Field Guide for a Trip Across the Accreted Terranes of the Southern
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Klamath o rotate that one another Mountains degrees, Ed! Cartoon by E. A. Mankinen Field Guide for a GEOMAR fit UNIVERSITY OF KIEL trip across the accreted terranes of the southern Klamath Mountains, California June 14, 1997 Prepared by William P. Irwin 1 Geologist Emeritus Open-File Report 97-288 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards (or with the North American Stratigraphic Code). Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. 1997 Menlo Park, CA 94025 Extracted from: Tectonic evolution of northern California; Field Trip Guidebook T108 28 International Geological Congress, 1989 TERRANES OF THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS, CALIFORNIA AND OREGON William P. Irwin U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025 Abstract. The Klamath Mountains province is an distributed in a sequence that is successively younger accumulation of tectonic fragments (terranes) of oceanic from east to west (oceanward). Some of the ultramafic crust, volcanic arcs, and melange that amalgamated rocks of the ophiolites have been mined for their during Jurassic time prior to accretion to North America. chromite content during times of national emergency The nucleus of the province is the Eastern Klamath since the 1800's. One locality, where lateritic soil formed terrane, which consists of oceanic volcanic and on the ultramafic rock, is the site of the only significant sedimentary rocks ranging from early Paleozoic to production of nickel in the United States. Middle Jurassic in age and includes the Trinity ophiolite The volcanic arc terranes are dominantly andesitic in of Ordovician age. The volcanic arc and melange terranes composition, but range from basalt to rhyolite, and are lying west of the nucleus contain three additional the hosts for several economically important massive- dismembered ophiolites that range in age from late sulfide deposits. Similar to the ophiolites, the various Paleozoic to Late Jurassic and that are sequentially volcanic-arc terranes tend to be successively younger younger oceanward (westward). The volcanic arc westward from the Eastern Klamath terrane. This terranes also contain preamalgamation plutons that are of common pattern of westward younging suggests that the Devonian, Permian, and Jurassic age and that are joining together (amalgamation) of the terranes also was cogenetic with the volcanic rocks they intrude. an east to west sequence of events. Important limestone Following amalgamation, the terranes were stitched formations are present at several stratigraphic horizons in together by postamalgamation plutons during Middle the long-standing arc represented by the volcanic rocks Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous time. Accretion of the of the Eastern Klamath terrane, and are valuable, amalgamated Klamath terranes to North America seems particularly the Permian limestones, for the manufacture to have occurred during intrusion by plutons of the of cement. The fossil faunas contained in the limestones Shasta Bally belt in earliest Cretaceous time, following greatly facilitate determination of the age and large-angle clockwise rotation of the terranes during stratigraphic succession of the numerous formations that Triassic and Jurassic time. The accreted terranes are constitute the Eastern Klamath terrane. However, unconformably overlapped along much of the determination of the precise age of the strata in the southeastern and eastern perimeter of the province by volcanic-arc and melange terranes that lie to the west is relatively weakly deformed Cretaceous and Tertiary difficult, as limestone bodies are relatively scarce, small, strata. Along the arcuate western boundary, the rocks of and discontinuous, and their enclosed fossils commonly the province are in fault contact with accreted Jurassic are destroyed by metamorphism. The faunas of a few and Cretaceous rocks of the Franciscan Complex and limestone bodies are thought to indicate a site of related formations of the Coast Ranges province. deposition that was far distant from the present locality. Much of the dating of the western terranes is based on fossil radiolarians in thin-bedded chert that is locally INTRODUCTION interlayered with the volcanic rocks. The amount of deformation of the terranes varies The Klamath Mountains province is a small part of the widely. In the Eastern Klamath terrane the stratigraphy vast collage of suspect terranes that make up the western and structure are fairly coherent, but the western terranes margin of North America from Mexico to Alaska (Coney are more tectonically deformed and commonly consist of et al, 1980). The province is a