CaltechAUTHORS
  A Caltech Library Service

Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous basinal strata along the Cordilleran Margin: Implications for the accretionary history of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular Terrane

McClelland, William C. and Gehrels, George E. and Saleeby, Jason B. (1992) Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous basinal strata along the Cordilleran Margin: Implications for the accretionary history of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular Terrane. Tectonics, 11 (4). pp. 823-835. ISSN 0278-7407. doi:10.1029/92TC00241. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20140905-152716950

[img]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
See Usage Policy.

1MB

Use this Persistent URL to link to this item: https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20140905-152716950

Abstract

Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous basinal strata are preserved in a discontinuous belt along the inboard margin of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular terrane (AWP) in Alaska and western Canada, on the outboard margin of terranes in the Canadian Cordillera accreted to North America prior to Late Jurassic time, and along the Cordilleran margin from southern Oregon to southern California. Nearly all of the basinal assemblages contain turbiditic strata deposited between Oxfordian and Albian time. Arc-type volcanic rocks and abundant volcanic detritus in many of the assemblages suggest deposition within or adjacent to a coeval arc complex. On the basis of the general similarities between the basinal sequences, we propose that they record involvement of the AWP in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous evolution of the Cordilleran margin. A geologically reasonable scenario for the accretion of the AWP includes (1) Middle Jurassic accretion to the Cordilleran margin, in particular the Stikine and Yukon-Tanana terranes, in a dextral transpressional regime, (2) Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous overall northward translation of the AWP and evolution of a series of transtensional basins within a complex dextral strike-slip system along the Cordilleran margin, and (3) mid-Cretaceous structural imbrication of the AWP and inboard terranes that either terminated or resulted in a change in the character of deposition in the marginal basins. Mid-Cretaceous deformation along the inboard margin of the AWP was broadly synchronous with contractional deformation throughout the Cordillera and most likely due to changes in subduction zone parameters along the Cordilleran margin, outboard of the AWP, rather than collision of the AWP.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/92TC00241/abstractPublisherArticle
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/92TC00241DOIArticle
Additional Information:© 1992 by the American Geophysical Union. Received May 17, 1991; revised January 27, 1992; accepted January 29, 1992. Paper number 92TC00241. The ideas presented in this paper were strongly influenced by discussions with P. J. Coney, J. W. H. Monger, and C. R. Rubin and are the direct out growth of research in southeastern Alaska funded by Geological Society of America, Sigma Xi, and ARCO research grants awarded to McClelland and NSF Grants EAR-8616473 and EAR-8903794 awarded to G. E. Gehrels and EAR-860538 and EAR-8803834 awarded to J. B. Saleeby. C. H. Hopson, J. L. Jackson, and M. M. Miller provided valuable comments on early versions of the manuscript. We thank G. A. Davis, J. O. Wheeler, and P. van der Heyden for providing unpublished manuscripts, and J. I. Garver and K. L. Kleinspehn for reviews.
Group:UNSPECIFIED, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
USGSUNSPECIFIED
ARCOUNSPECIFIED
NSFEAR-8616473
NSFEAR-8903794
NSFEAR-860538
NSFEAR-8803834
Geological Society of AmericaUNSPECIFIED
Sigma-Xi Grants in Aid of ResearchUNSPECIFIED
Issue or Number:4
DOI:10.1029/92TC00241
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20140905-152716950
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20140905-152716950
Official Citation:McClelland, W. C., G. E. Gehrels, and J. B. Saleeby (1992), Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous basinal strata along the Cordilleran Margin: Implications for the accretionary history of the Alexander-Wrangellia-Peninsular Terrane, Tectonics, 11(4), 823–835, doi:10.1029/92TC00241.
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:49303
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Ruth Sustaita
Deposited On:05 Sep 2014 22:59
Last Modified:10 Nov 2021 18:42

Repository Staff Only: item control page