J. Lawford Anderson

Nature and origin of Proterozoic A-type granitic magmatism in the southwestern United States of America

The mountain ranges of Arizona and adjacent California and Nevada contain large areas underlain by Proterozoic anorogenic granites comprising the southwesternmost portion of a transcontinental belt of 1.4–1.5-Ga-old anorogenic complexes that extends across North America northeast into Labrador. Of these, a two-mica, monazite-bearing granitic suite resides in central and southeastern Arizona as part of a peraluminous subprovince that is bordered on the south (southern Arizona to Sonora) and west (western Arizona and adjacent portions of California and Nevada) by marginally metaluminous granites bearing biotite-sphene ± hornblende and fluorite. All of these 1.4-Ga granites are distinctly more potassic, iron-enriched (relative to Mg), and depleted in Ca, Mg and Sr in contrast to typical orogenic granitoids. In general, the large-ion lithophile-element enriched composition is a consequence of limited melting of a water-deficient crustal source at depths greater than 25–37 km. For the peraluminous granites, this contrast is less extreme, perhaps resulting from a larger degree of melting as a consequence of a greater metasedimentary component and water in its crustal source. The anorogenic granitic magmas intruded into the upper crust at depths of 8–17 km or shallower at temperatures up to 790°C. The most dramatic variation in the crystallization-intensive parameters resides in the oxygen fugacity, which spans three orders of magnitude. Relative to other anorogenic suites, all of the magmas crystallized at elevated levels of ƒO2 as reflected in their assignment to the anorogenic magnetite series. Yet a regionally significant rise in primary ƒO2 levels, unmatched elsewhere in the transcontinental belt, occurs for plutons in western Arizona, including the Holy Moses and Hualapai granites. The most extreme case is the Hualapai granite whose biotite Fe(Fe + Mg) ratios drop (due to high ƒO2) to a low of 0.27, down from more typical levels of 0.54 to 0.75. Such extreme variations in primary levels of oxygen fugacity must be an indirect imprint of regional changes of the level of oxidation of the lower crust. The high-fO2 Holy Moses and Hualapai plutons have intruded near the regional boundary between the metaluminous and peraluminous granites and appear to be imaging a major change in the level of oxidation of the lower crust. This boundary is also approximately equivalent to significant changes in the Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of these granites and the metamorphic and magmatic character of the older orogenic terrane. On a global scale, the crust-forming orogenies ended by 1.6 Ga ago and the continents entered a long-lived era dominated by localized extension and transcontinental intrusion of anorogenic potassic rapakivi granite, mafic dike swarms, charnockite and anorthosite. The absence of orogenic deformation implies that plate consumption became intraoceanic during this time. The profuse and widespread nature of the igneous activity has no Phanerozoic analogue and is considered to be unique to the Proterozoic. A crustal overturn model ties the magmatism to heating within a largely undepleted subcontinental mantle, the eventual rise of mantle plumes, and the transfer of heat into the youthful, undifferentiated Proterozoic crust. Subsequent melting and rise of potassic granitic magmas from the lower crust leads to considerable crustal reorganization, a process that would continue until both the mantle and crust reached a stable configuration.

Self-similar cataclasis in the formation of fault gouge

Particle-size distributions have been determined for gouge formed by the fresh fracture of granodiorite from the Sierra Nevada batholith, for Pelona schist from the San Andreas fault zone in southern California, and for Berea sandstone from Berea, Ohio, under a variety of triaxial stress states. The finer fractions of the gouge derived from granodiorite and schist are consistent with either a self-similar or a logarithmic normal distribution, whereas the gouge from sandstone is not. Sandstone gouges are texturally similar to the disaggregated protolith, with comminution limited to the polycrystalline fragments and dominantly calcite cement. All three rock types produced significantly less gouge at higher confining pressures, but only the granodiorite showed a significant reduction in particle size with increased confining pressure. Comparison with natural gouges showed that gouges in crystalline rocks from the San Andreas fault zone also tend to be described by either a self-similar or log-normal particle distribution, with a significant reduction in particle size with increased confining pressure (depth). Natural gouges formed in porous sandstone do not follow either a self-similar or a log-normal distribution. Rather, these are represented by mixed log-normal distributions. These textural characteristics are interpreted in terms of the suppression of axial microfracturing by confining pressure and the accommodation of finite strain by scale-independent comminution.

