Remagnetization of the Scott Peak Formation Associated with Tertiary Igneous Activity: a Comparative Study of Two Deformed Carbonate
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Lehigh University Lehigh Preserve Theses and Dissertations 1994 Remagnetization of the Scott eP ak formation associated with tertiary igneous activity : a comparative study of two deformed carbonate structures in the Lost River Range, Idaho Elizabeth R. Sherwood Lehigh University Follow this and additional works at: http://preserve.lehigh.edu/etd Recommended Citation Sherwood, Elizabeth R., "Remagnetization of the Scott eP ak formation associated with tertiary igneous activity : a comparative study of two deformed carbonate structures in the Lost River Range, Idaho" (1994). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 273. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AUTHOR: Sherwood, Elizabeth R. TITLE: Remagnetization of the Scott Peak Formation Associated with Tertiary Igneous Activity: A Comparative Study of Two Deformed Carbonate... DATE: May 29,1994 Remagnetization of the Scott Peak Formation associated with Tertiary igneous activity: A comparative study of two deformed carbonate structures in the Lost River Range, Idaho by Elizabeth R. Sherwood A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Science m Geological Sciences Lehigh University May 17, 1994 --'1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to Kenneth P. Kodama, my thesis advisor, for teaching me the essentials of paleomagnetism and for his guidance throughout this project. I would also like to thank committee members Gray Bebout, PB Meyers, and Dave Anastasio for contributions to my field work and thesis; Art Goldstein for providing good ." advice and teaching me good field skills; and Theresa Messina for sharing the field work and providing encouragement throughout this project Special thanks to Michael Krol for endlessly discussing fluid flow models with me, for his support, and for teaching me to go over one hurdle at a time. And, most of all, Paul, Michael, Matthew and Andrew for always believing in me; and to my parents for setting a good example and for being the only people who realize my full capabilities. Paleomagnetic measurements were supported by National Science Foundation grant #EAR-9105879. Field work was supported by National Geographic Society grant #473892 and National Science Foundation grant #EAR-9017334, both to D. 1. Anastasio and D. M. Fisher. ill TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures v Abstract 1 Introduction 4 Geologic History 7 Doublespring Duplex 11 Willow Creek Anticline 15 Methods 19 Results 22 Discussion 44 Remanence Carriers 44 Age ofMagnetization and Tectonic Implications 52 Conclusions 60 References 61 Appendices 67 Vita 73 IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page 1 Regional map of central Idaho 8 2 Geologic map of northern Lost River Range 9 3 Stratigraphic column 10 4 Sketch of Doublespring duplex 12 5 Trend of duplex fold axis 13 6 Sketch of Willow Creek anticline 17 7 Trend of anticline fold axis 18 8 Zijderveld diagrams-duplex 23 9 Site mean directions-duplex 24 10 Zijderveld diagrams-anticline 25 11 ,$ite mean directions-anticline 26 12 'Fold test-duplex 27 13 Fold test-anticline 28 14 Coercivity spectrum-duplex 30 15 Coercivity spectrum-anticline 31 16 Coercivity spectrum-duplex & anticline 32 17 IRM Acquisition-duplex 33 18 IRM Acquisition-anticline 34 19 IRM Acquisition-duplex & anticline 35 20 IRM-Thermal-duplex & anticline: MX 36 21 IRM-Thermal-duplex & anticline: MX 37 22 IRM-Thermal-duplex & anticline: MY 38 23 AMS-duplex: top bed 40 24 AMS-duplex: shear zone 41 25 AMS-duplex: bottom bed 42 26 AMS-anticline 43 27 SEM photographs: iron sulfides 47 28 EDS graph: iron sulfides 48 29 SEM photographs: magnetites 49 30 EDS graph: magnetites 50 31 EDS graph: copper 51 32 Angular Dispersion of VGPs 53 33 Time scale with magnetic polarity 55 34 Apparent Polar Wander Path 57 v Abstract The Lost River Range in south-central Idaho is the westernmost of a series of NW SE trending ranges north of the Snake River Plain, within the Basin and Range province of the western United States. During the Late Cretaceous Sevier orogeny, folding and thrusting defonned the Upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian carbonate rocks along the eastern edge of the Great Basin and extended westward toward the Laramide defonnation front The western boundary of the Lost River Range is delineated by the seismically active Lost River Fault (Crone, 1988). Miocene-Holocene extension (Ross, 1947) created the structural basins to the east and west ofthe Lost River Range. The purpose of this project is to study the remagnetization ofthe two large-scale Upper Mississippian defonned