Schedule 2016

Friday 8/26: Precambrian terranes, U-Pb dating, Sm-Nd model ages. Figures used in pdf.
Reading:

• sec. 10-3 and 10-4 of Turcotte and Schubert (10-1 and 10-2 are helpful). 
• Radiometric dating handout
• Ch. 1 of Baldridge is relevant
• Reed, J. C., Jr., T. T. Ball, G. L. Farmer, and W. B. Hamilton, A broader view, in Precambrian: Conterminous U. S., The Geology of North America, vol. C-2, edited by J. C. Reed, Jr. and others, pp. 614-622 (Farmer's section), Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colo., 1993
• pdf of figures for lecture here (29 Mb).

Monday 29 Aug: Slides from the first hour on rift sediments and the second on backstripping analysis
Mid-Late Proterozoic Sedimentation. Figures as pdf (23 Mb)

• skim Whitmeyer and Karlstrom. Tectonic model for the Proterozoic growth of North America. Geosphere (2007) vol. 3 (4) pp. 220-259 for context (a lot of the pages are figures and we aren't so interested in some of the earliest stuff or the late stuff to the east).
• Tectonic interpretations of Mid-Late Proterozoic sedimentation, Thermal subsidence and backstripping (Cordilleran miogeocline)
  • Turcotte and Schubert, sec. 4-15, 4-16, 4-23, 4-25 (2nd ed), last is most relevant, earlier readings provide background. [An alternative that is more compact and comes from a more geologic point of view is in Stüwe's text, sections 6.1.3 & 6.1.4; this also includes a description of how backstripping works missing from Turcotte and Schubert]
  • Bond, G. C., and M. A. Kominz, Construction of tectonic subsidence curves for the early Paleozoic miogeocline, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains; implications for subsidence mechanisms, age of breakup, and crustal thinning, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 95, (2), 155-173, 1984. This is the touchstone reference for this kind of analysis
    • (FYI, this was more or less applied in the Basin and Range by Levy, M., and N. Christie Blick, Tectonic subsidence of the early Paleozoic passive continental margin in eastern California and southern Nevada, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 103, (12), 1590-1606, 1991.)
    • A rather more pattern-matching view of possible ways to differentiate between different subsidence mechanisms was explored by Xie, X., & Heller, P. (2009). Plate tectonics and basin subsidence history. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 121(1/2), 55–64. doi:10.1130/B26398.1
    • An updated tectonic subsidence analysis can be found towards the end of Yonkee et al.'s 2014 review paper.
  • Chs. 2 and 3 of Baldridge are relevant

Friday 2 September: Slides used in this lecture

• Sedimentation patterns of the Ancestral Rockies
• Ye, H. Z., L. Royden, C. Burchfiel, and M. Schuepbach, Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 80, 1397-1432, 1996.
  • Kluth, C. F., Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The Greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains: Discussion, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 82, 2272-2276, 1998.
  • Ye, H. Z., L. Royden, C. Burchfiel, and M. Schuepbach, Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The Greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains: Reply, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 82, 2277-2279, 1998.
• Ch. 5 of Baldridge relevant

Monday, 5 September: Holiday.

Friday, Sept. 9: Plate flexure in interpreting the Ancestral Rockies; Slides used in lecture

• Plate flexure handout or equivalent sections in Turcotte and Schubert, 3-9, 3-13, 3-14 to 3-18.
• Might be worth reading Giles, K. A., and W. R. Dickinson, The interplay of eustasy and lithospheric flexure in forming stratigraphic sequences in foreland settings: An example from the Antler foreland, Nevada and Utah, in Stratigraphic Evolution of Foreland Basins, SEPM Special Publication, vol. 52, edited by S. L. Dorobek and G. M. Ross, pp. 187-211, SEPM, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1995 though we might not get to this until the following class.

Monday, Sept. 12: Antler orogeny. Slides used in this lecture

• Read Giles and Dickinson if you haven't yet.
• For discussion, we will first consider Royden, L. H. (1993). Evidence of retreating subduction boundaries formed during continental collision. Tectonics, 12(3), 629-638, doi: 10.1029/92TC02641. We will then compare this with what we have discussed about the Antler orogen.

Friday, Sept. 16: Truncation of miogeocline. Slides used in lecture.

• Stevens, C.H., Stone, P., and Miller, J.S., 2005, A new reconstruction of the Paleozoic continental margin of southwestern North America: Implications for the nature and timing of continental truncation and the possible role of the Mojave-Sonora megashear, in Anderson, T.H., Nourse, J.A., McKee, J.W., and Steiner, M.B., eds., The Mojave-Sonora megashear hypothesis: Development, assessment, and alternatives: Geological Society of America Special Paper 393, p. 597-618. doi: 10.1130/0-8137-2393-0.597

Monday, Sept. 19: Sonoman orogeny, maybe Sierran exotic terranes. Slides for lecture here.

