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Item Breccia of Frog Lakes : reconstructing Triassic volcanism and subduction initiation in the east-central Sierra Nevada, California(2014-03-12) Roberts, Sarah Elizabeth; Barth, Andrew, 1958-; Rosenberg, Gary D.; Filippelli, Gabriel M.The Antler and Sonoma orogenies occurred along the southwest-trending passive Pacific margin of North America during the Paleozoic concluding with the accretion of the McCloud Arc. A southeast-trending sinistral transform fault truncated the continental margin in the Permian, becoming a locus for initiation of an east-dipping subduction zone creating the Sierran magmatic arc. Constrained in age between two early Triassic tuff layers, the volcanic clasts in the breccia of Frog Lakes represent one of the earliest records of mafic magmatism in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tholeiitic rock clasts found in the breccia of Frog Lakes in the Saddlebag Lake pendant in the east central Sierra Nevada range in composition from 48% to 63% SiO2. Boninites produced by early volcanism of subduction initiation by spontaneous nucleation at the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc are more depleted in trace element concentrations than the clasts while andesites from the northern volcanic zone of the Andes produced on crust 50 km thick have similar levels of enrichment and provide a better geochemical modern analogue. Textural analysis of the breccia of Frog Lakes suggest a subaqueous environment of deposition from a mature magmatic arc built on continental crust > 50 km thick during the Triassic. The monzodiorites of Saddlebag and Odell Lakes are temporal intrusive equivalents of the breccia of Frog Lakes and zircon geochemistry indicates a magmatic arc petrogenesis.Item Geochemical evidence for incremental emplacement of Palms pluton, southern California(2010-02-02T18:15:40Z) Roell, Jennifer L.; Barth, Andrew, 1958-; Filippelli, Gabriel M.; Licht, Kathy J.The objectives of this study are, generally, to analyze and understand internal processes that produce melts in an oceanic-continental subduction setting; and, specifically, to understand the assembly of a Cretaceous magmatic arc pluton (Palms pluton), including the timing of melt emplacement(s) and melt evolution from the source. SiO2 concentrations vary from ~ 69-76 % by weight. Whole rock trace element concentrations vary up to 7 times. Zircon analysis shows a minimum age difference in the pluton of 3 my, if considering the uncertainties of the oldest and youngest samples. According to the model made from the HEAT program, this is approximately six times longer than the estimated crystallization time of one batch of melt with the same physical properties as the Palms pluton. Two distinct sources, perceived from chemical analysis of premagmatic zircons, are found throughout the pluton. REE compositional patterns show a hybridization of Proterozoic and Mesozoic sources in some, but not all, Palms pluton granites. This data suggests that the pluton formed from multiple intrusions and the Proterozoic source remained relatively consistent throughout the pluton’s assembly with few additions of younger Mesozoic source material.Item Provenance Study of Reedy Glacier and West Antarctic Ice Stream Tills(2008-10-10T18:03:25Z) Kramer, Katie L.; Licht, Kathy J.; Swope, R. Jeffery; Barth, Andrew, 1958-In January 2007, 26 samples of till from 6 different moraines along the Reedy Glacier, East Antarctica were collected with the goal of differentiating between these samples and till collected from the base of the Whillans, Kamb, and Bindschadler Ice Streams of West Antarctica. The ability to differentiate between East and West Antarctic ice will allow us to constrain ice flow into the central Ross Sea during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which has implications for more accurate reconstructions of the Ross Ice Sheet and its behavior. Moraines sampled from the head of Reedy Glacier give insight to the geology beneath the EAIS, and may be representative of what the glacier is eroding from its bed. Samples along the trunk of the glacier capture representative rock types eroded along the length of Reedy Glacier. At each moraine 3 replicate sub-sites were selected for collection to represent the diversity of material within each moraine. Comparisons are based on the composition of pebbles, particle size distributions, and sand petrography. Analysis of