formation and emplacement of the josephine ophiolite and the nevadan orogeny in the klamath mountains california oregon u pb zircon and 40ar 39ar geochronology cordilleran ophiolites typically occur as basement for accreted terranes in the klamath mountains ophiolitic terranes were progressively accreted by underthrusting beneath north america the josephine ophiolite is the youngest of the klamath ophiolites and forms the basement for a thick late jurassic flysch sequence galice formation this ophiolite flysch terrane forms an east dipping thrust sheet sandwiched between older rocks of the klamath mountains above and a coeval plutonic volcanic arc complex below the outcrop pattern of the roof orleans thrust indicates a minimum displacement of 40 km and geophysical studies suggest 110 km of displacement the basal madstone cabin thrust is associated with an amphibolitic sole and has a minimum displacement of 12 km a rapid sequence of events from ophiolite generation to thrust emplacement has been determined using 40 ar 39 ar and pb u geochronology ophiolite generation occurred at 162 164 ma a thin hemipelagic sequence was deposited from 162 to 157 ma and flysch deposition took place between 157 and 150 ma tight age constraints on thrusting and low grade metamorphism associated with ophiolite emplacement nevadan orogeny are provided by abundant calc alkaline dikes and plutons ranging in age from 151 to 139 ma deformation and metamorphism related to the nevadan orogeny appears to have extended from 155 to 135 ma most of the crustal shortening took place by thrusting constrained to have occurred from 155 to 150 ma on both the roof and basal thrusts minimum rates of displacement are 2 4 and 3 6 mm year for the basal and roof thrusts respectively but correlations with coeval thrusts yield rates of 8 4 and 22 mm year within the range of plate velocities the high displacement rates and synchronous movement along the basal and roof thrusts suggest that the ophiolite may have behaved as a microplate situated between western north america and an active arc from 155 to 150 ma a steep thermal gradient was present in the josephine galice thrust sheet from 155 to 150 ma with amphibolite facies conditions developed along the basal thrust after accretion of the ophiolite by underthrusting the ophiolite and overlying flysch underwent low grade dynamothermal regional metamorphism from 150 to 135 ma the upper age limit is tightly constrained by a 135 ma k feldspar cooling age syntectonic plutons as young as 139 ma and a lower cretaceous angular unconformity very rapid exhumation is indicated by the late valanginian to hauterivian age 130 ma of the unconformably overlying strata suggesting unroofing by extensional tectonics

erosion by rivers and transport pathways in the ocean a provenance tool using 40ar 39ar incremental heating on fine grained sediment measured from 39 ar and 37 ar respectively are consistent with typical values for k and ca bearing minerals calculations show that the bulk mineralogy is reflected in the outgassing k ca spectra and identify plagioclase as the dominant mineral contributing to the plateau defining portion of the age spectra a second model predicts bulk sediment ages from integrated bedrock cooling age area estimates in order to examine whether bulk sediment plateau ages are representative of the average cooling age of rocks from a given river basin calculated and observed ages are notably similar in three river basins when topographic and lithologic effects are accounted for overall this technique shows considerable promise not only in tracking individual terrigenous sources in the marine realm but also for understanding processes such as erosion and sediment transport in terrestrial systems

