The improved resolution of sediment provenance from detrital zircon analysis of Great Valley stratigraphy enables recogni-tion of previously undocumented arc mag-matism and the evolution of regional drain-age systems within the Cretaceous arc-forearc system related to uplift, mag-matism, and structure in the arc. Great Valley detrital zircon age data confirm pre-vious studies that indicate that the locus of the sediment source in the southern Sierra Nevada arc migrated east with the active volcanic front and suggest rapid rates of uplift and unroofing of the southern arc. Sacramento Valley detrital zircon age data indicate a more complex history of drain-age in the northern Klamath-Sierran arc than previously documented. Detrital zir-con age distributions from the Cache Creek section of the Great Valley Group broaden through time from nearly unimodal age dis-tributions to signatures with multiple age peaks. This transition to more broadly dis-tributed detrital zircon age spectra likely results from a combination of (1) expanding subaerial drainage systems from highly lo-calized to more broadly distributed catch-ments; (2) changing shelf and submarine-canyon morphology with rising sea level and/or basin subsidence; (3) increased de-gree of dissection of the Klamath-Sierran arc; and (4) potential drainage capture and redirection within the arc. Sacramento Val-ley detrital zircon age data also record a pulse of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous †E-mail:
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Surpless et al. (2002) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: