Research Article| October 01, 2001 Detrital zircon provenance of Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian arenites in the western United States and northwestern Mexico John H. Stewart; John H. Stewart 1U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar George E. Gehrels; George E. Gehrels 2Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Andrew P. Barth; Andrew P. Barth 3Department of Geology, Indiana/Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Paul K. Link; Paul K. Link 4Department of Geology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho 83209, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Nicholas Christie-Blick; Nicholas Christie-Blick 5Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Chester T. Wrucke Chester T. Wrucke 6U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information John H. Stewart 1U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA George E. Gehrels 2Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA Andrew P. Barth 3Department of Geology, Indiana/Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA Paul K. Link 4Department of Geology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho 83209, USA Nicholas Christie-Blick 5Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA Chester T. Wrucke 6U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 31 Mar 2000 Revision Received: 09 Jan 2001 Accepted: 15 Mar 2001 First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2001) 113 (10): 1343–1356. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1343:DZPOMT>2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 31 Mar 2000 Revision Received: 09 Jan 2001 Accepted: 15 Mar 2001 First Online: 01 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation John H. Stewart, George E. Gehrels, Andrew P. Barth, Paul K. Link, Nicholas Christie-Blick, Chester T. Wrucke; Detrital zircon provenance of Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian arenites in the western United States and northwestern Mexico. GSA Bulletin 2001;; 113 (10): 1343–1356. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1343:DZPOMT>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract U-Pb isotopic dating of detrital zircon from supracrustal Proterozoic and Cambrian arenites from the western United States and northern Mexico reveal three main age groups, 1.90 to 1.62 Ga, 1.45 to 1.40 Ga, and 1.2 to 1.0 Ga. Small amounts of zircons with ages of 3.1 to 2.5 Ga, 1.57 Ga, 1.32 Ga, 1.26 Ga, 0.7 Ga, and 0.5 Ga are also present.Detrital zircons ranging in age from 1.90 to 1.62 Ga and from 1.45 to 1.40 Ga are considered to have been derived from Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks of these known ages, and probably in part from reworked Proterozoic supracrustal sedimentary rocks, of the western United States. The 1.2 to 1.0 Ga detrital zircon ages from California, Arizona, and Sonora are characterized by distinct spikes (1.11 Ga, in particular) in the age-probability plots. These spikes are interpreted to indicate the influx of zircon from major silicic volcanic fields. Igneous rocks such as the Pikes Peak Granite (1.093 Ga) of Colorado, and the Aibo Granite (1.110 Ga) of Sonora, Mexico, may represent the deeply eroded roots of such volcanic fields. Samples from farther north along the Cordilleran margin that contain abundant 1.2–1.0 Ga detrital zircons do not show spikes in the age distribution, but rather ages spread out across the entire 1.2–1.0 Ga range. These age spectra resemble those for detrital zircons from the Grenville province, which is considered their source.Less common detrital zircons had a variety of sources. Zircons ranging in age from 3.36 to 2.31 Ga were apparently derived from inland parts of the North American continent from Wyoming to Canada. Zircons of about 1.577 Ga are highly unusual and may have had an exotic source; they may have come from Australia and been deposited in North America when Australia and North America were juxtaposed as part of the hypothetical Rodinian supercontinent. Detrital zircon of ∼1.320 Ga apparently had the same source as that for tuff (1.320 Ga) in the Pioneer Shale of the Apache Group in Arizona. Detrital zircons of about 1.26 Ga in the Apache Group and Troy Quartzite appear to be related to local, approximately coeval volcanic fields. Zircons of about 0.7 Ga may have had a source in igneous rocks related to rifting of the Proterozoic supercontinent of Rodinia, and 0.5 Ga zircons a source in relatively small areas of granitic rocks of this known, or inferred, age in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.
