Edward A. du Bray

Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, California and Nevada

Ongoing arc magmatism along western North America was preceded by ancestral arc magmatism that began ca. 45 Ma and evolved into modern arc volcanism. The southern ancestral arc segment, active from ca. 30 to 3 Ma, adjoins the northern segment in northern California across a proposed subducted slab tear. The east edge of the Walker Lane approximates the east edge of the southern arc whose products, mostly erupted from stratovolcanoes and lava dome complexes arrayed along the crest of the ancestral arc, extend down the west flank of the Sierra Nevada. Southern arc segment rocks include potassic, calc-alkaline intermediate- to silicic-composition lava flows, lava dome complexes, and associated volcaniclastic deposits. Northern and southern segment rocks are similar to other convergent-margin magmatic arc rocks but are compositionally distinct from each other. Southern segment rocks have lower TiO 2 , FeO*, CaO, and Na 2 O contents and higher K 2 O contents, and exhibit less compositional-temporal variation. Compositional distinctions between the northern and southern segment rocks reflect the composition and thickness of the crust beneath which the associated magma systems were sourced. Northern segment rock compositions are consistent with generation beneath thin, primitive crust, whereas southern segment rocks represent magmas generated and fractionated beneath thicker, more evolved crust. Although rocks in the two arc segments have similar metal abundances, they are metallogenically distinct. Small porphyry copper deposits are characteristic of the northern segment whereas significant epithermal precious metal deposits are most commonly associated with the southern segment. These metallogenic differences are also fundamentally linked to the tectonic settings and crustal regimes within which these two arc segments evolved.

Petrologic, tectonic, and metallogenic evolution of the Ancestral Cascades magmatic arc, Washington, Oregon, and northern California

Present-day High Cascades arc magmatism was preceded by ∼40 m.y. of nearly cospatial magmatism represented by the ancestral Cascades arc in Washington, Oregon, and northernmost California (United States). Time-space-composition relations for the ancestral Cascades arc have been synthesized from a recent compilation of more than 4000 geochemical analyses and associated age data. Neither the composition nor distribution of ancestral Cascades magmatism was uniform along the length of the ancestral arc through time. Initial (>40 to 36 Ma) ancestral Cascades magmatism (mostly basalt and basaltic andesite) was focused at the north end of the arc between the present-day locations of Mount Rainier and the Columbia River. From 35 to 18 Ma, initial basaltic andesite and andesite magmatism evolved to include dacite and rhyolite; magmatic activity became more voluminous and extended along most of the arc. Between 17 and 8 Ma, magmatism was focused along the part of the arc coincident with the northern two-thirds of Oregon and returned to more mafic compositions. Subsequent ancestral Cascades magmatism was dominated by basaltic andesite to basalt prior to the post–4 Ma onset of High Cascades magmatism. Transitional tholeiitic to calc-alkaline compositions dominated early (before 40 to ca. 25 Ma) ancestral Cascades eruptive products, whereas the majority of the younger arc rocks have a calc-alkaline affinity. Tholeiitic compositions characteristic of the oldest ancestral arc magmas suggest development associated with thin, immature crust and slab window processes, whereas the younger, calc-alkaline magmas suggest interaction with thicker, more evolved crust and more conventional subduction-related magmatic processes. Presumed changes in subducted slab dip through time also correlate with fundamental magma composition variation. The predominance of mafic compositions during latest ancestral arc magmatism and throughout the history of modern High Cascades magmatism probably reflects extensional tectonics that dominated during these periods of arc magmatism. Mineral deposits associated with ancestral Cascades arc rocks are uncommon; most are small and low grade relative to those found in other continental magmatic arcs. The small size, low grade, and dearth of deposits, especially in the southern two-thirds of the ancestral arc, probably reflect many factors, the most important of which may be the prevalence of extensional tectonics within this arc domain during this magmatic episode. Progressive clockwise rotation of the forearc block west of the evolving Oregon part of the ancestral Cascades magmatism produced an extensional regime that did not foster signifi cant mineral deposit formation. In contrast, the Washington arc domain developed in a transpressional to mildly compressive regime that was more conducive to magmatic processes and hydrothermal fluid channeling critical to deposit formation. Small, low-grade porphyry copper deposits in the northern third of the ancestral Cascades arc segment also may be a consequence of more mature continental crust, including a Mesozoic component, beneath Washington north of Mount St. Helens.