source and tectonic implications of tonalite trondhjemite magmatism in the klamath mountains in the klamath mountains voluminous tonalite trondhjemite magmatism was characteristic of a short period of time from about 144 to 136 ma early cretaceous it occurred about 5 to 10 m y after the 165 to 159 ma josephine ophiolite was thrust beneath older parts of the province during the nevadan orogeny thrusting from 155 to 148 ma the magmatism also corresponds to a period of slow or no subduction most of the plutons crop out in the south central klamath mountains in california but one occurs in oregon at the northern end of the province compositionally extended members of the suite consist of precursor gabbroic to dioritic rocks followed by later more voluminous tonalitic and trondhjemitic intrusions most plutons consist almost entirely of tonalite and trondhjemite poorly defined concentric zoning is common tonalitic rocks are typically of the low al type but trondhjemites are generally of the high al type even those that occur in the same pluton as low al tonalite the suite is characterized by low abundances of k2o rb zr and heavy rare earth elements sr contents are generally moderate 450 ppm by comparison with sr rich arc lavas interpreted to be slab melts up to 2000 ppm initial 87sr 86sr 18o and nd are typical of mantle derived magmas or of crustally derived magmas with a metabasic source compositional variation within plutons can be modeled by variable degrees of partial melting of a heterogeneous metabasaltic source transitional mid ocean ridge to island arc basalt but not by fractional crystallyzation of a basaltic parent melting models require a residual assemblage of clinopyroxene garnet plagioclase amphibole residual plagioclase suggests a deep crustal origin rather than melting of a subducted slab such models are consistent with the metabasic part of the josephine ophiolite as the source because the josephine ophiolite was at low t during nevadan thrusting an external heat source was probably necessary to achieve significant degrees of melting heat was probably extracted from mantle derived basaltic melts which were parental to the mafic precursors of the tonalite trondhjemite suite thus under appropriate tectonic and thermal conditions heterogeneous mafic crustal rocks can melt to form both low and high al tonalitic and trondhjemitic magmas slab melting is not necessary

osmium isotope constraints on lower crustal recycling and pluton preservation at lassen volcanic center ca osmium isotope compositions of intermediate to silicic composition calc alkaline volcanic rocks from the lassen volcanic region of the cascade arc are significantly more radiogenic qos 23 to 224 than typical mantle these evolved arc rocks in the lassen region have unradiogenic sr nd and pb isotope compositions which overlap with those of contemporaneous mafic lavas crystal fractionation of mafic to intermediate composition magmas produces re os ratios that are high enough to evolve to very radiogenic os isotope compositions in only a few million years providing a potential fingerprint for detecting the involvement of such young relatively mafic crust in magmatic systems however the sr nd and pb isotope compositions will remain constant over such short time intervals due to relatively low parent daughter enrichment during magmatic evolution the radiogenic os isotope compositions in typically evolved lassen rocks are interpreted to reflect significant interaction with lower crustal material that has radiogenic os isotope compositions beneath this section of the cascade arc large amounts of such high qos lower crust may have formed and been isolated from mash zone mixing and homogenization processes during the pliocene or late miocene the results from this study indicate that os isotopes may provide a unique glimpse into lower crustal processes such as recycling in primitive orogenic arcs 9 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

mantle plumes and flood basalt stratigraphy in the parana south america geochemical studies of the parana continental flood basalts in brazil have led to the recognition of distinct magma types which have been used to infer the internal stratigraphy of the lava pile the overstepping of stratigraphic units toward the north and a similar compositional change in sills within the underlying parana basin sedimentary rocks imply that the site of magnatism migrated 750 km toward the north during this volcanic event this has important implications for recent plume related models that have argued whether fithospheric rifting must accompany the presence of a mantle plume in order to generate continental flood basalt magmatism it is difficult to ascribe the magnitude and direction of the shift in the locus of the parana magmatism to movement of the brazilian lithosphere relative to the underlying tristan mantle plume instead it is suggested that the observed lava distribution and internal structure of the parana etendeka flood basalt province were imposed by the intracacies of the rifting process during the initial opening of the south atlantic ocean

