logo
    Variations of Major Chemical Constituents across the Central Sierra Nevada Batholith
    138
    Citation
    0
    Reference
    10
    Related Paper
    Citation Trend
    Abstract:
    Research Article| February 01, 1970 Variations of Major Chemical Constituents across the Central Sierra Nevada Batholith P. C BATEMAN; P. C BATEMAN U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar F. C. W DODGE F. C. W DODGE U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information P. C BATEMAN U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 F. C. W DODGE U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025 Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 02 Jul 1969 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Copyright © 1970, The Geological Society of America, Inc. Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared by U.S. government employees within the scope of their employment. GSA Bulletin (1970) 81 (2): 409–420. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[409:VOMCCA]2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 02 Jul 1969 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation P. C BATEMAN, F. C. W DODGE; Variations of Major Chemical Constituents across the Central Sierra Nevada Batholith. GSA Bulletin 1970;; 81 (2): 409–420. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[409:VOMCCA]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 A study of 193 chemical analyses of plutonic rocks from 132 localities in the central Sierra Nevada shows convincingly that K2O decreases systematically westward and suggests that Fe2O3 and TiO2 may also decrease westward and that FeO, MgO, and CaO may increase. The ratio K2O/SiO2 obviously decreases westward across six of eight provisionally established sequences of granitic rocks. Plots of analyses of rocks from each sequence form discrete fields that are strongly elongate toward zero K2O at 40 to 45 percent SiO2. The boundaries between fields on these plots and between fields on plots of normative minerals on triangular diagrams are sharp. Compositional trends within sequences are different than the compositional changes that take place across the batholith—rocks in the western Sierra Nevada probably are not compositionally identical with rocks that are present at depth beneath the eastern Sierra Nevada.Progressive decrease of K2O in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic country rocks westward across the batholith is consistent with the anatectic model for its origin. However, it also is consistent with the hypothesis developed to explain chemical patterns in volcanic island arcs—that K2O increases toward continental land masses because of increasing depth of magma generation along landward-dipping seismic (Benioff) zones. The seismic-zone hypothesis encounters several difficulties, but it cannot be ruled out. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.
    Keywords:
    Batholith
    Geological survey
    Download
    Scope (computer science)
    Batholith
    Citations (1)
    The crustal structure of the Peninsular Ranges batholith can be divided geophysically into two parts: (1) a western mafic part that is dense, magnetic, and characterized by relatively high seismic velocities (>6.25 km/s), low heat flow (<60 mW/m2), and relatively sparse seismicity, and (2) an eastern, more felsic part that is less dense, weakly magnetic, and characterized by lower seismic velocities (<6.25 km/s), high heat flow (>60 mW/m2), and abundant microseismicity. Potential-field modeling indicates that the dense, mafic part of the batholith extends to depths of at least 20 km and likely to the Moho. The magnetic anomalies of the western part of the batholith extend south beyond the spatially extensive exposures of the batholith to the tip of the Baja California peninsula, which suggests that the mafic part of the batholith projects beneath Cenozoic volcanic cover another 400 km. The linearity and undisrupted nature of the magnetic belt of anomalies suggest that the western part of the batholith has behaved as a rigid block since emplacement of the batholith. The batholith may have influenced not only the development of the Gulf of California oblique rift, but also strike-slip faulting along its northern margin, and transtensional faulting along its western margin, likely because it is thermally and mechanically more resistant to deformation than the surrounding crust.
    Batholith
    Transtension
    Citations (24)
    Originally prepared for the GSA Thompson Field Forum that ran from Terrace to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, this guide describes the geology along the Skeena River transect of the Coast Mountains batholith, the largest Cordilleran batholith of western North America and one of the largest continental-margin batholiths in the world. The last guide to this area was published in 1983 and this new volume is the only modern overview of the last decades of work. The authors use the transect as a basis to examine the growth of the Coast Mountains batholith as a whole, emphasizing commonalities and variations with the batholith and how these traits may reflect magmatic processes that create convergent-margin batholiths.
    Batholith
    Continental Margin
    Citations (2)
    ABSTRACT The Peninsular Ranges Batholith of southern and Baja California is the largest segment of a Cretaceous magmatic arc that was once continuous from northern California to southern Baja California. In this batholith, the emplacement of igneous rocks took place during a single sequence of magmatic activity, unlike many of the other components of the Cordilleran batholiths which formed during successive separate magmatic episodes. Detailed radiometric dating has shown that it is a composite of two batholiths. A western batholith, which was more heterogeneous in composition, formed as a static magmatic arc between 140 and 105 Ma and was intrusive in part into related volcanic rocks. The eastern batholith formed as a laterally transgressing arc which moved away from those older rocks between 105 and 80 Ma, intruding metasedimentary rocks. Rocks of the batholith range from undersaturated gabbros through to felsic granites, but tonalite is the most abundant rock throughout. Perhaps better than elsewhere in the Cordillera, the batholith shows beautifully developed asymmetries in chemical and isotopic properties. The main gradients in chemical composition from W to E are found among the trace elements, with Ba, Sr, Nb and the light rare earth elements increasing by more than a factor of two, and P, Rb, Pb, Th, Zn and Ga showing smaller increases. Mg and the transition metals decrease strongly towards the E, with Sc, V and Cu falling to less than half of their value in the most westerly rocks. Oxygen becomes very systematically more enriched in 18 O from W to E and the Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systems change progressively from mantle values in the W to a more evolved character on the eastern side of the batholith. In detail the petrogenesis of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith is not completely understood, but many general aspects of the origin are clear. The exposed rocks, particularly in the western batholith, closely resemble those of present day island arcs, although the most typical and average tonalitic composition is distinctly more felsic than the mean quartz diorite or mafic andesite composition of arcs. Chemical and isotopic properties of the western part of the batholith indicate that it formed as the root of a primitive island arc on oceanic lithosphere at a convergent plate margin. Further E, the plutonic rocks appear to have been derived by partial melting from deeper sources of broadly basaltic composition at subcrustal levels. The compositional systematics of the batholith do not reflect a simple mixing of various end-members but are a reflection of the differing character of the source regions laterally and vertically away from the pre-Cretaceous continental margin.
    Batholith
    Felsic
    Back-arc basin
    Citations (258)