Compositions of micas in peraluminous granitoids of the eastern Arabian shield - Implications for petrogenesis and tectonic setting of highly evolved, rare-metal enriched granites

Compositions and pleochroism of micas in fourteen peraluminous alkali-feldspar granites in the eastern part of the Late Proterozoic Arabian Shield are unlike those of micas (principally biotite) in most calc-alkaline granitoid rocks. Compositions of these micas are distinguished by elevated abundances of Li2O, F, and numerous cations and by low MgO abundances. These micas, constituents of highly evolved rare-metal enriched granitoids, represent an iron-lithium substitution series that ranges from lithium-poor siderophyllite to lithium-rich ferroan lepidolite. The eastern Arabian Shield also hosts six epizonal granitoids that contain colorless micas. Compositions of these micas, mostly muscovite, and their host granitoids are distinct from those of the iron-lithium micas and their host granitoids. Compositions of the analyzed micas have a number of petrogenetic implications. The twenty granitoids containing these micas form three compositional groups that reflect genesis in particular tectonic regimes; mica compositions define the same three groups. The presence of magmatic muscovite in six of these shallowly crystallized granitoids conflicts with experimental data indicating muscovite stability at pressures greater than 3 kbar. Muscovite in the Arabian granitoids probably results from its non-ideal composition; the presence of muscovite cannot be used as a pressure indicator. Finally, mineral/matrix partition coefficients are significantly greater than 1.0 for a number of cations, the rare-earth elements in particular, in many of the analyzed iron-lithium micas. Involvement of these types of micas in partial melting or fractionation processes can have a major influence on silicate liquid compositions.

Episodic intrusion, internal differentiation, and hydrothermal alteration of the Miocene Tatoosh intrusive suite south of Mount Rainier, Washington

The Miocene Tatoosh intrusive suite south of Mount Rainier is composed of three broadly granodioritic plutons that are manifestations of ancestral Cascades arc magmatism. Tatoosh intrusive suite plutons have individually diagnostic characteristics, including texture, mineralogy, and geochemistry, and apparently lack internal contacts. New ion-microprobe U-Pb zircon ages indicate crystallization of the Stevens pluton ca. 19.2 Ma, Reflection-Pyramid pluton ca. 18.5 Ma, and Nisqually pluton ca. 17.5 Ma. The Stevens pluton includes rare, statistically distinct ca. 20.1 Ma zircon antecrysts. Wide-ranging zircon rare earth element (REE), Hf, U, and Th concentrations suggest late crystallization from variably evolved residual liquids. Zircon Eu/Eu*–Hf covariation is distinct for each of the Reflection-Pyramid, Nisqually, and Stevens plutons. Although most Tatoosh intrusive suite rocks have been affected by weak hydrothermal alteration, and sparse mineralized veins cut some of these rocks, significant base or precious metal mineralization is absent. At the time of shallow emplacement, each of these magma bodies was largely homogeneous in bulk composition and petrographic features, but, prior to final solidification, each of the Tatoosh intrusive suite plutons developed internal compositional variation. Geochemical and petrographic trends within each pluton are most consistent with differential loss of residual melt, possibly represented by late aplite dikes or erupted as rhyolite, from crystal-rich magma. Crystal-rich magma that formed each pluton evidently accumulated in reservoirs below the present level of exposure and then intruded to a shallow depth. Assembled by episodic intrusion, the Tatoosh intrusive suite may be representative of midsized composite plutonic complexes beneath arc volcanoes.

Mapped offset on the right-lateral Kern Canyon fault, southern Sierra Nevada, California

The north-trending Kern Canyon fault, the longest fault within the southern Sierra Nevada, has been mapped from lat 36°00′N to its northern end near lat 36°40′N. The fault cuts and offsets granitic plutons as young as 80 m.y., but despite the fact that many recent earthquake foci plot close to the fault, it does not appear to offset an overlying 3.5-m.y.-old basalt flow. Seven granitic plutons are clearly offset by the fault in a right-lateral sense. In the area mapped, offset of plutonic contacts is 6.5 to 13 km and increases southward by 0.2 km/km.