west-facing arcuate broken formation and melange. The mapping of many region of approximately 30,645 km sq and is a pans of this geologically complex province has been composite of a number of individual terranes, each of only in reconnaissance, particularly in the region beyond which is an allochthonous tectonic fragment of oceanic the Eastern Klamath terrane, and this has resulted in crust, volcanic island arc, or melange. None of the many imprecise and uncertain correlations. Much terranes appears to be a fragment of a former continent, additional study is needed before the geology of the and there is no evidence that any were ever underlain bv Klamath Mountains can be accurately told. continental rocks. An uncommon aspect of the Klamath Mountains is the number of ophiolites of widely differing ages that constitute parts of some of the terranes EASTERN KLAMATH TERRANE of the province. The ophiolites, which consist partly of upper mantle and oceanic crust, represent oceanic The Eastern Klamath terrane is the oldest terrane of the spreading centers that existed during early Paleozoic, late province and also contains the oldest rocks. It consists of Paleozoic, Triassic, and Jurassic time, and are now three subdivisions the Trinity, Yreka, and Redding T108: 19 subterranes (Figure 1). The Trinity subterrane is a large gravity, and seismic refraction studies indicate that the broadly-arched sheet of ultramafic and gabbroic rocks ultramafic sheet extensively underlies the Yreka and thought to be at least in pan a dismembered ophiolite. Redding subterranes (LaFehr, 1966; Griscom, 1973; The ultramafic sheet crops out over a broad area in the Fuis and Zucca, 1984; Blakely et al., 1985). The central pan of the Eastern Klamath terrane and extends western edge of the ultramafic sheet is upturned and is northwest under the Yreka subterrane and southeast exposed .for a length of 160 km where it forms the under the Redding subterrane. Evidence from magnetic, western boundary of the Eastern Klamath terrane. The 124- 123' 122* 121 EXPLANATION 43' Cenozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks Cretaceous overlap strata Eastern Yreka subterrane Klamath Trinity subterrane terrane Redding subterrane 'c'm's| Central Metamorphic terrane nf | North Fork terrane Western f j | Fort Jones terrane Paleozoic and Hayfork terrone, undivided 42' Triossic ~* Eastern Hayfork subterrane belt Western Hayfork subterrane May Creek terrane Rattlesnake Creek terrone m^metamorphic overprint Rogue Valley subterrane Smith River subterrane Briggs Creek subterrone Dry Butte subterrane Condrey Mountain terrane Postamalgamation plutons 50KM FIGURE 1 Map showing terranes, postamalgamation plutons, and overlap assemblages of the Klamath Mountains. Geology compiled mainly from Smith et al (1982), Wagner and Saucedo (1988), and Fraticelli et al (1987). T108: 20 ultramafic rocks of the sheet are dominantly (Salmon Schist) are the structurally lowest unit of the serpentinized tecionitic harzburgite, Iherzolite, and minor terrane and consist mostly of fine- to medium-grained dunite (Lindslcy-Griffin, 1982). The gabbroic rocks homblende-epidote-albite schist that is locally phyllonitic include cumulate and layered hornblende gabbro grading and retrograde (Davis et al., 1965). The metamorphosed into hornblende diorite and quartz diorite, and pcgmatitic sedimentary rocks (Abrams Schist) overlie the gabbro that may be younger. Locally the gabbro and metavolcanic rocks, probably depositionally, and consist diorite appear to grade upward into a complex of mafic of quartz-mica schist, calc schist, and micaceous marble. dikes and sills and finally into mafic volcanic rocks The widest exposure of the Central Metamorphic terrane (Lindsley-Griffin, 1977). U-Pb isotopic ages of 455-480 is in the southern part of the province. There the terrane Ma measured on the layered gabbro and diorite, and 430 forms a nearly detached synformal thrust plate that Ma on the pegmatitic gabbro (Lindsley-Griffin, 1977; probably is 3-5 km thick at the axis. The eastern limit of Mattinson and Hopson, 1972), indicate an Ordovician the synform is sharply folded and thinned where it dips age for the Trinity ophiolite. A more recent study reports eastward beneath the Trinity ultramafic sheet. Klippen of the presence of tonalidc rocks that crystallized about 565- the Eastern Klamath terrane rest on the Central 570 Ma (earliest Cambrian) and suggests that the Trinity Metamorphic terrane at three widely-spaced localities. ultramafic sheet is polygcnctic (Wallin et al., 1988). The normal outcrop relation between the Central The Yreka subterrane is a structurally complex stack of Metamorphic terrane and the Trinity ultramafic sheet is several thrust(?) slices of Ordovician to Devonian strata structurally