timescales of orogeny jurassic construction of the klamath mountains an electronic supplement of this material may be obtained on a diskette or anonymous ftp from kosmos agu org login to agu s ftp account using anonymous as the username and guest as the password go to the right directory by typing cd apend type ls to see what files are available type get and the name of the file to get it finally type exit to leave the system paper 94ycj2454 timescales of orogeny jurassic construction of the klamath mountains b r hacker m m donato c g barnes m o mcwilliams and w g ernst diskette may be ordered from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 15 00 payment must accompany order classical interpretations of orogeny were based on relatively imprecise biostratigraphic and isotopic age determinations that necessitated grouping apparently related features that may in reality have been greatly diachronous isotopic age techniques now have the precision required to resolve the timing of orogenic events on a scale much smaller than that of entire mountain belts forty five new 40ar 39ar ages from the klamath mountains illuminate the deformation metamorphism magmatism and sedimentation involved in the jurassic construction of that orogen leading to a new level of understanding regarding how preserved orogenic features relate to ancient plate tectonic processes the new geochronologic relationships show that many jurassic units of the klamath mountains had 200 ma or older volcanoplutonic basement subsequent formation of a large 170 ma arc was followed by contractional collapse of the arc collision with a spreading ridge may have led to large scale nw se extension in the central and northern klamaths from 167 to 155 ma coincident with the crystallization of voluminous plutonic and volcanic suites marked cooling of a large region of the central klamath mountains to below 350 c at 150 ma may have occurred as the igneous belt was extinguished by subduction of colder material at deeper structural levels these data demonstrate that the klamath mountains and perhaps other similar orogens were constructed during areally and temporally variant episodes of contraction extension and magmatism that do not fit classical definitions of orogeny

partial melting of mantle wedge and evolution of island arc crust evolution of the crust in the northeast honshu arc is discussed on the basis of the melting experiments of a peridotite under hydrous conditions and the crustal compositions estimated from deep crustal xenoliths and seismic velocity data the chemical compositions of melts formed by partial melting of a hydrous peridotite within the pressure temperature conditions for shallow parts of the mantle wedge 1 2 2 0 gpa have been experimentally determined with the sandwich experiment technique the melts range from olivine tholeiitic to magnesian andesitic compositions sio2 48 56 wt mgo 9 14 wt beneath the volcanic front in the northeast honshu arc and are slightly less silicic beneath the coast of the sea of japan the crustal compositions of the volcanic zone in the northeast honshu arc estimated from deep seated crustal inclusions in volcanic rocks and the velocity structures of the crust are andesitic in the central zone and high alumina basaltic near the coast of the sea of japan the compositions of possible primary melts formed in the mantle wedge are significantly more mafic than these crustal compositions consequently if the major part of the crustal materials in the volcanic zone was formed by magmas generated in the mantle wedge thick up to 30 km ultramafic cumulates including olivine pyroxenite must have been formed beneath moho during fractional crystallization and would constitute the upper part of the mantle wedge the volume of the mantle wedge consisting entirely of even fertile peridotite was not sufficient to produce crustal materials and cumulates in the volcanic zone by such processes in the northeast honshu arc a static mantle wedge model is therefore not satisfactory for the growth of the crust in northeast honshu arc a dynamic model is suggested in which the mantle materials have been supplied into the mantle wedge from the back arc side by a convective flow

remobilisation of the continental lithosphere by a mantle plume major trace element and sr nd and pb isotope evidence from picritic and tholeiitic lavas of the noril sk district siberian trap russia the late permian to early triassic siberian traps have been sampled by drill core core sg 9 and from surface exposure section 1f in the noril sk region of the siberian platform russia combined major trace element and nd sr and pb isotope data on selected samples through the siberia trap offer new chemostratigraphic criteria for the identification and characterisation of two fundamentally different magma types and 9 of the 11 formations of lava developed near noril sk a lower sequence of sub alkalic basalts tholeiites and picritic basalts upwards these are the ivakinsky syverminsky and gudchichinsky formations are overlain by an upper sequence of picritic basalts and tholeiites interbedded with tuffs upwards these are the khakanchansky tuklonsky nadezhdinsky morongovsky mokulaevsky and kharayelakhsky formations the gudchichinsky and tuklonsky formations contain both picritic and tholeiitic lavas the tuklonsky formation tholeiites and picrites have moderate gd yb 1 6 1 8 low tio2 0 45 0 95 wt a significant negative ta and nb anomaly nb la 0 42 0 57 and unradiogenic nd nd chur to 4 6 in contrast both the gudchichinsky formation tholeiites and picrites have high gd yb 2 3 3 1 and tio2 1 2 2 3 wt no significant nb or ta anomaly nb la 0 8 1 1 and radiogenic nd nd chur to 7 3 the low ti and nb la high la sm and unradiogenic nd isotope signatures of the picritic tuklonsky formation lavas and the tholeiitic lavas of the upper sequence are characteristic of magmas strongly influenced by material from the continental lithosphere whereas the high ti and nb la low la sm and radiogenic nd isotope signatures of the lower sequence are more comparable to deeper asthenospheric mantle plume generated lavas similar to oceanic island basalts the lavas overlying the tuklonsky formation have mg numbers of 0 63 to 0 68 and are more evolved than the tuklonsky mg number 0 62 and have more radiogenic nd chur tuklonsky 0 03 to 4 66 mokulaevsky 0 60 to 1 61 but have many of the incompatible trace element features of the tuklonsky sky type magma these lavas show a progressive upwards decline in sio2 55 49 wt la sm 4 6 2 0 and ur sr 67 to 13 which has previously been attributed to a decrease in the proportion of crustal material contributed to the magma this paper explores and alternative model where a component of the crustal contribution might be derived from within an ancient region of the mantle lithosphere as recycled sediment rather than from the overlying continental crust