Time, space, and composition relations among northern Nevada intrusive rocks and their metallogenic implications

Northern Nevada contains ∼360 igneous intrusions subequally distributed among three age groups: middle Tertiary, Cretaceous, and Jurassic. These intrusions are dominantly granodiorite and monzogranite, although some are more mafic. Major-oxide and trace-element compositions of intrusion age groups are remarkably similar, forming compositional arrays that are continuous, overlapping, and essentially indistinguishable. Within each age group, compositional diversity is controlled by a combination of fractional crystallization and two-component mixing. Mafic intrusions represent mixing of mantle-derived magma and assimilated continental crust, whereas intermediate to felsic intrusions evolved by fractional crystallization. Several petrologic parameters suggest that the northern Nevada intrusion age groups formed in a variety of subduction-related, magmatic arc settings: Jurassic intrusions were likely formed during backarc, slab-window magmatism related to breakoff of the Mezcalera plate; Cretaceous magmatism was related to rapid, shallow subduction of the Farallon plate and consequent inboard migration of arc magmatism; and Tertiary magmatism initially swept southward into northern Nevada in response to foundering of the Farallon plate and was followed by voluminous Miocene bimodal magmatism associated with backarc continental rifting. Nearly 3000 hydrothermal mineral deposits (many only small uneconomic occurrences), of diverse size and type, are spatially and (or) genetically associated with northern Nevada intrusions; significantly, the largest and most important deposits are aligned along prominent mineral-deposit trends. Because northern Nevada is a globally significant metallogenic province, determining whether age, modal composition, and geochemical features of associated intrusive rocks discriminate productive intrusions is important. Mineral-deposit types, including W vein and skarn, polymetallic vein, distal disseminated Au-Ag, porphyry Cu-Mo-W-Au, and epithermal Ag-Au deposits, all spatially and genetically associated with intrusions and known to involve magmatic inputs, are emphasized in this analysis. In addition, although evidence for a direct magmatic input, other than heat, is scarce for Carlin-type gold deposit formation, this deposit type was included because of its economic significance. Consequently, intrusions along mineral-deposit trends, in particular those associated with the largest and economically most significant mineral deposits, were a focus of the investigation. Importantly, modal composition, age, and geochemical characteristics of intrusions associated with large mineral deposits along the trends, are indistinguishable from non-mineralized intrusions in northern Nevada and thus do not identify intrusions associated with significant deposits. Moreover, intrusion age and composition show little correlation with mineral-deposit type, abundance, and size. Given the lack of diagnostic characteristics for intrusions associated with deposits, it is uncertain whether age, modal composition, and geochemical data can identify intrusions associated with mineral deposits. These findings suggest that associations between northern Nevada intrusions and mineral deposits reflect superimposition of many geologic factors, none of which was solely responsible for mineral-deposit formation. These factors might include intrusion size, efficiency of fluid and metal extraction from magma, prevailing redox and sulfidation conditions, or derivation of metals and ligands from host rocks and groundwater. The abundance and diversity of mineral deposits in northern Nevada may partly reflect geochemical inheritance, for example, along the mineral trends rather than the influence of petrologically unique magma or associated fluids.

The Eocene Big Timber stock, south-central Montana: Development of extensive compositional variation in an arc-related intrusion by side-wall crystallization and cumulate glomerocryst remixing

The Eocene Big Timber stock in the Crazy Mountains of south-central Montana is an elliptical, 8 by 13 km, compositionally and texturally diverse composite intrusion with a well-developed radial dike swarm. A sharp intrusive contact separates its two phases: the core of the intrusion is fine-grained quartz monzodiorite, and the volumetrically dominant remainder is composed of medium-grained diorite and gabbro. Differentiation-related major oxide variation within the stock is extensive and spatially nonsystematic. However, abundances of most trace elements were not strongly influenced by differentiation; late zircon and apatite fractionation caused moderate heavy and slight light rare earth element abundance depletions, respectively. Mineral compositions and assemblages indicate crystallization between ≈950 and 700 °C at a pressure of ≈0.8 kbar (3 km). Mixing models indicate that fractionation of varying amounts of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, magnesio-hastingsite, hornblende, biotite, titanite, apatite, and magnetite (the stock9s principal constituents, with quartz and potassium feldspar) and remixing of these minerals and residual liquids controlled compositional evolution in the reservoir. Crystals apparently nucleated at the reservoir wall while residual silicate liquid was displaced inward and remixed. Some crystals were plucked from the solidification front, as indicated by glomerocrysts present throughout the stock, and also remixed with residual liquid. Solidification of the reservoir represented by the stock involved heat loss to enclosing wall rock, side-wall crystallization, and subsequent, variably effective, crystal-liquid remixing. This process is an important variant of conventionally invoked models pertaining to solidification of intrusions and explains extensive, relatively nonsystematic compositional variation. The genesis of compositional evolution in other intrusions characterized by extensive, spatially nonsystematic variation may result from the important process documented herein. Compositional and geologic relationships are consistent with magma genesis related to subduction and magmatic-arc processes inboard from the western edge of the early Cenozoic North American plate. Arc magmatism in south-central Montana during Eocene time is consistent with models pertaining to early Cenozoic southward sweep and westward retreat of magmatism. Magmatism represented by the Big Timber stock provides significant new support for steepening subduction, westward retreat of the subduction hinge line, and development of an asthenospheric mantle wedge that fueled renewed magmatism beneath the western edge of the North American continent following early Cenozoic shallow subduction.

