The Great Alaskan Terrane Wreck: reconciliation of paleomagnetic and geological data in the northern Cordillera

Johnston, Stephen T.

doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(01)00516-7

Cited by 192 publications

(140 citation statements)

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“…Thus, it is obvious that major lateral translations and duplication of terranes took place during the Variscan orogeny, possibly in a model similar to the one proposed by Johnston (2001) for the Great Alaskan Terrane. Finally to the south of these duplicated terranes, we find (Fig.…”

Section: Plate-tectonic Terminology and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Gondwana-derived microcontinents — the constituents of the Variscan and Alpine collisional orogens

2003

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The European Variscan and Alpine mountain chains are collisional orogens, and are built up of pre-Variscan ''building blocks'' which, in most cases, originated at the Gondwana margin. Such pre-Variscan elements were part of a preOrdovician archipelago-like continental ribbon in the former eastern prolongation of Avalonia, and their present-day distribution resulted from juxtaposition through Variscan and/or Alpine tectonic evolution. The well-known nomenclatures applied to these mountain chains are the mirror of Variscan resp. Alpine organization. It is the aim of this paper to present a terminology taking into account their pre-Variscan evolution at the Gondwana margin. They may contain relics of volcanic islands with pieces of Cadomian crust, relics of volcanic arc settings, and accretionary wedges, which were separated from Gondwana by initial stages of Rheic ocean opening. After a short-lived Ordovician orogenic event and amalgamation of these elements at the Gondwanan margin, the still continuing Gondwana-directed subduction triggered the formation of Ordovician Al-rich granitoids and the latest Ordovician opening of Palaeo-Tethys. An example from the Alps (External Massifs) illustrates the gradual reworking of Gondwana-derived, pre-Variscan elements during the Variscan and Alpine/ Tertiary orogenic cycles.

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Section: Plate-tectonic Terminology and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Gondwana-derived microcontinents — the constituents of the Variscan and Alpine collisional orogens

2003

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“…and having taken place within the western to central portions of the N 16 000 km wide Panthalassa ocean. The Canadian Cordillera did not grow or deform, therefore, through the stepwise addition of terranes to the North American margin, but rather by the arrival at 150 Ma of a major composite superterrane or ribbon continent, previously referred to as Saybia [54,55] incorporating various terranes and lithotectonic assemblages that had been amalgamated elsewhere. Cordilleran evolution was, therefore, a two stage process: (1) accretionary development of a composite ribbon continent within Panthalassa, followed by (2) collision of the composite ribbon continent with the North American plate beginning in the Lower Jurassic.…”

Section: Accretionary Orogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most places, however, the inboard and outboard margins of Selwyn basin have been interpreted as facies changes [56]. How such a significant tectonic boundary could be cryptic remains unclear [54,55], but the answer may lie in resolving the significant post-150 Ma translations that have occurred within the orogen. Paleomagnetic data implies that large portions of the orogen underwent significant midCretaceous southerly displacements [57], coeval with fold and thrust belt formation within the foreland, widespread dextral strike-slip faulting and voluminous granitic magmatism as far inboard as the eastern limit of Selwyn basin [58].…”

Section: Accretionary Orogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Paleomagnetic data implies that large portions of the orogen underwent significant midCretaceous southerly displacements [57], coeval with fold and thrust belt formation within the foreland, widespread dextral strike-slip faulting and voluminous granitic magmatism as far inboard as the eastern limit of Selwyn basin [58]. Paleomagnetic data from Late Cretaceous strata require significant northward translations, relative to the autochthon [59,60] coeval with fold and thrust belt formation in the foreland and oroclinal buckling of the ribbon continent in Alaska [55].…”

Section: Accretionary Orogensmentioning

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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“…Overall, the Laramide event was more or less synchronous from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego and, based on the mantle tomography and eastward vergence of thrusts, it is inferred that the Americas were the lower plate in a collision with an arc-bearing block, interpreted for North America as a more or less continuous ribbon continent (Johnston 2001(Johnston , 2008Moores et al 2002;Hildebrand 2009Hildebrand , 2013. Adding the South American sector to it makes it one of the longest recognized orogenic belts of any age.…”

Section: Hemispheric Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Arc and Slab-Failure Magmatism in Cordilleran Batholiths I – The Cretaceous Coastal Batholith of Peru and its Role in South American Orogenesis and Hemispheric Subduction Flip

