Mesozoic – early Cenozoic volcanism, plutonism, and mineralization in southern British Columbia: A plate tectonic synthesis

1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1611-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Plate Tectonic ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Cenozoic Volcanism ◽  
Volcanic Belts ◽  
Early Cenozoic

Three time–space profiles have been constructed using geologic data from British Columbia between 49° N and 56° N. They illustrate variations across the Cordillera, (1) in the stratigraphic and tectonic setting of volcanism, (2) in the age and modal type of granitoids, and (3) in the distribution and types of copper and lead deposits related to volcanic and plutonic rocks. These profiles provide the basis for a plate tectonic synthesis of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic geology, illustrated by six true-scale cross sections.The preferred model has, in the Triassic, two eastward-dipping subduction zones, giving rise to the copper-rich Karmutsen and Nicola–Takla volcanics respectively. After collision of the two volcanic belts by the Early Jurassic, a single eastward-dipping subduction zone remained active until the Eocene. Magmas produced by partial melting and fractionation of subducted lithosphere occurred across the western 300 km of the Cordillera, leading to thickening of the crust, and eventually to anatectic melting to generate large batholiths now containing pendants of volcanics. Jurassic and later geologic and metallogenic events across the eastern 500 km of the Cordillera are the results of an increased heat flux through inhomogeneous crust of varying thickness, comprised of relict ocean floor, continental margin sediments, older volcanics, and ancient cratonic basement. This results in patterns of metamorphism, volcanism, and plutonism which have no simple spatial relationship to the subduction zone.

scholarly journals Up the down escalator: the exhumation of (ultra)-high pressure terranes during on-going subduction

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 745-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Warren
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Ultra High Pressure ◽  
Tectonic Environment ◽  
Tectonic Style ◽  
Weak Material

Abstract. The exhumation of high and ultra-high pressure rocks is ubiquitous in Phanerozoic orogens created during continental collisions, and is common in many ocean-ocean and ocean-continent subduction zone environments. Three different tectonic environments have previously been reported, which exhume deeply buried material by different mechanisms and at different rates. However it is becoming increasingly clear that no single mechanism dominates in any particular tectonic environment, and the mechanism may change in time and space within the same subduction zone. In order for buoyant continental crust to subduct, it must remain attached to a stronger and denser substrate, but in order to exhume, it must detach (and therefore at least locally weaken) and be initially buoyant. Denser oceanic crust subducts more readily than more buoyant continental crust but exhumation must be assisted by entrainment within more buoyant and weak material such as serpentinite or driven by the exhumation of structurally lower continental crustal material. Weakening mechanisms responsible for the detachment of crust at depth include strain, hydration, melting, grain size reduction and the development of foliation. These may act locally or may act on the bulk of the subducted material. Metamorphic reactions, metastability and the composition of the subducted crust all affect buoyancy and overall strength. Subduction zones change in style both in time and space, and exhumation mechanisms change to reflect the tectonic style and overall force regime within the subduction zone. Exhumation events may be transient and occur only once in a particular subduction zone or orogen, or may be more continuous or occur multiple times.

scholarly journals Paleoclimate and precipitation seasonality of the Early Eocene McAbee megaflora, Kamloops Group, British Columbia

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 591-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cale A.C. Gushulak ◽  
Christopher K. West ◽  
David R. Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North American ◽  
Leaf Size ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Fossil Site ◽  
Fossil Floras ◽  
Climate Analysis ◽  
Early Cenozoic

Early Eocene fossil floras from British Columbia are a rich resource for reconstructing western North American early Cenozoic climate. The best known of these floras reflect cooler (MAT ≤ 15 °C) upland forest communities in contrast to coeval (MAT ≥ 18 °C) forests in lowland western North American sites. Of particular interest is whether Early Eocene climates were monsoonal (highly seasonal precipitation). The McAbee site is a 52.9 ± 0.83 Ma 0.5 km outcrop of bedded lacustrine shale interbedded with volcanic ash. In this report two historical megaflora collections that were collected independently from different stratigraphic levels and (or) laterally separated by ∼100–200 m in the 1980s (University of Saskatchewan) and 2000s (Brandon University) are investigated to (i) assess whether they represent the same leaf population, (ii) assess whether a combined collection yields more precise climate estimates, and (iii) reconstruct paleoclimate to assess the character of regional Early Eocene precipitation seasonality. Combined, the two samples yielded 43 dicot leaf morphotypes. Analysis of leaf size distribution using ANOVA showed no difference between the two samples, and thus they were combined for climate analysis. Climate analysis using leaf physiognomy agrees with previous estimates for McAbee and other regional megafloras, indicating a warm (MAT ∼8–13 °C), mild (CMMT ∼5 °C), moist (MAP > 100 cm/year) ever-wet, non-monsoonal climate. Additionally, we recommend that climate analyses derived from leaf fossils should be based on samples collected within a stratigraphically constrained quarry area to capture a snapshot of climate in time rather than time-averaged estimates derived from multiple quarry sites representing different stratigraphic levels within a fossil site.