An ash flow caldera in cross section: Ongoing field and geochemical studies of the Mid‐Tertiary Turkey Creek Caldera, Chiricahua Mountains, SE Arizona

Volcanic and shallow plutonic (hypabyssal) levels of the Turkey Creek caldera, located in southeast Arizona, are exposed as a consequence of uplift and erosion. The 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and paleomagnetic data indicate that the caldera cycle was relatively short lived and occurred at about 26.9 Ma, coincident with early phases of ductile extension in the southern Basin and Range. The caldera is a transitional calc-alkali to alkalic magmatic system and is similar to other relatively small volcanic-plutonic centers that formed after the main pulse of compressional calc-alkalic magmatism in the Cordillera. Trace element ratios and elemental distribution patterns for Turkey Creek rocks are consistent with origin in a transitional subduction to within-plate extensional setting. Field relations also suggest synextensional magmatism; regional northwest trending high-angle faults offset early caldera rocks but are buried by late moat rhyolite. Caldera collapse accompanied eruption of more than 500 km3 of high-silica rhyolite tuff (the Rhyolite Canyon Tuff). Eruption of the tuff was followed immediately by emplacement of a dacite porphyry intrusion, probably a thick laccolith, into the caldera fill and by extrusion of the dacite porphyry from ring-fracture-hosted feeders. Intracaldera tuff at the roof of the intrusion was metamorphosed and brecciated to produce low-pressure shock-metamorphic effects and was locally melted. Interpretation of the intrusion as an intracaldera laccolith readily explains a lack of floor rocks within the caldera and the absence of intracaldera equivalents of most of the outflow tuff. Intrusion of intracaldera laccoliths may represent a relatively common, though rarely recognized process within calderas. Stratigraphic relations, rare mingled rocks, and overlapping 40Ar/39Ar ages indicate that both high-silica rhyolite magma (Rhyolite Canyon Tuff) and dacite porphyry magma were present in the source reservoir (rhyolite above dacite) and were separated by a sharp interface. Dacite porphyry magma from beneath the interface was drawn up into and erupted from vents that previously fed ash flow eruptions; some dacite porphyry was trapped in and beneath the vents and solidified to form a ring dike at depth. Following an erosional hiatus of ≤0.3 m.y., rhyolite was again erupted, filling the caldera moat with ∼135 km3 of mainly aphyric high-silica rhyolite. Gradational contacts with underlying densely welded tuff, relatively large volumes, planiform aspect ratios, and superliquidus temperatures suggest that some of the laminated rhyolites are rheomorphic tuff. Eruption of moat rhyolites records generation of a voluminous new batch of mainly high-silica rhyolite with a distinct geochemical signature.

Miocene magmatism in the Bodie Hills volcanic field, California and Nevada: A long-lived eruptive center in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc

