc sandstone displays a maximum at 138 Ma. Zircon of this age is less common in the Cordilleran arc, although plutonic rocks of this age are known from the Klamath Mountains (Allen and Barnes, 2006), in the western Sierra Nevada (Saleeby et al, 1989a;Saleeby et al, 1989b;Chapman et al, 2012;Clemens-Knott et al, 2013), and in basement core samples extracted from the southern San Joaquin Valley (Saleeby, 2007). Permian-Late Triassic zircon in lower Nacimiento forearc sandstone displays a maximum at ca.…”

The “Nazas Arc” is a continental rift province: Implications for Mesozoic tectonic reconstructions of the southwest Cordillera, U.S. and Mexico

“…2) Ko Vaya Suite plutons interpreted to be broadly coeval with 2-kmthick sections of trachyandesite-andesite lavas, lesser trachyterhyolite lavas, as well conglomerate-breccia and sandstone that is largely intraformational Haxel et al (2008aHaxel et al ( , 2008b Northern Sonora, Mexico (locations plotted in Fig. 2) (López Infanzón, 1986;Jones et al, 1995), in fault contact with (Lawton and Molina Garza, 2004) 1994; Wadsworth et al, 1995;Barton and Johnson, 1996;Fackler-Adams et al, 1997;Busby et al, 2002;Schermer et al, 2002;Busby et al, 2005;Haxel et al, 2005Haxel et al, , 2008aHaxel et al, , 2008bSaleeby, 2011;Clemens-Knott et al, 2013;Saleeby and Dunne, 2015;Chapman et al, 2015;Busby and Riggs, 2019;Clemens-Knott and Gavedon, 2019;Gevedon and Clemens-Knott, 2019;Lackey et al, 2019). Diagnostic features of the early Mesozoic extensional continental arc include multi-kilometer-thick sections of volcanic rock that span little time; syndepositional normal faults; giant continental calderas; high-level intrusions; local subsidence below sea level; rapid extensional unroofing of plutons; and penetration of meteoric water to mid-crustal levels (Fig.…”

From the mountains to the coast and back again: Ancient biogeography in a radiation of short-range endemic harvestmen from California

“…Ubick and Briggs (1989, figure 20) specifically hypothesized that this initial diversification was associated with lineage isolation on ancient exotic terranes. Sierran exotic terranes are extremely old, i.e, Mesozoic in age or older (Saleeby, 2011;Ingersoll, 2012;Millar, 2012;Clemens-Knott et al, 2013), and an alternative hypothesis is that initial Sierran divergence instead reflects Oligocene (~ 35 -25 Ma) uplift (Harden, 1998;Hall 2007;Schierenbeck, 2014). Ubick and Briggs similarly invoked western exotic terranes as key in the diversification of Coastal taxa, which were inferred to have dispersed westwards across the Central Valley multiple times independently (1989, figures 20, 21).…”