Mineral surveys conducted in 1978 show that the Sierra Ancha Wilderness has demonstrated resources of uranium, asbestos, and iron; probable and substantiated resource potential for uranium, asbestos, and iron; and a probable resource potential for fluorspar. Uranium resources occur in vein and stratabound deposits in siltstone that underlies much of the wilderness. Deposits of long-staple chrysotile asbestos are likely in parts of the wilderness adjacent to known areas of asbestos production. Magnetite deposits in the wilderness form a small iron resource. A fluorite resource may exist in the northern part of the wilderness east of a notable fluorite that is located in a comparable geologic setting 1.4 mi west of the wilderness boundary. No fossil fuel resources were identified in this study.
Abstract The distribution of Middle and Late Proterozoic sedimentary and metasedimentary cover that lies unconformably on Early Proterozoic and Archean crystalline basement has been known for decades, but recent work, employing techniques of paleomagnetic correlation, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, and analysis of tectonic subsidence has led to modifications of some long-accepted correlations and tectonic models. Within the context of both older classical studies and this new work, the stratigraphy, correlation, tectonic setting, fossil content, and mineral potential of Middle and Late Proterozoic rocks of parts of the Rocky Mountain, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range provinces of the United States are discussed. A problem common to interpretation of all Proterozoic strata is a widespread lack of fossil control on age and paleoecology, which makes correlations inherently uncertain and interpretation of depositional environments more difficult. We present current hypotheses about these topics and stress the uncertainty of some of our conclusions. The apparent polar wander path for the North American craton, as derived from the Middle and Late Proterozoic sedimentary cover, is central to our modifications of stratigraphie correlation, especially of Middle Proterozoic rocks. The reader is asked to view the work and summaries presented here in the light of ongoing scientific debate about strata that are chronically stubborn in yielding information. The authors of sections of this chapter include both those who have performed classical studies, which are the foundation of our present understanding, and younger geologists who have been busy refining and modifying early interpretations, using different methods of study. The treatment in this chapter is therefore variable depending on which generation of investigators is speaking.
Abstract The Whetstone Mountains are in southeastern Arizona along the boundary between Cochise and Pima Counties, about 42 mi (70 km) southeast of Tucson (Fig. 1), Benson, 15 mi (25 km) to the northeast, and Sierra Vista, about the same distance to the south, are the nearest towns. Most of the Whetstone Mountains, including the Dry Canyon area, are in Coronado National Forest. Dry Canyon, on the lower southeast flank of the mountains, is in the Benson15-minute Quadrangle and the Apache Peak and McGrew Spring 7½-minute Quadrangles. Along the canyon, and particularly on the ridge on its south side, a thick sequence of paleozoic rocks is exposed, which is the focus of this report. The Dry Canyon area (Fig. 2) is reached via Arizona 90, which trends south toward Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista from its junction with I-10, about 2.7 mi (4.5 km) west of Benson. At a point 13 mi (21.5 km) south of 1–10, a dirt road, marked by a simple ranch gate, leads westward a few mi (km) across public land into Dry Canyon. This road is best traveled using a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but it was passable with difficulty for passenger cars in 1982.
Two pre-Carboniferous stratigraphic successions, consisting of a southern slope facies and a northern outer-slope to basin facies, are present in the Clarence River area. Oldhamia-bearing trace fossil assemblages establish that both facies are, in part, Early to Middle Cambrian in age. Turbiditic sandstone, which overlies and contains Oldhamia-bearing strata in the southern facies, were previously mapped as Neruokpuk schist. If that correlation is correct, the Neruokpuk schist is Cambrian in age. Two new Early Silurian graptolite localities are reported in strata correlative with the Road River Formation. The two early Paleozoic facies were juxtaposed during Devonian orogenesis. The northern basin facies was deformed by a combination of isoclinal folding and thrust faulting, whereas the more competent southern facies was deformed by north-directed thrust faulting, which imbricated the sandstone-dominant succession. Laramide deformation involving Carboniferous and younger rocks generated transverse faults, and broad upright folds which rotated the earlier-formed structures.