zoogeomorphology in the alpine some observations on abiotic biotic interactions abstract cryonival processes typify the alpine environment these cold based processes operate synergistically with wind rainsplash surface wash and mass movement to create the local morphology these traditionally accepted abiotic processes are rarely if ever identified as operating in conjunction with biotic processes paradoxically the existence and activity of animals within the alpine zone is widely reported here the argument will be made for the interoperation of the biotic with the abiotic in the development of the alpine terrain animals frequently exert a strong geomorphic influence in alpine environments through such activities as grazing trampling digging burrowing and direct erosion of even bedrock the impact of the animals in a geomorphic context can be both direct and indirect direct effects are soil compaction removal of sediments loading causing slope failure and the introduction or removal of chemicals nutrients as significant as these impacts can be so too are the indirect effects preparation of sediments for removal by abiotic processes decreasing of slope stability by burrowing increasing surface wash and or concentration of overland flow as a result of compaction pedoturbation and changing of soil water chemistry because of facilitating water penetration as a result of burrowing the abiotic and biotic impacts occur both in parallel i e at the same time and or in series i e one subsequent to another frequently as a function of seasonal climatic influences on both forces climate exerts a significant impact on both biotic and abiotic processes and aspect can greatly influence these solar radiation ground temperature wind and precipitation affect biotic and abiotic attributes and their interaction slope angle and parent material s will also affect the degree of influence biotic abiotic interactions are complex outcomes of parent material aspect slope and season and all of the factors that these influence i e vegetation here a series of flow diagrams are used to identify both abiotic and biotic elements and to show the manner in which they interoperate to create the local alpine terrain examples from a variety of alpine locations canada and china will be used to exemplify geomorphic outcomes

the timing of crustal extension and the eruption of continental flood basalts the association between mantle plumes continental flood basalt eruption and the extension and rifting of the crust is well recognized1 3 but there has always been controversy as to whether the plume or the rifting was the initiating factor4 5 was rifting triggered by doming above the thermal plume2 3 6 or was rifting the driving force preceding the associated volcanicity7 8 here i show that recent flow by flow mapping of two continental flood basalt provinces the columbia river basalt group and the deccan basalt group allows one to infer the relative timing of volcanicity and crustal extension in both provinces eruption of the main tholeiitic phase preceded significant extension and crustal thinning this suggests that the primary event in the formation of these provinces was the upwelling of a mantle plume and that the subsequent crustal extension rifting and decompression was in part a consequence of the initiation of that plume