the pebble fraction shows that each sub-site contains similar rock types, however, the concentration of each rock type varies as much as 25-35%. Similar variation is also seen within the sub-site sand fraction. Both the pebble and sand fraction reflect the mapped bedrock geology. The dominant pebble types are coarse-grained felsic and intermediate igneous rocks, as well as quartzite. Similarly felsic igneous grains, quartzite, quartz, and feldspar characterize the sand fraction. Particle size analysis shows that v Reedy Glacier till averages 85% sand. The subglacial West Antarctic samples contain approximately 30% sand, and equal amounts of silt and clay, approximately 35% each. An observation of the sand fraction from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Streams shows composition similar to tills from Reedy Glacier. However, tills from the base of the West Antarctic Ice Streams contain up to 75% polymict grains, and in contrast, these grains are absent in the tills from Reedy Glacier. These sand-sized polymict grains dominate material from the base of Whillans and Bindschadler Ice Streams, whereas material from the base of Kamb Ice Stream contains grains of felsic igneous, quartz, feldspar, and few to no polymict grains. In addition to the polymict grains, the sand fraction in the ice stream cores contains trace fragments of sedimentary, and volcanic rocks, both of which are absent from the Reedy Glacier sand fraction. However, polymict grains are believed to represent a process occurring beneath the ice sheet, rather than indicate provenance. It is difficult to differentiate between the two tills, as both contain high concentrations of felsic-intermediate igneous lithics, quartz, and feldspar. The central Ross Sea contains sediment similar in rock type and mineralogy as seen within sediments from both Reedy Glacier, and the base of the ice streams of West Antarctica.Item Tracking the Evolution of Mid Cenozoic Silicic Magma Systems in the Southern Chocolate Mountains Region, California Using Zircon Geochemistry and Quartz and Zircon Geothermometry(2009-10-01T16:35:19Z) Needy, Sarah Katherine; Barth, Andrew, 1958-During the mid Cenozoic, the Chocolate Mountains region of southeastern California experienced crustal extension slightly before, during, and after the main pulse of magmatism. This combined with mid-late Cenozoic faulting to locally uplift plutonic rocks interpreted to represent the plumbing system(s) for volcanic units, allowing an examination of both the extrusive and intrusive result of magmatism. Zircon U-Pb ages of from six magmatic units yield late Oligocene to early Miocene ages and correlate better with stratigraphic relationships than previously compiled ages. These units are four silicic volcanic units – Quechan volcanic rocks, tuff of Felipe Pass, ignimbrite of Ferguson Wash, and tuff of Black Hills – and two plutonic units – the granites of Mount Barrow and Peter Kane Mountain. Regarding contemporaneous plutonic systems as baseline comparisons, zircons from the volcanic units commonly record plutonic temperatures; interpreted to be solidus or near solidus temperature. Remobilization may be a common process leading to eruption. Quartz and zircon thermometers reveal the ignimbrite of Ferguson Wash and tuff of Black Hills magmatic systems evolved differently. Quartz yields temperatures of 700°C to ~750°C in both units with no core-rim trends. Cores of zircons from the ignimbrite of Ferguson Wash yield temperatures between 750°C and 890°C. Zircon rim temperatures are between 875°C and 950°C. Tuff of Black Hills zircon cores generally record temperatures of ~850°C and zircon rim temperatures are ~700°C. Rims from tuff of Black Hills zircon record the same temperature range as zircons from coeval granites. The temperature increase from core to rim in zircons from the ignimbrite of Ferguson Wash indicates reheating and that zircon grew later than and at higher temperatures than quartz. The low zircon temperatures from tuff of Black Hills reveals a system that was growing quartz and zircon at the same low, nearly solidus temperatures. Reasons for its eruption are not readily apparent in the thermal history of zircon and quartz. These two systems record different thermal histories than previously studied, younger systems like the Bishop tuff, in which quartz records late reheating just prior to eruption and a system that was growing quartz later and at higher temperatures than zircon.