Status of thermobarometry in granitic batholiths

Most granitic batholiths contain plutons which are composed of low-variance mineral assemblages amenable to quantification of the P – conditions that characterise emplacement. Some mineral thermometers, such as those based on two feldspars or two Fe–Ti oxides, commonly undergo subsolidus re-equilibration. Others are more robust, including hornblende–plagioclase, hornblende–clinopyroxene, pyroxene–ilmenite, pyroxene–biotite, garnet–hornblende, muscovite-biotite and garnet–biotite. The quality of their calibration is variable and a major challenge resides in the large range of liquidus to solidus crystallisation temperatures that are incompletely preserved in mineral profiles. Further, the addition of components that affect K d relations between non-ideal solutions remains inadequately understood. Estimation of solidus and near-solidus conditions derived from exchange thermometry often yield results >700°C and above that expected for crystallisation in the presence of an H 2 O-rich volatile phase. These results suggest that the assumption of crystallisation on an H 2 O-saturated solidus may not be an accurate characterisation of some granitic rocks. Vapour undersaturation and volatile phase composition dramatically affect solidus temperatures. Equilibria including hypersthene–biotite–sanidine–quartz, fayalite–sanidine–biotite, and annite–sanidine–magnetite (ASM) allow estimation of Estimates by the latter assemblage, however, are highly dependent on . Oxygen fugacity varies widely (from two or more log units below the QFM buffer to a few log units below the HM buffer) and can have a strong affect on mafic phase composition. Ilmenite–magnetite, quartz–ulvospinel–ilmenite–fayalite (QUILF), annite–sanidine–magnetite, biotite–almandine–muscovite–magnetite (BAMM), and titanite–magnetite–quartz (TMQ) are equilibria providing a basis for the calculation of . Granite barometry plays a critical part in constraining tectonic history. Metaluminous granites offer a range of barometers including ferrosilite–fayalite–quartz, garnet–plagioclase–hornblende–quartz and Al-in-hornblende. The latter barometer remains at the developmental stage, but has potential when the effects of temperature are considered. Likewise, peraluminous granites often contain mineral assemblages that enable pressure determinations, including garnet–biotite–muscovite–plagioclase and muscovite–biotite–alkali–feldspar–quartz. Limiting pressures can be obtained from the presence of magmatic epidote and, for low-Ca pegmatites or aplites, the presence of subsolvus versus hypersolvus alkali feldspars. As with all barometers, the influence of temperature, , and choice of activity model are critical factors. Foremost is the fact that batholiths are not static features. Mineral compositions imperfectly record conditions acquired during ascent and over a range of temperature and pressure and great care must be taken in properly quantifying intensive parameters.

Transcontinental Proterozoic provinces

Research on the Precambrian basement of North America over the past two decades has shown that Archean and earliest Proterozoic evolution culminated in suturing of Archean cratonic elements and pre-1.80-Ga Proterozoic terranes to form the Canadian Shield at about 1.80 Ga (Hoffman, 1988,1989a, b). We will refer to this part of Laurentia as the Hudsonian craton (Fig. 1) because it was fused together about 1.80 to 1.85 Ga during the Trans-Hudson and Penokean orogenies (Hoffman, 1988). The Hudsonian craton, including its extensions into the United States (Chapters 2 and 3, this volume), formed the foreland against which 1.8- to 1.6-Ga continental growth occurred, forming the larger Laurentia (Hoffman, 1989a, b). Geologic and geochronologic studies over the past three decades have shown that most of the Precambrian in the United States south of the Hudsonian craton and west of the Grenville province (Chapter 5) consists of a broad northeast to east-northeast-trending zone of orogenic provinces that formed between 1.8 and 1.6 Ga. This zone, including extensions into eastern Canada, comprises or hosts most rock units of this age in North America as well as extensive suites of 1.35- to 1.50-Ga granite and rhyolite. This addition to the Hudsonian Craton is referred to in this chapter as the Transcontinental Proterozoic provinces (Fig. 1); the plural form is used to denote the composite nature of this broad region. The Transcontinental Proterozoic provinces consist of many distinct lithotectonic entities that can be defined on the basis of regional lithology, regional structure, U-Pb ages from zircons, Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic signatures, and regional geophysical anomalies.

Cataclastic rocks of the San Gabriel fault—an expression of deformation at deeper crustal levels in the San Andreas fault zone

The San Gabriel fault, a deeply eroded late Oligocene to middle Pliocene precursor to the San Andreas, was chosen for petrologic study to provide information regarding intrafault material representative of deeper crustal levels. Cataclastic rocks exposed along the present trace of the San Andreas in this area are exclusively a variety of fault gouge that is essentially a rock flour with a quartz, feldspar, biotite, chlorite, amphibole, epidote, and Fe-Ti oxide mineralogy representing the milled-down equivalent of the original rock (Anderson and Osborne, 1979; Anderson et al., 1980). Likewise, fault gouge and associated breccia are common along the San Gabriel fault, but only where the zone of cataclasis is several tens of meters wide. At several localities, the zone is extremely narrow (several centimeters), and the cataclastic rock type is cataclasite, a dark, aphanitic, and highly comminuted and indurated rock. The cataclastic rocks along the San Gabriel fault exhibit more comminution than that observed for gouge along the San Andreas. The average grain diameter for the San Andreas gouge ranges from 0.01 to 0.06 mm. For the San Gabriel cataclastic rocks, it ranges from 0.0001 to 0.007 mm. Whereas the San Andreas gouge remains particulate to the smallest grain-size, the ultra-fine grain matrix of the San Gabriel cataclasite is composed of a mosaic of equidimensional, interlocking grains. The cataclastic rocks along the San Gabriel fault also show more mineralogiec changes compared to gouge from the San Andreas fault. At the expense of biotite, amphibole, and feldspar, there is some growth of new albite, chlorite, sericite, laumontite, analcime, mordenite (?), and calcite. The highest grade of metamorphism is laumontite-chlorite zone (zeolite facies). Mineral assemblages and constrained uplift rates allow temperature and depth estimates of 200 ± 30°C and 2–5 km, thus suggesting an approximate geothermal gradient of ~50°C/km. Such elevated temperatures imply a moderate to high stress regime for the San Andreas, which is consistent with experimental rock failure studies. Moreover, these results suggest that the previously observed lack of heat flow coaxial with the fault zone may be the result of dissipation rather than low stress. Much of the mineralogy of the cataclastic rocks is still relict from the earlier igneous or metamorphic history of the protolith; porphyroclasts, even in the most deformed rocks, consist of relict plagioclase (oligoclase to andesine), alkali feldspar, quartz, biotite, amphibole, epidote, allanite, and Fe-Ti oxides (ilmenite and magnetite). We have found no significant development of any clay minerals (illite, kaolinite, or montmorillonite). For many sites, the compositions of these minerals directly correspond to the mineral compositions in rock types on one or both sides of the fault. Whole rock major and trace element chemistry coupled with mineral compositions show that mixing within the zone of cataclasis is not uniform, and that originally micaceous foliated, or physically more heterogeneous rock units may contribute a disproportionally large amount to the resultant intrafault material. As previously found for the gouge along the San Andreas, chemical mobility is not a major factor in the formation of cataclastic rocks of the San Gabriel fault. We see only minor changes for Si and alkalies; however, there is a marked mobility of Li, which is a probable result of the alteration and formation of new mica minerals. The gouge of the San Andreas and San Gabriel faults probably formed by cataclastic flow. There is some indication, presently not well constrained, that the fine-grained matrix of the cataclasite of from the San Gabriel fault formed in response to superplastic flow.

Mid-crustal Cretaceous roots of Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes

Thermobarometry for Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary plutonism and deformation in the lower plate of Whipple and Santa Catalina metamorphic core complexes shows that both crystalline terranes originated in the middle crust. Moreover, they are characterized by a striking acceleration of tectonic decompression coincident with middle Tertiary, low-angle detachment faulting leading to erosional and tectonic unroofing by mid-Miocene time. Depth estimates for emplacement of five intrusive suites within the Whipple complex include (1) 33 ±4 km for the peraluminous, 89 Ma Whipple Wash plutonic suite; (2) 29 ±1 km for the 73 Ma Axtel quartz diorite; (3) 16 ±5 km for mylonitization and synkinematic plutonism at 26 Ma; (4) 6.2 ±1.9 km for the postkinematic, 19 Ma War Eagle gabbro-quartz diorite complex; and (5) 5.2 ±2.3 km for a 17 Ma postkinematic granodiorite. Decompression initially occurred at a low rate of 0.3 mm/yr from 89 to 26 Ma and increased to approximately 2 mm/yr during the late Oligocene to middle Miocene. Estimated depths for four pluton emplacement or deformational events in the Santa Catalina Mountains include (1) 21 ±1 km for the magmatic epidote-bearing, 68 Ma Leatherwood quartz diorite; (2) 15 ±3 km for the garnet, two-mica, 47 Ma Wilderness granite; (3) 9.3 ±1.9 km for post-Wilderness mylonitzation; and (4) 6.3 ±2.6 km for the 27 Ma Catalina monzogranite. Post-Laramide decompression, estimated at 0.3 mm/yr, accelerated to 1.3 mm/yr prior to the cessation of detachment faulting. Whereas most batholithic terranes of the North American Cordillera are representative of an upper crustal setting, core complexes provide, as a consequence of their tectonic evolution, a petrological and structural view into middle crustal processes.

