Variations of Major Chemical Constituents across the Central Sierra Nevada Batholith

Trace-element contents of some plutonic rocks of the Sierra Nevada Batholith

“…Undoubtedly these variations are related to the compositional changes of major chemical constituents, particularly of K2O, that also take place across the batholith (Bateman and Dodge, 1970). Wollenberg and Smith (1969) have found that prebatholithic rocks show eastward increase of potassium, uranium, and thorium, suggesting that the intrusive magmas may have formed at least in part by the fusion of the prebatholithic rocks.…”

“…Lateral variations of major chemical constituents across the central Sierra Nevada batholith have recently been described by CONTRIBUTIONS TO GEOCHEMISTRY Bateman and Dodge (1970). Semiquantitative spectrographic determination of trace elements has been carried out on 172 of the 193 samples used for the major element study.…”

“…The general geology of the Sierra Nevada has been summarized in several publications (for example, Bateman and others, 1963;Bateman and Eaton, 1967) ; hence, the geology of the region is not discussed here. Because genetic affiliations between different areas of the batholith are as yet incompletely known, there is no attempt here to relate trace-element content to plutonic rock units, as has been done with the major chemical constituents in the central part of the batholith (Bateman and Dodge, 1970). This report includes data on the abundance and variation of trace elements from both the northern and central parts of the batholith, but the discussion of the geographic distribution of trace elements is limited to the central Sierra Nevada belt.…”

San Jacinto Intrusive Complex: 2. Geochemistry

“…The K-poor nature of the Peninsular Ranges batholith and the domination of the eastern part of the batholith by huge volumes of tonalite [Larsen, 1948;Silver et al, 1979) contrasts with the relatively K-rich, heterogeneous rocks of the magmatic series of the Sierra Nevada batholith [Bateman and Dodge, 1970;Presnall and Bateman, 1973;Bateman and Chappell, 1979] and reflects compositional control of the extent of fractionation. The rocks of the San Jacinto Mountains are thus seen to be an integral part of the eastern Peninsular Ranges batholith and presumably formed under similar conditions from broadly similar source rocks.…”

Petrologic aspects of plate tectonics

“…The authors place the source of the andesite magmas in the sinking slab, at depths of 100 to 300 km. Similar chemical variations appear to exist in batholiths; they have been established for the Sierra Nevada batholith [Bateman and Dodge, 1970]. Raleigh and Lee [1969] illustrated descending oceanic lithosphere, with successive dehydration reactions occurring as oceanic crust was converted from serpentinite and basalt to peridotite and blueschist, and the blueschist was converted to amphibolite and eclogite; andesite formed by partial fusion of the eclogite at depth.…”