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Stratigraphy and Structure of the Saddlebag Lake Roof Pendant, Sierra Nevada, California

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Stratigraphy and Structure of the Saddlebag Lake Roof Pendant, Sierra Nevada, California Stratigraphy and structure of the Saddlebag Lake roof pendant, Sierra Nevada, California CHARLES A. BROOK* Department of Geology, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, California 93740 ABSTRACT more apparent that an understanding of the structural and strati- graphic histories of the Sierran metamorphic rocks is essential to Geologic mapping of the southern part of the Saddlebag Lake understanding the Mesozoic and pre-Mesozoic tectonics of the roof pendant, east-central Sierra Nevada, California, reveals three western margin of North America. Concepts learned here will in rock sequences that have been multiply deformed. The oldest se- turn influence interpretations on the origin of the Sierra Nevada quence consists of the metamorphosed equivalents of marine batholith. With this in mind, I will describe and then attempt to sedimentary rocks of Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) age. Metamor- correlate rocks and structures in the Saddlebag Lake roof pendant phosed volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks and basal conglomerate with those in other roof pendants of the central Sierra Nevada. As (possibly in part continental) of Permian age unconformably overlie such, this will enlarge upon data and ideas presented in an earlier the older sequence. Another metavolcanic and metasedimentary abstract (Brook, 1974). sequence of unknown age, here designated Permian(?)-Triassic(?), and of uncertain boundary relationships with the two older se- LOCATION quences crops out in the southern part of the pendant. Field observations of minor structures and structural analysis in- The Saddlebag Lake roof pendant is located in the east-central dicate that rocks of the Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) sequence have Sierra Nevada, California, approximately 10 km west of Mono undergone three episodes of deformation, whereas the Permian and Lake (Fig. 1). The pendant is one of several northwest-trending Permian(?)-Triassic(?) rocks have been affected by only the later roof remnants in a complex of granitic plutons occurring along the two deformations. Axial surfaces of folds formed during the first eastern crest of the Sierra Nevada. The pendant extends from near deformation had an original strike of approximately north but Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park northwestward 35 km to the have been largely reoriented by later folding. Structures attributed vicinity of Twin Lakes. Although given a separate name by Kistler to the first deformation occur only in the Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) (1966b), the Saddlebag Lake roof pendant is essentially the north- sequence. Axial surfaces of folds formed during the second defor- ern extension of the larger Ritter Range roof pendant. It has also mation strike N21°W and are the first-formed folds in the Permian been referred to as the "Tioga Pass roof remnant" by Kerrick and Permian(?)-Triassic(?) sequences. All rock sequences were sub- (1970). Granitic plutons bordering the pendant on the west have sequently refolded around axial surfaces striking N61°W. been mapped and described by Broderson (1962) and are Late Cre- Superimposition relationships and trends of fold systems in the taceous in age (Evernden and Kistler, 1970). Granitic plutons on Saddlebag Lake roof pendant are comparable with those in other the east have been studied by Kistler (1966b) and are as old as Late roof pendants of the central Sierra Nevada. This suggests that the Triassic. deformations were episodic and' regional in scale. Ultimate tectonic causes for each deformation may have been different. INTRODUCTION Much of the recent literature on the Sierra Nevada of California has dealt primarily with the source and evolution of the volumi- nous granitic magmas that formed the Sierra Nevada batholith (for example, Bateman and Eaton, 1967; Hamilton and Myers, 1967; Kistler and others, 1971; Shaw and others, 1971; Presnall and Bateman, 1973); various hypotheses have been offered and argued. Attention given to metamorphosed remnants of Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata within the batholith has generally been limited to descriptions of their gross geology or to the roles they played rela- tive to intrusion of the plutons. Detailed studies of the metamor- phic rocks are few, but those conducted have shown that these pre- batholithic and synbatholithic rocks have undergone a complex history of repeated deformation, metamorphism, uplift, erosion, and deposition (for example, Baird, 1962; Clark and others, 1962; Kistler, 1966b; Kistler and Bateman, 1966; Nokleberg, 1970; Brook, 1974; Brook and others, 1974; Russell and Cebull, 1974; Russell and Nokleberg, 1977). With the development of plate tectonics theory, it is becoming " Present address: U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, Figure 1. Location of Saddlebag Lake roof pendant and its geographic California 94025 relation to the Ritter Range and Mount Morrison roof pendants. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 88, p. 321-334, 14 figs., March 1977, Doc. no. 70301. 321 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/3/321/3433545/i0016-7606-88-3-321.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 15. EXPLANATION 38°00 Contact, dashed where approximate Fault, dashed where approximate. Bar and ball on down-thrown block Shear zone Antlcli ne Overturned anticline "ft" Overturned syncline Strike and dip of bedding; ball indicates top \\ \ V Inclined Vertical Overturned Foliations - schistosity and cleavage parallel to axial surfaces; transposed bedding First generation \ \ Second generation N^ Third generation Inclined Vertical \ 2 Lineatlons - axes of minor folds and Intersection of bedding and cleavage. 1 - first generation; 2 - second generation; 3 - third generation Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/3/321/3433545/i0016-7606-88-3-321.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 Figure 2A. Geologic map of southern part of the Saddlebag Lake roof pendant. 1 Ml J Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/3/321/3433545/i0016-7606-88-3-321.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 324 CHARLES A. BROOK SQ.aí * Qt : :o m: >- CE Qa, alluvium. < Figure 2A. (Continued). Qt, talus. z Qm, glacial moraine CE ^lü I- < ioti Si; Z> O Glacial till, probably of Tioga Glaciation ;Kcjb,' Ln Cathedral Peak quartz monzonite 3 O LU ;Khd I .Ks(?) >U< • ^ •> - A Half Dome quartz monzonite Sentinenta1(?) granodiorite I- LÜ OL (J 9 t/i Granodiorite of Tioga Lake <8 fgt. yy Undifferentiated tuffs, graywackes , ::jkc¡: LO < and minor ca1c-si1icate hornfels 00 I- Undifferentiated granitic rocks near Ellery Lake < LlI =e>n <ceJ ANDESITE COMPLEX Pm •"Smd- ÎV^Ç-'X Andesi te shallow Mafi c tuffs and i ntrus ion andesite shallow intrusions 2 Granodi ori te Quartz di ori te of Ouartz diorite of < of Mono Dome Saddlebag Lake Ode 11 Lake ( age uncertai n) (age uncertain) Pr cc Rhyodaci te tuff u Metamorphic Rocks CL S(I » r3i u n Conglomerate Porphyritic latite shallow intrusion -Pbr- Basal rhyodacite tuff Fels i c tuffs Jnconformi ty- Vpj&.S: Sands tone SOc SOh fv • z Calc-si1 i cate hornlelses Undifferentiated pelitic, < z quartzofeldspathic, < siliceous, and minor C£ Undifferentiated felsic and mafic tuffs, calc-si1icate hornfels r> minor metasedimentary rocks o 1 Q tr ¡7> -Unconformity- o STRATIGRAPHY northern Ritter Range pendant. Because of the intrusive nature of part of the Permian(?)-Triassic(?) sequence, the original contact re- Rocks of the Saddlebag Lake roof pendant can be divided into lationship between it and the older two sequences is uncertain. three sequences: (1) a Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) metasedimentary The base of the Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) metasedimentary se- sequence, (2) a Permian metavolcanic sequence, and (3) a quence is not exposed in the area studied, nor is it exposed in any of Permian(?)-Triassic(?) metavolcanic and metasandstone sequence the adjacent roof pendants (Kistler, 1966b). The base of the Per- (Fig. 2). The older two sequences are separated from each other by mian metavolcanic sequence is marked by a basal metaconglomer- an angular unconformity and are correlative with units in the ate (and locally a metarhyodacite tuff) that unconformably overlies Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/88/3/321/3433545/i0016-7606-88-3-321.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE OF SADDLEBAG LAKE ROOF PENDANT 325 and is in depositional contact with the older metasedimentary se- quence. The unconformity is indicated by (1) a distinct and abrupt change in lithologic characteristics of the two sequences, (2) locally truncated units and structures in the underlying metasedimentary sequence, and (3) a change in structural complexity, with the Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) sequence being more highly deformed than the Permian sequence. All rocks in the pendant have been metamorphosed to the hornblende-hornfels and albite-epidote-hornfels facies of contact metamorphism (Kerrick, 1970). Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) Sequence Rocks of the Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) metasedimentary se- quence consist chiefly of calc-silicate hornfels, quartzofeldspathic hornfels, pelitic hornfels, and siliceous hornfels. These are the metamorphosed equivalents of marl and calcareous quartzite, siltstone(?), shale or mudstone, and chert(?), respectively. Metasandstone and metaconglomerate occur locally north of Saddlebag Lake. The rocks are generally microgranular and thinly Figure 3. Typical thin-bedded nature of Silurian(?)-Ordovician(?) bedded, with individual strata averaging a few centimetres thick.
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