Hildebrand¹,

Whalen

2014

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We examined the temporal and spatial relations of rock units within the Western Cordillera of Peru where two Cretaceous basins, the Huarmey-Cañete and the West Peruvian Trough, were considered by previous workers to represent western and eastern parts respectively of the same marginal basin. The Huarmey-Cañete Trough, which sits on Mesoproterozoic basement of the Arequipa block, was filled with up to 9 km of Tithonian to Albian tholeiitic–calc-alkaline volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. It shoaled to subaerial eastward. At 105–101 Ma the rocks were tightly folded and intruded during and just after the deformation by a suite of 103 ± 2 Ma mafic intrusions, and later in the interval 94–82 Ma by probable subduction-related plutons of the Coastal batholith. The West Peruvian Trough, which sits on Paleozoic metamorphic basement, comprised a west-facing siliciclastic-carbonate platform and adjacent basin filled with up to 5 km of sandstone, shale, marl and thinly bedded limestone deposited continuously throughout the Cretaceous. Rocks of the West Peruvian Trough were detached from their basement, folded and thrust eastward during the Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary. Because the facies and facing directions of the two basins are incompatible, and their development and subjacent basements also distinct, the two basins could not have developed adjacent to one another. Based on thickness, composition and magmatic style, we interpret the magmatism of the Huarmey-Cañete Trough to represent a magmatic arc that shut down at about 105 Ma when the arc collided with an unknown terrane. We relate subsequent magmatism of the early 103 ± 2 Ma syntectonic mafic intrusions and dyke swarms to slab failure. The Huarmey-Cañete-Coastal batholithic block and its Mesoproterozoic basement remained offshore until 77 ± 5 Ma when it collided with, and was emplaced upon, the partially subducted western margin of South America to form the east-vergent Marañon fold–thrust belt. A major pulse of 73–62 Ma plutonism and dyke emplacement followed terminal collision and is interpreted to have been related to slab failure of the west-dipping South American lithosphere. Magmatism, 53 Ma and younger, followed terminal collision and was generated by eastward subduction of Pacific oceanic lithosphere beneath South America. Similar spatial and temporal relations exist over the length of both Americas and represent the terminal collision of an arc-bearing ribbon continent with the Americas during the Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary Laramide event. It thus separated long-standing westward subduction from the younger period of eastward subduction characteristic of today. We speculate that the Cordilleran Ribbon Continent formed during the Mesozoic over a major zone of downwelling between Tuzo and Jason along the boundary of Panthalassic and Pacific oceanic plates.SOMMAIRENous avons étudié les relations spatiales et temporales des unités de roches dans la portion ouest de la Cordillère du Pérou, où deux bassins crétacés, la fosse d’accumulation de Huarmey-Cañete et la fosse d’accumulation péruvienne de l’ouest, ont été perçues par des auteurs précédents comme les portions ouest et est d’un même bassin de marge. La fosse de Huarmey-Cañete, qui repose sur le socle mésoprotérozoïque du bloc d’Arequipa, a été comblée par des couches de roches volcaniques tholéitiques – calco-alcalines de l’Albien au Thithonien atteignant 9 km d’épaisseur. Vers l’est, l’ensemble a fini par former des hauts fonds. Vers 105 à 101 Ma, les roches ont été plissées fortement puis recoupées par une suite d’intrusions vers 103 ± 2 Ma, durant et juste après la déformation, et plus tard dans l’intervalle 94 – 82 Ma, probablement par des plutons de subduction du batholite côtier. Quant à la fosse d’accumulation péruvienne de l’ouest, elle repose sur un socle métamorphique paléozoïque, et elle est constituée d’une plateforme silicoclastique – carbonate à pente ouest et d’un bassin contigu comblé par des grès, des schistes, des marnes et des calcaires finement laminés atteignant 5 km d’épaisseur et qui se sont déposés en continu durant tout le Crétacé. Les roches de la fosse d’accumulation péruvienne de l’ouest ont été décollées de leur socle, plissées et charriées vers l’est durant la fin du Crétacé et le début du Tertiaire. Parce que les facies et les profondeurs de sédimentation de ces deux fosses d’accumulation dont incompatibles, et que leur développement et leur socle sont différents, ces deux fosses ne peuvent pas s’être développées côte à côte. À cause de l’épaisseur accumulée, de sa composition et du style de son magmatisme, nous pensons que la fosse d’accumulation de Huarmey-Cañete représente un arc magmatique qui s’est éteinte vers 105 Ma, lorsque l’arc est entré en collision avec un terrane inconnu. Nous pensons que le magmatisme subséquent aux premières intrusions mafiques syntectoniques et aux réseaux de dykes de 103 ± 2 Ma sont à mettre au compte d’une rupture de plaque. Le bloc Huarmey-Cañete-batholitique côtier et son socle mésoprotérozoïque sont demeurés au large jusqu’à 77 ± 5 Ma, moment où il est entré en collision et a été poussé par-dessus la marge ouest sud-américaine partiellement subduite, pour ainsi former la zone de chevauchement de vergence est de Marañon. Nous croyons que la séquence majeure de plutonisme et d’intrusion de dykes qui a succédé à la collision finale à 73–62 Ma doit être reliée à une rupture de la plaque lithosphérique sud-américaine à pendage ouest. Le magmatisme de 53 Ma et plus récent qui a succédé à la collision finale, a été généré par la subduction vers l’est de la lithosphère océanique du Pacifique sous l’Amérique du Sud. Des relations temporelles et spatiales similaires qui existent tout le long des deux Amériques représentent la collision terminale d’un ruban continental d’arcs avec les Amériques durant la phase tectonique laramienne de la fin du Crétacé–début du Tertiaire. Elle a donc séparé la subduction vers l’ouest de longue date de la période de subduction vers l’est plus jeune caractérisant la situation actuelle. Nous considérons que le ruban continental de la Cordillère s’est constitué durant le Mésozoïque au-dessus d’une zone majeure de convection descendante entre Tuzo et Jason, le long de la limite entre les plaques océaniques Panthalassique et Pacifique.

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The Great Alaskan Terrane Wreck: reconciliation of paleomagnetic and geological data in the northern Cordillera

Cited by 192 publications

References 37 publications

Gondwana-derived microcontinents — the constituents of the Variscan and Alpine collisional orogens

Gondwana-derived microcontinents — the constituents of the Variscan and Alpine collisional orogens

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

Arc and Slab-Failure Magmatism in Cordilleran Batholiths I – The Cretaceous Coastal Batholith of Peru and its Role in South American Orogenesis and Hemispheric Subduction Flip

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