Proterozoic anorogenic two-mica granites: Silver Plume and St. Vrain batholiths of Colorado

The two-mica, sillimanite-bearing Silver Plume and St. Vrain batholiths of Colorado are representative of a distinctly peraluminous section of the 1.4 to 1.5 Ga anorogenic province of North America. Indicative of fundamental variations of lower-crust composition in this region of the continent, these granitic magmas were generated from an oxidized peraluminous quartzofeldspathic source at P ⩾ 10 kbar (⩾36 km). Despite mineralogic similarities, the rocks remain distinct from S-type orogenic granitoids in a high abundance of K, Ba, light rare earth elements, and other incompatible elements. This enrichment, although less than in some coeval metaluminous granites, results from limited partial melting under vapor-undersaturated conditions. Emplacement occurred at a depth possibly as shallow as 8 to 9 km (2.3 kbar) at a P H 2 O of 487 to 560 bar and temperature of 740 to 760 °C. These temperatures and pressures fall well beyond the conventional stability field of muscovite-melt equilibria and point to an enhanced stability of muscovite owing to its ferric and titaniferous nature in plutonic occurrences.

Anorogenic Metaluminous and Peraluminous Granite Plutonism in the Mid-Proterozoic of Wisconsin, USA

A magmatic gap from 1.82 to 1.76 b.y. in the Lake Superior region represents the transition from synorogenic calc-alkaline igneous activity of the Penokean Orogeny to anorogenic potassic granophyric granite and ignimbrite. This paper deals with the petrogenetic evolution of 1.76 b.y. granites which represent a major change in source material and conceivably tectonic setting. Although perhaps related to a termination of the Penokean Orogeny by melting of a tectonically thickened crust during collision, these post-Penokean granites may represent the initial appearance of anorogenic, potentially rift-related igneous activity that was widespread throughout North America during late Precambrian time.These post-Penokean granites are too iron-rich and Al-poor to be considered calc-alkaline, a compositional feature shared with most anorogenic igneous activity of continental regions. Within this suite in central and northern Wisconsin, regional differences in composition indicate at least two different granite magma types: one a metaluminous suite of biotite and biotite-hornblende granite and a peraluminous suite of two-mica granite. The systematic compositional differences (Al, Fe/Mg, Ba/Sr, REE) in the two magma suites are likely the result of small differences in residue mineralogy and/or source composition. In general, the degree of fusion was small (10%) and probably of relatively young Penokean material. Both suites have a range of composition due to feldspar dominated fractional crystallization. Removal of the accessory minerals apatite, zircon, and allanite resulted in the REE depletion with differentiation of the two-mica granites.The granites intruded into the upper levels of the crust, and the appearance of primary celadonitic muscovite and subsolvus alkali feldspars (silicic members only) in the two mica granites indicate crystallization at depths of 10–11 km. The biotite granites contain both hypersolvus and subsolvus members and are intruded at depths less than 6 km with the more shallow members generating major volumes of ignimbrite. As a marked departure from the characteristics of most anorogenic granites, these melts crystallized at fairly oxidizing conditions (higher for the two-mica suite) as reflected in the composition of biotite, predominance of magnetite over ilmenite, and early appearance of the Fe-Ti oxides in the crystallization sequence.

Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic granite plutonism of Colorado and Wyoming

Proterozoic plutonism in Colorado and Wyoming was initiated ∼1.8 Ga with scattered tholeiitic mafic complexes coeval with widespread synorogenic bimodal volcanism. Limited Nd and Sr isotopic data for the metavolcanic rocks show derivation from depleted mantle. Major Paleoproterozoic granitic plutonism followed at 1.67–1.77 Ga. Most of the earliest plutons are distinctly calc-alkaline; they range largely from quartz diorite to granodiorite to trondhjemite in composition, and have trace-element signatures similar to plutons within magmatic arcs related to subduction zones. Later Paleoproterozoic plutons at 1.71 Ga include increased volumes of felsic rock types and, independent of silica, are shifted to more peraluminous and iron-rich compositions. The earliest appearance of anorthosite occurs with the 1.76-Ga Horse Creek anorthosite complex of Wyoming, and the earliest occurrence of A-type granite includes the late-kinematic, 1.66-Ga Garell Peak batholith of southern Colorado. Elemental and isotopic compositions of the younger Early Paleoproterozoic granitic plutons are consistent with a systematically increasing crustal component as a function of age in waning orogenic stages of crust formation in the region. After a 200 m.y. hiatus, renewed granitic plutonism occurred at 1.36–1.44 Ga. Plutonism was associated with emplacement of over a dozen Mesoproterozoic A-type granite batholiths and many smaller intrusions as part of a global “anorogenic” mid-Proterozoic event that commonly includes associated intrusions of anorthosite and charnockite. Across the former Laurentia supercontinent, three geographic and petrologic subprovinces merge in Colorado and Wyoming. An ilmenite-series granitic province, which includes the Sherman Granite and associated Laramie anorthosite complex of Wyoming, extends northeastward through Wisconsin to Labrador and the classic rapakivi granite-anorthosite intrusions of the Baltic region. A magnetite-series granite subprovince ranges across the southern mid-continent to California and includes the San Isabel and Eolus batholiths of southern Colorado. The third subprovince is peraluminous, comprised of two-mica granite, and geographically extends from central Colorado to Arizona. Granites of this suite are the most common in Colorado and include the Silver Plume batholith. Granites defining the three Mesoproterozoic provinces have distinctly different elemental and oxygen isotopic compositions, which presumably reflect fundamental shifts in composition of the lower continental Laurentian crust. The mid-Proterozoic intrusions of Colorado and Wyoming coincided in time with emplacement of regional, north-trending mafic dike swarms, implying widespread extension during this period. After another magmatic hiatus, one of ∼300 m.y., intrusion of the A-type, 1.08-Ga Pikes Peak batholith formed the last Proterozoic magmatic episode of the Colorado-Wyoming Front Range.

Petrogenesis of cataclastic rocks within the San Andreas fault zone of Southern California U.S.A.

Abstract This paper petrologically characterizes cataclastic rocks derived from four sites within the San Andreas fault zone of southern California. In this area, the fault traverses an extensive plutonic and metamorphic terrane and the principal cataclastic rock formed at these upper crustal levels is unindurated gouge derived from a range of crystalline rocks including diorite, tonalite, granite, aplite, and pegmatite. The mineralogical nature of this gouge is decidedly different from the “clay gouge” reported by Wu (1975) for central California and is essentially a rock flour with a quartz, feldspar, biotite, chlorite, amphibole, epidote and oxide mineralogy representing the milled-down equivalent of the original rock. Clay development is minor (less than 4 wt. %) to nonexistent and is exclusively kaolinite. Alterations involve hematitic oxidation, chlorite alteration on biotite and amphibole, and local introduction of calcite. Electron microprobe analysis showed that in general the major minerals were not reequilibrated with the pressure—temperature regime imposed during cataclasis. Petrochemically, the form of cataclasis that we have investigated is largely an isochemical process. Some hydration occurs but the maximum amount is less than 2.2% added H 2 O. Study of a 375 m deep core from a tonalite pluton adjacent to the fault showed that for Si, Al, Ti, Fe, Mg, Mn, K, Na, Li, Rb, and Ba, no leaching and/or enrichment occurred. Several samples experienced a depletion in Sr during cataclasis while lesser number had an enrichment of Ca (result of calcite veining). Texturally, the fault gouge is not dominated by clay-size material but consists largely of silt and fine sand-sized particles. An intriguing aspect of our work on the drill core is a general decrease in particulate size with depth (and confining pressure) with the predominate shifting sequentially from fine sand to silt-size material. The original fabric of these rocks is commonly not disrupted during the cataclasis. It is evident that the gouge development in these primarily igneous crystalline terranes is largely an in situ process with minimal mixing of rock types. Fabric analyses reveal that brecciation (shattering), not shearing, is the major deformational mechanism at these upper crustal levels.