carbonate structures, the Doublespring duplex and Willow Creek anticline, located within the Lost River-Arco Hills thrust sheet, in an attempt to isolate the effects ofthe emplacement of the Challis Volcanics unit on paleomagnetic remanence. Both structures carry a postfolding, Tertiary thermoviscous and/or chemical remagnetization. The Doublespring duplex is composed of three folds that make up one horse ofmassively bedded, cherty-silty limestone, of the Upper Mississippian Scott Peak Formation. This project concentrates on the middle ofthe three anticlinal folds that comprise the duplex. The duplex trends NW-SE, parallel to the Lost River Range, plunges 11° toward N23°W, and dips homoclinally 25° toward N700E. Therefore, the transport direction is inferred to be N700E, a projection of the dip direction. The Willow Creek anticline is located approximately 12 km south of the Doublespring duplex. The Willow Creek anticline is characteristic ofregional scale folds of the Lost River Range. This anticline has an angular hinge with a close chevron core which widens upsection to a conjugate box geometry. ~ The fold axis of this upright, parallel, asymmetrical, decollement fold plunges 07" towards N37"W (Messina, 1993). The Willow Creek anticline has a calculated fold amplitude of 1.5 km and a wavelength of 1.3 km (Messina, 1993). Although the anticline contains the entire upper Paleozoic stratigraphy of 1 the Lost River Range, the Scott Peak limestone unit was sampled around one bed of the anticline for easy comparison to the duplex results. The Doublespring duplex records a reversed Tertiary direction (245°, -57"). A similar, but steeper, reversed polarity direction (229°, _82°) was isolated from the Willow Creek anticline. Both magnetizations failed the fold test at the 99% confidence level (McElhinny, 1964). Ifthe plunge is removed from the folds before unfolding, and if it is assumed that these folds were remagnetized during the extensive, regional Tertiary magmatic event, and their magnetizations are compared to Diehl, et al.'s (1983) Eocene paleopole for western North America, the anticline magnetization is statistically indistinguishable with an Eocene direction. However, two possibilities are suggested for the duplex: a clockwise vertical axis rotation of 60° or folding followed by westward tilting associated with the tilting ofthe volcanics. The disparity between the rotation of the duplex and the non-rotation ofthe anticline can be explained by block rotations resulting from NE striking normal faulting between the folds and throughout the range (Janecke, 1992). Janecke (1992) calls for Cenozoic extension along normal faults in three distinct episodes and in three different directions (Janecke, 1992). Episode 1 occurred at about 49-48 Ma with NW-SE extension (Janecke, 1992). Episode 2 occurred between 48 and 46 Ma, when the extension direction flipped to WSW-ENE to SW-NE, and is considered to be the most significant extensional event in east central Idaho, coincident with Challis volcanism (Janecke, 1992). The region extended NE-SW along Miocene and younger SW dipping Basin and Range faults at 46 Ma during episode 3 (Janecke, 1992). Rock magnetic experiments (coercivity spectrum analysis and IRM acquisition) have identified a low coercivity signal (magnetite) and a high coercivity, secondary signal (with overlapping coercivity spectra of a fme-grained sulfide (probably pyrrhotite), and goethite due to weathering). Scanning electron microscopy identified iron sulfides within magnetite grains. The Tertiary direction is carried by the high coercivity fraction in the duplex, which is suspected to be an iron sulfide brought in by the Tertiary fluids and 2 precipitated out as pyrrhotite. After detennining that the postfolding magnetizations had a Tertiary pole, it was necessary to identify possible causes of remagnetization of the structures. Initially, the data suggested that the region underwent a remagnetization event due to the migration of pore fluids through the fold and thrust belt system. The most plausible models for explaining the postfolding, Tertiary pole appeared to be either a thennoviscous remagnetization as a result ofTertiary magmatic activity; a chemical overprint due to the migration of mineral rich hydrothennal fluids; or some combination of these two processes. The driving force of hydrothennal fluid flow is most likely the extensive magma chamber that underlies much of south-eentral Idaho. 3 Introduction Initially, the purpose ofthis project was to study the effects of deformation on magnetic remanence. Previously, similar work had been done on hematite in clastic rocks (e.g., red beds) in which the remanence was rotated by bedding parallel shear (Stamatakos and Kodama, 1991a; 1991b). However,