• for discussion: Crafford, A. E. J. (2008). Paleozoic tectonic domains of Nevada: An interpretive discussion to accompany the geologic map of Nevada. Geosphere, 4(1), 260-291.

Friday, Sept. 23: Sierran allocthons and exotic terranes in general

• Colpron, M., & Nelson, J. L. (2009). A Palaeozoic Northwest Passage: incursion of Caledonian, Baltican and Siberian terranes into eastern Panthalassa, and the early evolution of the North American Cordillera. In P. A. Cawood & A. Kröner (Eds.), Earth Accretionary Systems in Space and Time. Geological Society, London, Special Publications (Vol. 318, pp. 273-307).

Monday Sept. 26: No class (GSA)

Friday Sept. 30: Paleomagnetism and exotic terrains.

• Paleomag handout, Plate reconstruction handout
• Cowan, D., Brandon, M., and Garver, J., 1997, Geologic tests of hypotheses for large coastwise displacements—A critique illustrated by the Baja British Columbia controversy:American Journal of Science, 297, p.117–173, 1997.

Monday, Oct. 3: Exotic terranes (slides from last few lectures on exotic terranes, slides on plate reconstructions)

• Cowan, D., Brandon, M., and Garver, J., 1997, Geologic tests of hypotheses for large coastwise displacements—A critique illustrated by the Baja British Columbia controversy:American Journal of Science, 297, p.117–173, 1997. [Helps provide a framework for discussing the two more recent papers]
• Yokelson, I., Gehrels, G. E., Pecha, M., Giesler, D., White, C., & McClelland, W. C. (2015). U-Pb and Hf isotope analysis of detrital zircons from Mesozoic strata of the Gravina belt, southeast Alaska. Tectonics, 34(10), 2052–2066, doi: 10.1002/2015TC003955. (possible you might want to look at a paper on the Coast plutonic belt with some of the raw information about that: Gehrels, G., Rusmore, M., Woodsworth, G., Crawford, M., Andronicos, C., Hollister, L., et al. (2009). U-Th-Pb geochronology of the Coast Mountains batholith in north-coastal British Columbia: Constraints on age and tectonic evolution. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 121(9-10), 1341–1361. http://doi.org/10.1130/B26404.1)
• Rusmore, M. E., Bogue, S. W., & Woodsworth, G. J. (2013). Paleogeography of the Insular and Intermontane terranes reconsidered: Evidence from the southern Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia. Lithosphere, 5(5), 521–536, doi: 10.1130/L288.1.

Friday, Oct. 7: Exotic terranes completion, probably odds and ends (additional images from Gehrels et al., GSA Bull, 2009)

• Yokelson, I., Gehrels, G. E., Pecha, M., Giesler, D., White, C., & McClelland, W. C. (2015). U-Pb and Hf isotope analysis of detrital zircons from Mesozoic strata of the Gravina belt, southeast Alaska. Tectonics, 34(10), 2052–2066, doi: 10.1002/2015TC003955.

Monday, Oct. 10: Fold-and-thrust belts, critical taper wedges. Slides from this lecture.

• Coulomb wedge handout
• Turcotte and Schubert, section 8-6 (also Stüwe, pp. 294-298 1st ed, 308-315 (section 6.2.3) 2nd ed)
• Baldridge sections 6.6, 7.2
• DeCelles, P. G., and G. Mitra, History of the Sevier orogenic wedge in terms of critical taper models, Northeast Utah and Southwest Wyoming, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107, 454-462, 1995
• For discussion:
  • Long, S. P. (2015). An upper-crustal fold province in the hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt, eastern Nevada, U.S.A.: A Cordilleran Valley and Ridge in the Basin and Range. Geosphere, 11(2), 404–424. doi: 10.1130/GES01102.1

Friday, Oct. 14: Finish fold-and-thrust discussion, balancing sections. Slides from class.

• Erslev, E. A. (1986). Basement Balancing of Rocky-Mountain Foreland Uplifts. Geology, 14(3), 259–262. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<259:BBORMF>2.0.CO;2
  • Kwon, S., Mitra, G., & Perucchio, R. (2007). Effect of predeformational basin geometry in the kinematic evolution of a thin-skinned orogenic wedge: Insights from three-dimensional finite element modeling of the Provo salient, Sevier fold-thrust belt, Utah. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 112(B2), B02403–22. doi: 10.1029/2006JB004376

Monday, Oct. 17: Dynamic subsidence and the Western Interior Seaway-slides from this lecture

• Mitrovica J.X., C. Beaumont, and G. T. Jarvis, Tilting of continental interiors by the dynamical effects of subduction, Tectonics, 8 (5) pp. 1079-1094, 1989.
• Turcotte and Schubert, section 6-11 is relevant (you have to read some of 6-7 to 6-9 to get the underpinnings).
• Liu, S., Nummedal, D., & Gurnis, M. (2014). Dynamic versus flexural controls of Late Cretaceous Western Interior Basin, USA. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 389(C), 221–229. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.01.006.
• Painter, C. S., & Carrapa, B. (2013). Flexural versus dynamic processes of subsidence in the North American Cordillera foreland basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 40(16), 4249–4253. doi: 10.1002/grl.50831

Friday, October 21: Hildebrand papers (listed below for term project). Be prepared to identify key aspects of this hypothesis so we can discuss how to set up the term project.