Summary of Coastal Geologic Evidence for past Great Earthquakes at the Cascadia Subduction Zone

1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian F. Atwater ◽  
Alan R. Nelson ◽  
John J. Clague ◽  
Gary A. Carver ◽  
David K. Yamaguchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North America ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Forest Soils ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Cascadia Subduction Zone ◽  
Level Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Juan De Fuca

Earthquakes in the past few thousand years have left signs of land-level change, tsunamis, and shaking along the Pacific coast at the Cascadia subduction zone. Sudden lowering of land accounts for many of the buried marsh and forest soils at estuaries between southern British Columbia and northern California. Sand layers on some of these soils imply that tsunamis were triggered by some of the events that lowered the land. Liquefaction features show that inland shaking accompanied sudden coastal subsidence at the Washington-Oregon border about 300 years ago. The combined evidence for subsidence, tsunamis, and shaking shows that earthquakes of magnitude 8 or larger have occurred on the boundary between the overriding North America plate and the downgoing Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates. Intervals between the earthquakes are poorly known because of uncertainties about the number and ages of the earthquakes. Current estimates for individual intervals at specific coastal sites range from a few centuries to about one thousand years.

The petrological and geochemical study of granitoid rocks from Mashhad area, Iran: Evidence for the Late Triassic Collisional Belt Northeast of Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Banafsheh Vahdati ◽  
Seyed Ahmad Mazaheri
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Crustal Contamination ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Thrust Tectonics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Lree Enrichment ◽  
Granitoid Rocks

<p>Mashhad granitoid complex is part of the northern slope of the Binalood Structural Zone (BSZ), Northeast of Iran, which is composed of granitoids and metamorphic rocks. This research presents new petrological and geochemical whole-rock major and trace elements analyses in order to determine the origin of granitoid rocks from Mashhad area. Field and petrographic observations indicate that these granitoid rocks have a wide range of lithological compositions and they are categorized into intermediate to felsic intrusive rocks (SiO<sub>2</sub>: 57.62-74.39 Wt.%). Qartzdiorite, tonalite, granodiorite and monzogranite are common granitoids with intrusive pegmatite and aplitic dikes and veins intruding them. Based on geochemical analyses, the granitoid rocks are calc-alkaline in nature and they are mostly peraluminous. On geochemical variation diagrams (major and minor oxides versus silica) Na<sub>2</sub>O and K<sub>2</sub>O show a positive correlation with silica while Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, TiO<sub>2</sub>, CaO, Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, and MgO show a negative trend. Therefore fractional crystallization played a considerable role in the evolution of Mashhad granitoids. Based on the spider diagrams, there are enrichments in LILE and depletion in HFSE. Low degrees of melting or crustal contamination may be responsible for LILE enrichment. Elements such as Pb, Sm, Dy and Rb are enriched, while Ba, Sr, Nd, Zr, P, Ti and Yb (in monzogranites) are all depleted. LREE enrichment and HREE depletion are observed in all samples on the Chondrite-normalized REE diagram. Similar trends may be evidence for the granitoids to have the same origin. Besides, LREE enrichment relative to HREE in some samples can indicate the presence of garnet in their source rock. Negative anomalies of Eu and Yb are observed in monzogranites. Our results show that Mashhad granitoid rocks are orogenic related and tectonic discrimination diagrams mostly indicate its syn-to-post collisional tectonic setting. No negative Nb anomaly compared with MORB seems to be an indication of non-subduction zone related magma formation. According to the theory of thrust tectonics of the Binalood region, the oceanic lithosphere of the Palo-Tethys has subducted under the Turan microplate. Since the Mashhad granitoid outcrops are settled on the Iranian plate, this is far from common belief that these granitoid rocks are related to the subduction zones and the continental arcs. The western Mashhad granitoids show more mafic characteristics and are possibly crystallized from a magma with sedimentary and igneous origin. Thus, Western granitoid outcrops in Mashhad are probably hybrid type and other granitoid rocks, S and SE Mashhad are S-type. Evidences suggest that these continental collision granitoid rocks are associated with the late stages of the collision between the Iranian and the Turan microplates during the Paleo-Tethys Ocean closure which occurred in the Late Triassic.</p>

