ALBERT

Description: The rates at which large volumes of eruptible, silicic (〉65 wt% SiO 2 ) magma (magma chambers) are assembled, as well as their longevity in the upper crust, remain controversial. This controversy is due, in part, to a missing record of granitoid plutonic complexes that represent large fossil upper crustal magma chambers. We present new geologic mapping and high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology from the Eocene Golden Horn batholith in Washington State, USA. These data reveal that the batholith was constructed as a series of sills over 739 ± 34 k.y. Topographic relief of 〉2 km permits volume estimates for 4 of the sills, the largest of which, a 〉424 km 3 rapakivi granite, was emplaced over 26 ± 25 k.y. at a rate of ~0.0125 km 3 /yr. This rate exceeds those needed to build large, silicic magma chambers in thermal models, and we suggest that that this unit may represent the first fossil magma chamber of this type recognized in the geologic record.

Description: The North Cascades orogen (northwestern USA) provides an exceptional natural laboratory with which to evaluate potential temporal and kinematic links between processes operating at a wide range of crustal levels during collapse of a continental arc, and particularly the compatibility of strain between the upper and lower crust. This magmatic arc reached a crustal thickness of ≥55 km in the mid-Cretaceous. Eocene collapse of the arc during regional transtension was marked by magmatism, migmatization, ductile flow, and exhumation of deep crustal (8–12 kbar) rocks in the Cascades crystalline core coeval with subsidence and rapid deposition in nonmarine basins adjacent to the core, and intrusion of dike complexes. The Skagit Gneiss Complex is the larger of two regions of exhumed deep crust with Eocene cooling ages in the Cascades core, and it consists primarily of tonalitic orthogneiss emplaced mainly in two episodes of ca. 73–59 Ma and 50–45 Ma. Metamorphism, melt crystallization, and ductile deformation of migmatitic metapelite overlap the orthogneiss emplacement, occurring (possibly intermittently) from ca. 71 to 53 Ma; the youngest orthogneisses overlap 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite dates, compatible with rapid cooling. Gently to moderately dipping foliation, subhorizontal orogen-parallel (northwest-southeast) mineral lineation, sizable constrictional domains, and strong stretching parallel to lineation of hinges of mesoscopic folds in the Skagit Gneiss Complex are compatible with transtension linked to dextral-normal displacement of the Ross Lake fault zone, the northeastern boundary of the Cascades core. The other deeply exhumed domain, the 9–12 kbar Swakane Biotite Gneiss, has a broadly north-trending, gently plunging lineation and gently to moderately dipping foliation, which are associated with top-to-the-north noncoaxial shear. This gneiss is separated from overlying metamorphic rocks by a folded detachment fault. The Eocene Swauk and Chumstick basins flank the southern end of the Cascades core. In the Swauk basin, sediments were deposited in part at ca. 51 Ma, folded shortly afterward, and then covered by ca. 49 Ma Teanaway basalts and intruded by associated mafic dikes. Directly after dike intrusion, the fault-bounded Chumstick basin subsided rapidly. Extension directions from these dikes and from Eocene dikes that intruded the Cascades core are dominantly oblique to the overall trend of the orogen (275°–310° versus ~320°, respectively) and to the northwest-southeast to north-south ductile flow direction in the Skagit and Swakane rocks. This discordance implies that coeval extensional strain was decoupled between the brittle and ductile crust. Strain orientations at all depths in the Cascades core contrast with the approximately east-west extension driven by orogenic collapse in coeval metamorphic core complexes ~200 km to the east. Arc-oblique to arc-parallel flow in the Cascades core probably resulted in part from dextral shear along the plate margin and from along-strike gradients in crustal thickness and temperature.

