Tectonic setting of the Jurassic Smartville and Slate Creek complexes, northern Sierra Nevada, California

Research Article| November 01, 2004 Tectonic setting of the Jurassic Smartville and Slate Creek complexes, northern Sierra Nevada, California Howard W. Day; Howard W. Day 1Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar M.E. Bickford M.E. Bickford 2Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-1070, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Howard W. Day 1Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA M.E. Bickford 2Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-1070, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 05 Jun 2003 Revision Received: 04 Mar 2004 Accepted: 10 May 2004 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2004) 116 (11-12): 1515–1528. https://doi.org/10.1130/B25416.1 Article history Received: 05 Jun 2003 Revision Received: 04 Mar 2004 Accepted: 10 May 2004 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Howard W. Day, M.E. Bickford; Tectonic setting of the Jurassic Smartville and Slate Creek complexes, northern Sierra Nevada, California. GSA Bulletin 2004;; 116 (11-12): 1515–1528. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B25416.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Jurassic ophiolitic complexes in California and Oregon are widely distributed outboard of a Jurassic and older continental margin. Whether these outboard complexes were exotic and collided with the Jurassic continental margin, or whether they were simply part of a wide forearc to a Jurassic continental magmatic arc, has long been at issue. We have studied two such complexes and crosscutting intrusions in the fault-bounded Central and Western belts of the northern Sierra Nevada. We report new and revised U-Pb (zircon) dates for the Early Jurassic and younger Slate Creek complex (ca. 203−171 Ma) in the Central belt; the Late Jurassic Smartville complex (159 ± 3 Ma) in the Western belt; and crosscutting intrusions ranging from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age. The new ages imply that the Central and Western belts have been part of the same terrane since Middle Jurassic time and that the fault separating them has accommodated only minor displacements since ca. 160 Ma. Isotopic compositions of common Pb indicate derivation from mantle sources, but evidence for inheritance of Pre-cambrian zircon is common in plutons within the Early and Late Jurassic complexes and in Middle Jurassic, Late Jurassic, and Early Cretaceous crosscutting intrusions. Although there are several potential sources for such contamination, the ages of the inherited zircon are consistent with a North American origin. This contamination would have been accomplished most plausibly near the North American margin. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.