shifts in the source of the parana basalts through time magmatism occurred intermittently in the parana region of south america between 240 50 ma with the peak of magmatic activity between 138 126 ma comprising the parana continental flood basalts cfb detailed chemical subdivision of the parana basalts into six units allowed stratigraphic correlations to be made implying a northward migration of magmatism following the rifting of the south atlantic however 40ar 39ar ages do not uphold the chronostratigraphic nature of such magmatic units instead they indicate a southeastwards migration major elements extrapolated to 8 wt mgo are used to investigate changes in magma type with time and are interpreted in terms of parameters such as pressure depth of melting and the nature of the source region fertile refractory and water content the oldest parana unit originated by melting at the greatest depths 90 120 km shifting to shallow levels 30 60 km for the younger units accompanying this decrease in pressure the source material undergoing partial melting became progressively more refractory in major elements and also more hydrous this hydrous metasomatism occurred after major element depletion of the lithosphere at shallow levels the data is consistent with conductive heating of a stratified source region inferred to lie within the lithospheric mantle which is relatively fertile but anhydrous at depth and also appears to be younger in age than the relatively major element refractory hydrous lithosphere at shallower depths thus the interaction of asthenosphere and lithosphere can be determined within an integrated age tectonic and thermal framework

evidence of magmatic activity related to middle jurassic and lower cretaceous rifting from northeastern brazil ceara mirim k ar age palaeomagnetism petrology and sr 1bnd isotope characteristics the mesozoic magmatic activity in the easternmost part of ne brazil ceara mirim is mainly represented by two pyroxene tholeiitic dykes only few dykes have alkaline character k ar ages and palaeomagnetism data indicate that ceara mirim dykes are of middle jurassic 175 160 ma and early cretaceous 140 130 ma age both middle jurassic and lower cretaceous dykes have high incompatible element concentrations and tio2 with the lower contents generally confined to the middle jurassic dykes rare tholeiitic dykes low in tio2 and incompatible elements are present sr 1bnd isotopic and other chemical data do not support appreciable crustal contamination and in a 87sr86sr vs 143nd144nd diagram almost all the dykes plot in a narrow area of the enriched quadrant of the mantle array tholeiitic and alkaline ceara mirim dykes are related to different parent magmas probably originating by different degrees of melting of garnet peridotite mantle sources characterized by distinct sr 1bnd isotope compositions and small scale chemical heterogeneities ceara mirim tholeiitic dykes show close mineralogical chemical and isotopic similarities with the lower cretaceous high tio2 tholeiites from maranhao sardinha intrusives and parana northern province basins in general chemical and sr 1bnd isotope data for high and low tio2 brazilian mesozoic tholeiites appear to be related to time integrated enriched and depleted mantle components respectively subcontinental mantle heterogeneity is believed to be due to variable enriched components related to metasomatic processes the ceara mirim jurassic dykes correlate well in terms of composition and tectonic setting with the analogue tholeiitic dyke swarms from the benue trough and can be related to the opening of the central atlantic ocean the lower cretaceous ceara mirim magmatic activity corresponds to the coeval one of the benue trough and can be related to the early rifting events responsible for the opening of the equatorial domain of the south atlantic whose oceanic crust formed between 120 and 100 ma

submarine and superimposed contact metamorphic oxygen isotopic exchange in an oceanic arc sawyers bar area central klamath mountains california usa new bulk rock oxygen isotope data indicate a complicated history of fluid rock interactions in the upper few kilometers of a basaltic arc attending its mesozoic accretion to the western margin of north america folded multiply recrystallized weakly metasomatized mafic volcanics and interstratified sediments of the sawyers bar terrane an eastern segment of the western triassic and paleozoic belt were investigated the following scenario can now be reconstructed 1 island arc tholeiites iats ocean island basalts oibs and distal turbidites were deposited in a subsea environment during permian and early mesozoic time 170 245 ma basaltic rocks underwent low temperature alteration by seawater recrystallization occurred at 100 200 c and 1 kbar alkali exchange and variable mg enrichment were accompanied by increases in bulk rock 18o values of the greenstones from 6 to approximately 10 o preceeding initial stages of island arc formation 2 middle jurassic 165 170 ma suturing of the seaward oceanic arc structurally beneath a landward 227 ma blueschist terrane resulted in regional deformation and greenschist facies metamorphism pervasive overprinting took place without important chemical or isotopic exchange under conditions of 300 425 c 3 1 kbar 3 granitoid plutons emplaced during late middle jurassic time 160 165 ma heated adjacent wallrocks to 500 600 c at pressures of approximately 2 3 kbar thermal upgrading resulted in devolatilization of isotopically heavy metasediments and in the exchange of high 18o fluids with intercalated greenstones 18o values in iat and oib metavolcanics increased from 9 to 10 along axial portions of ns trending folds to more than 15 o where metabasalts are intimately interlayered with the metasediments construction of this sector of the continental margin through the assembly of a weakly deformed and polymetamorphosed oceanic arc was attended by a sequence of aqueous fluid rock isotopic exchanges reflecting the p t time evolution of the complex