The Middle to Late Miocene Bodie Hills volcanic field is a >700 km 2 , long-lived (∼9 Ma) but episodic eruptive center in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascades arc north of Mono Lake (California, U.S.). It consists of ∼20 major eruptive units, including 4 trachyandesite stratovolcanoes emplaced along the margins of the field, and numerous, more centrally located silicic trachyandesite to rhyolite flow dome complexes. Bodie Hills volcanism was episodic with two peak periods of eruptive activity: an early period ca. 14.7–12.9 Ma that mostly formed trachyandesite stratovolcanoes and a later period between ca. 9.2 and 8.0 Ma dominated by large trachyandesite-dacite dome fields. A final period of small silicic dome emplacement occurred ca. 6 Ma. Aeromagnetic and gravity data suggest that many of the Miocene volcanoes have shallow plutonic roots that extend to depths ≥1–2 km below the surface, and much of the Bodie Hills may be underlain by low-density plutons presumably related to Miocene volcanism. Compositions of Bodie Hills volcanic rocks vary from ∼50 to 78 wt% SiO 2 , although rocks with 2 are rare. They form a high-K calc-alkaline series with pronounced negative Ti-P-Nb-Ta anomalies and high Ba/Nb, Ba/Ta, and La/Nb typical of subduction-related continental margin arcs. Most Bodie Hills rocks are porphyritic, commonly containing 15–35 vol% phenocrysts of plagioclase, pyroxene, and hornblende ± biotite. The oldest eruptive units have the most mafic compositions, but volcanic rocks oscillated between mafic and intermediate to felsic compositions through time. Following a 2 Ma hiatus in volcanism, postsubduction rocks of the ca. 3.6–0.1 Ma, bimodal, high-K Aurora volcanic field erupted unconformably onto rocks of the Miocene Bodie Hills volcanic field. At the latitude of the Bodie Hills, subduction of the Farallon plate is inferred to have ended ca. 10 Ma, evolving to a transform plate margin. However, volcanism in the region continued until 8 Ma without an apparent change in rock composition or style of eruption. Equidimensional, polygenetic volcanoes and the absence of dike swarms suggest a low differential horizontal stress regime throughout the lifespan of the Bodie Hills volcanic field. However, kinematic data for veins and faults in mining districts suggest a change in the stress field from transtensional to extensional approximately coincident with the inferred cessation of subduction. Numerous hydrothermal systems were operative in the Bodie Hills during the Miocene. Several large systems caused alteration of volcaniclastic rocks in areas as large as 30 km 2 , but these altered rocks are mostly devoid of economic mineral concentrations. More structurally focused hydrothermal systems formed large epithermal Au-Ag vein deposits in the Bodie and Aurora mining districts. Economically important hydrothermal systems are temporally related to intermediate to silicic composition domes. Rock types, major and trace element compositions, petrographic characteristics, and volcanic features of the Bodie Hills volcanic field are similar to those of other large Miocene volcanic fields in the southern segment of the ancestral Cascade arc. Relative to other parts of the ancestral arc, especially north of Lake Tahoe in northeastern California, the scarcity of mafic rocks, relatively K-rich calc-alkaline compositions, and abundance of composite dome fields in the Bodie Hills may reflect thicker crust beneath the southern ancestral arc segment. Thicker crust may have inhibited direct ascent and eruption of mafic, mantle-derived magma, instead stalling its ascent in the lower or middle crust, thereby promoting differentiation to silicic compositions and development of porphyritic textures characteristic of the southern ancestral arc segment.

Age and petrology of the Tertiary As Sarat volcanic field, southwestern Saudi Arabia

Abstract Harrat As Sarat forms the second smallest and southernmost of the basalt fields of western Saudi Arabia and is part of a voluminous Red Sea rift-related continental alkali basalt province. The rocks of the As Sarat were emplaced during the first stage of Red Sea rifting and represent the northernmost extension of the Tertiary Trap Series volcanics that occur mainly in the Yemen Arab Republic and Ethiopia. The field consists of up to 580 m of basalt flows, that are intruded by basaltic plugs, necks, minor dikes, and highly evolved peralkaline trachyte intrusions. K-Ar ages indicate that the As Sarat field formed between 31 and 22 Ma and contains an eruption hiatus of one million years that began about 25 Ma ago. Pre-hiatus flows are primarily hypersthene normative intersertal subalkaline basalt, whereas the majority of post-hiatus flows are nepheline normative alkali basalt and hawaiite with trachytic textures. Normative compositions of the basalts are consistent with their genesis by partial melting at varying depths. Trace element abundances in the basalt indicate that varying degrees of partial melting and fractional crystallization (or crystal accumulation) had major and minor roles, respectively, in development of compositional variation in these rocks. Modeling indicates that the pre-hiatus subalkaline basalts represent 8–10 percent mantle melting at depths of about 70 km and the post-hiatus alkali basalts represent 4–9 percent mantle melting at depths greater than 70 km.