Description: The presence of early Eocene near-trench magmatism in western Washington and southern British Columbia has led to speculation that this area experienced ridge-trench interaction during that time. However, the effects of this process as they are preserved in other parts of the geologic record are poorly known. We present high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology from Paleogene nonmarine sedimentary and volcanic sequences in central and western Washington that preserve a record of tectonic events between ca. 60 and 45 Ma. The data reveal that the Swauk, Chuckanut, and Manastash Formations formed a nonmarine sedimentary basin along the North American margin between ≤59.9 and 51.3 Ma. This basin experienced significant disruption that culminated in basinwide deformation, uplift, and partial erosion during accretion of the Siletzia terrane between 51.3 and 49.9 Ma. Immediately following accretion, dextral strike-slip faulting began, or accelerated, on the Darrington–Devil’s Mountain, Entiat, Leavenworth, Eagle Creek, and Straight Creek–Fraser fault zones between 50 and 46 Ma. During this time, the Chumstick Formation was deposited in a strike-slip basin coeval with near-trench magmatism. Faulting continued on the Entiat, Eagle Creek, and Leavenworth faults until a regional sedimentary basin was reestablished ≤45.9 Ma, and may have continued on the Straight Creek–Fraser fault until 35–30 Ma. This record of basin disruption, volcanism, and strike-slip faulting is consistent with ridge-trench interaction and supports the presence of an oceanic spreading ridge at this latitude along the North American margin during the early Eocene.

Description: The rates at which large volumes of eruptible, silicic (〉65 wt% SiO 2 ) magma (magma chambers) are assembled, as well as their longevity in the upper crust, remain controversial. This controversy is due, in part, to a missing record of granitoid plutonic complexes that represent large fossil upper crustal magma chambers. We present new geologic mapping and high-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology from the Eocene Golden Horn batholith in Washington State, USA. These data reveal that the batholith was constructed as a series of sills over 739 ± 34 k.y. Topographic relief of 〉2 km permits volume estimates for 4 of the sills, the largest of which, a 〉424 km 3 rapakivi granite, was emplaced over 26 ± 25 k.y. at a rate of ~0.0125 km 3 /yr. This rate exceeds those needed to build large, silicic magma chambers in thermal models, and we suggest that that this unit may represent the first fossil magma chamber of this type recognized in the geologic record.

Description: Studies of plutons indicate that they are the result of a complex interplay of magmatic processes occurring during magma generation, ascent, and emplacement. A critical tool for deciphering these processes is high-precision geochronology, which can help determine the timing and rates of magmatism in the crust. We conducted a field and U-Pb geochronological study of the Cretaceous Black Peak intrusive complex in the North Cascades of Washington State to investigate magmatism at a detailed scale and to refine estimates of plutonic construction rates. High-precision chemical abrasion–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-TIMS) U-Pb geochronology was carried out on 31 samples from five mapped intrusive phases. Field relations in the Black Peak intrusive complex show intrusive contacts that vary from sharp to gradational. Whole-rock Sm/Nd, zircon oxygen isotopes, and zircon trace elements were obtained on subsets of representative samples. The U-Pb geochronology from the Black Peak intrusive complex documents batholith intrusion over 4.5 m.y. and suggests that magmatism was semicontinuous for a minimum of 3.5 m.y. Individual samples display age dispersion in single-zircon dates that ranges from ~10 5 yr to several 10 6 yr, with a general increase in the age range for younger samples. Whole-rock Nd and zircon 18 O for all Black Peak intrusive complex samples indicate that magmas were derived from mantle and crustal sources and that all magmas were isotopically homogenized prior to zircon saturation. Ti-in-zircon temperatures from zircon cores are generally above calculated zircon saturation temperatures, which suggests that most Black Peak intrusive complex magmas were zircon undersaturated in the melt source region. A range of thicknesses was considered, and a thickness of ~10 km for the Black Peak intrusive complex gives an average intrusion rate of ~1.1 x 10 –3 km 3 /yr, which is high enough to sustain a magma reservoir in the shallow crust. The field evidence and long overall duration of intrusion are incompatible with the entire Black Peak intrusive complex being molten at any one time, but the larger, more compositionally homogeneous domains in the Black Peak intrusive complex are likely the solidified remnants of mushy magma bodies with ~10 5 yr durations. These data suggest that the Black Peak intrusive complex may have remained "mushy" for long periods of time (10 5 yr) and may indicate that the spread in dates within individual samples is best interpreted as either antecrystic recycling and/or protracted autocrystic growth.