magmatism and continental break up in the south atlantic high precision40ar 39ar geochronology abstract a detailed ar ar study of the parana etendeka continental flood basalts cfb has been undertaken using laser spot analysis data provide information not only on the age of the samples but also on the variability of the non radiogenic ar component and state of alteration the results indicate the parana etendeka cfb were erupted over 10 million years between 137 and 127 ma providing a minimum overall eruption rate of 0 1 km3 yr 1 this is an order of magnitude less than that previously proposed for this the deccan and siberian cfb provinces but it is similar to estimates for hawaii iceland and the columbia river cfb in detail the new ar ar analyses indicate that magmatism within the parana etendeka province migrated from nw to se prior to and during the opening of the south atlantic providing an explanation for the asymmetry of the cfb lavas about the south atlantic moreover chemically defined magma types were erupted at different times in different places and so within the paranathey may not be used as reliable chronostratigraphic units rather such magmatic units may reflect the extent of compositionally distinct source regions in the uppermost mantle and indicate that partial melting took place over a wide area under the paranabasin the nw se migration of the onset of magmatism might be interpreted as a plume trace but the inferred rate of movement is 3 times faster than that inferred from subsequent magmatism on the rio grande rise it is argued that the onset of magmatism reflected extensional tectonics normal to the ponta grossa dyke swarm given that magmatism preceded the main phase of rifting and that extension across the ponta grossa was moderate current plume models have difficulty in predicting sufficient melting within the asthenosphere

postseismic mantle relaxation in the central nevada seismic belt holocene acceleration of deformation and postseismic relaxation are two hypotheses to explain the present day deformation in the central nevada seismic belt cnsb discriminating between these two mechanisms is critical for understanding the dynamics and seismic potential of the basin and range province interferometric synthetic aperture radar detected a broad area of uplift 2 to 3 millimeters per year that can be explained by postseismic mantle relaxation after a sequence of large crustal earthquakes from 1915 to 1954 the results lead to a broad agreement between geologic and geodetic strain indicators and support a model of a rigid basin and range between the cnsb and the wasatch fault

tectonic implications of isotopic variation among jurassic and early cretaceous plutons klamath mountains jurassic and early cretaceous plutons in the klamath mountains province of california and oregon were intruded both before and after thrusting during the nevadan orogeny ca 155 148 ma plutons intruded before nevadan thrusting range from calc alkalic to calcic and display a range of compositions that changes consistently with time among this group rb k 2 o and initial 87 sr 86 sr sr i range 0 7034 to 0 7047 decrease and nd range 2 0 to 4 8 increases in younger plutons within individual plutons sr i varies considerably whereas nd is nearly constant the sr and nd isotopic data typically plot to the right of the mantle array 18 o values in these plutons are greater than 8 0 tonalitic and trondhjemitic plutons intruded after nevadan thrusting are typically calcic contain low rb and k 2 o contents and have 18 o less than 8 0 these plutons have a narrow range of sr i 0 7033 0 7036 and nd 4 7 to 7 4 values that plot in the mantle array the isotopic compositions of the pre nevadan plutons requires assimilation of metasedimentary rocks or mixing with crustal melts at deep crustal levels the deep crustal component is not exposed in the province and was presumably truncated during nevadan thrusting post nevadan plutons show little evidence of assimilation of metasedimentary crust but display trace element evidence low k 2 o rb and rare earth element concentrations consistent with an origin by partial melting of young ophiolitic rocks underthrust during the nevadan orogeny