Monday, Oct. 24: Hildebrand final project list.

Friday, Oct. 28 Laramide fault geometry, paleostress. Slides for today.

• Stress inversion handout (reviewing stress and strain not unwise; Turcotte and Schubert sections 2-3, 2-4, 8-4 to 8-6 cover basics)
• Erslev, E. A.. Basement balancing of Rocky Mountain Foreland uplifts, Geology, 14 (3) pp. 259-262, 1986.

Monday, October 31: Pelona/Orocopia/Rand schists, Laramide analogs. Picking topics for term project. Slides for Pelona Schists and Laramide Analogs.

• for reference: Jacobson, C. E., Grove, M., Pedrick, J. N., Barth, A. P., Marsaglia, K. M., Gehrels, G. E., & Nourse, J. A., Late Cretaceous-early Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the southern California margin inferred from provenance of trench and forearc sediments. GSA Bulletin, 123(3-4), 485-506. doi:10.1130/B30238.1, 2011

Friday, November 4. For discussion:

• Liu, L., Gurnis, M., Seton, M., Saleeby, J. B., Mueller, R. D., & Jackson, J. M., The role of oceanic plateau subduction in the Laramide orogeny. Nature Geoscience, 3(5), 353-357. doi:10.1038/NGEO829, 2010.
• Fan, M., & Carrapa, B. (2014). Late Cretaceous-early Eocene Laramide uplift, exhumation, and basin subsidence in Wyoming: Crustal responses to flat slab subduction. Tectonics, 33(4), 509-529. doi: 10.1002/2012TC003221.

Monday Nov. 7: Hinterland extension, geobarometry, arc magmatism. Hinterland slides. Arc slides.

• Stuwe, section 7.2.1-7.4.1 (pp. 346-363)
• DeCelles, P. G., Ducea, M. N., Kapp, P., & Zandt, G.. Cyclicity in Cordilleran orogenic systems. Nature Geoscience, 2(4), 251-257. doi:10.1038/ngeo469, 2009

Friday Nov. 11: Core complexes-slides from lecture

• Turcotte and Schubert, pp. 226-229 (section 6-1, 6-2)
• Rheology of the lithosphere handout
• (Baldridge sec. 8.4)
• Brace, W. F., and D. L. Kohlstedt, Limits on lithospheric stress imposed by laboratory experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 6248-6252, 1980. [this is basis for rheological stratification of the crust that is crucial to a lot of theories; seems that you'd have to stomach most of Ch. 7 of Turcotte and Schubert to extract this]
• Platt, J. P., Behr, W. M., & Cooper, F. J. (2015). Metamorphic core complexes: windows into the mechanics and rheology of the crust. Journal of the Geological Society, 172(1), 9–27. doi: 10.1144/jgs2014-036 is a recent overview about core complexes, if you are curious.

Monday Nov 14: Forces driving tectonics, paleoelevation: Basin and Range+ GPE slides, Paleoelevation slides

• Rheology of the lithosphere handout (resaved 11/14 to fix low-rez images)
• Lechler, A. R., Niemi, N. A., Hren, M. T., & Lohmann, K. C. (2013). Paleoelevation estimates for the northern and central proto-Basin and Range from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry. Tectonics, 32(3), 295–316.
• Snell, K. E., Koch, P. L., Druschke, P., Foreman, B. Z., & Eiler, J. M. (2014). High elevation of the “Nevadaplano” during the Late Cretaceous. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 386(C), 52–63.

Friday Nov 18: Hildebrand coordination; Homework 3 due

Monday Nov 28: Ignimbrite flareup, Sierra Nevada geophysics: Volcanism images and Sierra images

• Best, M. G., Christiansen, E. H., & Gromme, S., Introduction: The 36-18 Ma southern Great Basin, USA, ignimbrite province and flareup: Swarms of subduction-related supervolcanoes. Geosphere, 9(2), 260–274. doi:10.1130/GES00870.1, 2013.
• Gravity, refraction, heat flow overview

Friday Dec 2: Neogene volcanism (finish) and grabbag. Volcanism slides and geodesy slides

• McQuarrie, N., & Oskin, M. Palinspastic restoration of NAVDat and implications for the origin of magmatism in southwestern North America. Journal Of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, 115, 1–16. doi:10.1029/2009JB006435, 2010. [we've seen this paper a few times, so you can study it directly now if you want]
• Sections 2-8, 8-10 of Turcotte and Schubert address basics of geodesy

Monday Dec 5: Hildebrand summaries

Friday Dec 9: Summaries conclusion