Age, chemistry, and tectonic setting of Miramichi terrane (Early Paleozoic) volcanic rocks, eastern and east-central Maine, USA

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 239-273
Author(s):  
Allan Ludman ◽  
Christopher McFarlane ◽  
Amber T.H. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
East Central ◽  
Arc Volcanism ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Volcanic Suite ◽  
Back Arc

Volcanic rocks in the Miramichi inlier in Maine occur in two areas separated by the Bottle Lake plutonic complex: the Danforth segment (Stetson Mountain Formation) north of the complex and Greenfield segment to the south (Olamon Stream Formation). Both suites are dominantly pyroclastic, with abundant andesite, dacite, and rhyolite tuffs and subordinate lavas, breccias, and agglomerates. Rare basaltic tuffs and a small area of basaltic tuffs, agglomerates, and lavas are restricted to the Greenfield segment. U–Pb zircon geochronology dates Greenfield segment volcanism at ca. 469 Ma, the Floian–Dapingian boundary between the Lower and Middle Ordovician. Chemical analyses reveal a calc-alkaline suite erupted in a continental volcanic arc, either the Meductic or earliest Balmoral phase of Popelogan arc activity. The Maine Miramichi volcanic rocks are most likely correlative with the Meductic Group volcanic suite in west-central New Brunswick. Orogen-parallel lithologic and chemical variations from New Brunswick to east-central Maine may result from eruptions at different volcanic centers. The bimodal Poplar Mountain volcanic suite at the Maine–New Brunswick border is 10–20 myr younger than the Miramichi volcanic rocks and more likely an early phase of back-arc basin rifting than a late-stage Meductic phase event. Coeval calc-alkaline arc volcanism in the Miramichi, Weeksboro–Lunksoos Lake, and Munsungun Cambrian–Ordovician inliers in Maine is not consistent with tectonic models involving northwestward migration of arc volcanism. This >150 km span cannot be explained by a single east-facing subduction zone, suggesting more than one subduction zone/arc complex in the region.

Early Cenozoic volcanism of the Kolyuchin-Mechigmen graben, Chukotka Peninsula

Petrology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-64
Author(s):  
P. I. Fedorov ◽  
V. N. Smirnov
Keyword(s):  
Cenozoic Volcanism ◽  
Early Cenozoic

scholarly journals Analysis of Stress Drop Variations in Fault and Subduction Zones of Maluku and Halmahera Earthquakes in 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Rahmat Setyo Yuliatmoko ◽  
Telly Kurniawan
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Stress Drop ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Disaster Mitigation ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Reverse Fault ◽  
Nonlinear Inversion ◽  
Rock Structure ◽  
Geological Conditions

The amount of stress released by an earthquake can be calculated with a stress drop, the stress ratio before and after an earthquake where the stress accumulated in a fault or a subduction zone is immediately released during an earthquake. The purpose of this research is to calculate the amount of stress drop in faults and subduction in Maluku and Halmahera and their variations and relate them to the geological conditions in the area so that the tectonic characteristics in the area can be identified. This research employed mathematical analysis and the Nelder Mead Simplex nonlinear inversion methods. The results show that Maluku and Halmahera are the area with complex tectonic conditions and large earthquake impacts. The Maluku sea earthquake generated a stress drop of 0.81 MPa with a reverse fault mechanism in the zone of subduction, while for the Halmahera earthquake the stress drop value was 52.72 MPa, a typical strike-slip mechanism in the fault zone. It can be concluded that there is a difference in the stress drop between the subduction and fault zones; the stress drop in the fault was greater than that in the subduction zone due to different rock structure and faulting mechanisms as well as differences in the move slip rate that plays a role in the process of holding out the stress on a rock. This information is very important to know the amount of pressure released from the earthquake which has a very large impact as part of disaster mitigation measures.

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