mantle hotspots plumes and regional tectonics as causes of intraplate magmatism in continental areas it is often difficult to determine the cause of intraplate magmatism large volumes of magma high eruption rates and the presence of a hotspot trace on the adjacent ocean floor are all evidence for the presence of an anomalously hot mantle however in many continental magmas there are chemical variations with time which are inferred to reflect changes from asthenospheric to predominantly lithospheric source regions or vice versa it is argued that these chemical characteristics constrain whether magmatism was triggered by the emplacement of a mantle plume or by lithospheric extension

oxygen isotope geochemistry of the lassen volcanic center california resolving crustal and mantle contributions to continental arc magmatism this study reports oxygen isotope ratios determined by laser fluorination of mineral separates mainly plagioclase from basaltic andesitic to rhyolitic composition volcanic rocks erupted from the lassen volcanic center lvc northern california plagioclase separates from nearly all rocks have o values 6 1 8 4o higher than expected for production of the magmas by partial melting of little evolved basaltic lavas erupted in the arc front and back arc regions of the southernmost cascades during the late cenozoic most lvc magmas must therefore contain high o crustal material in this regard the o values of the volcanic rocks show strong spatial patterns particularly for young rhyodacitic rocks that best represent unmodified partial melts of the continental crust rhyodacitic magmas erupted from vents located within 3 5 km of the inferred center of the lvc have consistently lower o values average 6 3o 0 1o at given sio2 contents relative to rocks erupted from distal vents 47 0 km average 7 1o 0 1o further magmas erupted from vents situated at transitional distances have intermediate values and span a larger range average 6 8o 0 2o basaltic andesitic to andesitic composition rocks show similar spatial variations although as a group the o values of these rocks are more variable and extend to higher values than the rhyodacitic rocks these features are interpreted to reflect assimilation of heterogeneous lower continental crust by mafic magmas followed by mixing or mingling with silicic magmas formed by partial melting of initially high o continental crust 9 0o increasingly hybridized by lower o 6 0o mantle derived basaltic magmas toward the center of the system mixing calculations using estimated endmember source o values imply that lvc magmas contain on a molar oxygen basis approximately 42 to 4 isotopically heavy continental crust with proportions declining in a broadly regular fashion toward the center of the lvc conversely the o values of the rhyodacitic rocks suggest that the continental crust in the melt generation zones beneath the lvc has been substantially modified by intrusion of mantlederived basaltic magmas with the degree of hybridization ranging on a molar oxygen basis from approximately 60 at distances up to 12 km from the center of the system to 97 directly beneath the focus region these results demonstrate on a relatively small scale the strong influence that intrusion of mantle derived mafic magmas can have on modifying the composition of pre existing continental crust in regions of melt production given this result similar but larger scale regional trends in magma compositions may reflect an analogous but more extensive process wherein the continental crust becomes progressively hybridized beneath frontal arc localities as a result of protracted intrusion of subduction related basaltic magmas

sedimentary record of the late cretaceous thrusting and collapse of the salinia mojave magmatic arc upper cretaceous conglomerates in the gualala basin california contain rhyolite and granite clasts that have been previously hypothesized to have disparate terranes of origin new geochemical age and isotopic analyses of these conglomerate clasts suggest an igneous origin in the upper levels of the continental side of the cretaceous cordilleran magmatic arc sr nd isotope relations constrain a provenance in the pre neogene salinia mojave arc segment given the tectonically reconstructed outboard depositional location for the gualala basin we interpret the initiation of rhyolite granite conglomerate deposition in the gualala basin to reflect the arrival of the westward thrusted salinian allochthon at the forearc coincident with the collapse of the salinia mojave segment of the magmatic arc this interpretation constrains the age of batholithic collapse to be ca 80 ma and suggests that thrusting immediately followed or may have been contemporaneous with the youngest magmatic events in this part of the arc the data do not support contributions from a northward moving baja british columbia baja bc terrane or large scale translation 2000 km of the basin