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Sediment Provenance and Dispersal of Neogene–Quaternary Strata of the Southeastern San Joaquin Basin and Its Transition Into the GEOSPHERE; V

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Sediment Provenance and Dispersal of Neogene–Quaternary Strata of the Southeastern San Joaquin Basin and Its Transition Into the GEOSPHERE; V Research Paper THEMED ISSUE: Origin and Evolution of the Sierra Nevada and Walker Lane GEOSPHERE Sediment provenance and dispersal of Neogene–Quaternary strata of the southeastern San Joaquin Basin and its transition into the GEOSPHERE; v. 12, no. 6 southern Sierra Nevada, California doi:10.1130/GES01359.1 Jason Saleeby1, Zorka Saleeby1, Jason Robbins2, and Jan Gillespie3 13 figures; 2 tables; 2 supplemental files 1Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA 2Chevron North America Exploration and Production, McKittrick, California 93251, USA 3Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Bakersfield, California 93311, USA CORRESPONDENCE: jason@ gps .caltech .edu CITATION: Saleeby, J., Saleeby, Z., Robbins, J., and ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Gillespie, J., 2016, Sediment provenance and dis- persal of Neogene–Quaternary strata of the south- eastern San Joaquin Basin and its transition into We have studied detrital-zircon U-Pb age spectra and conglomerate clast The Sierra Nevada and Great Valley of California are structurally coupled the southern Sierra Nevada, California: Geosphere, populations from Neogene–Quaternary siliciclastic and volcaniclastic strata and move semi-independently within the San Andreas–Walker Lane dextral v. 12, no. 6, p. 1744–1773, doi:10.1130/GES01359.1. of the southeastern San Joaquin Basin, as well as a fault-controlled Neo- transform system as a microplate (Argus and Gordon, 1991; Unruh et al., 2003). gene basin that formed across the southernmost Sierra Nevada; we call this Regional relief generation and erosion of the Sierra Nevada are linked to sub- Received 9 May 2016 Accepted 31 August 2016 basin the Walker graben. The age spectra of the detrital-zircon populations sidence and sedimentation in the Great Valley by regional west tilt about an axis Published online 17 October 2016 are compared to a large basement zircon age data set that is organized into that runs along the western Sierra Foothills (Fig. 1 inset). Subsurface studies in age populations based on major drainage basin geometry of the southern the southern Great Valley have shown this region to be unique by the hosting Sierra Nevada and adjacent ranges. We find a direct sediment provenance of a Neogene deep marine basin named the San Joaquin Basin (Hoots et al., and dispersal link for much of the Neogene between the Walker graben and 1954; Bandy and Arnal, 1969; Bartow, 1984; Bartow and McDougall, 1984). This the southeastern San Joaquin Basin. In early to middle Miocene time, this marine basin is unique to the entire Great Valley province with a number of its link was accented by the delivery of volcaniclastic materials into the south- principal facies boundaries trending obliquely across the southern Great Valley eastern Basin margin from the Cache Peak volcanic center that was nested and intersecting the southwestern Sierra Foothills at high angle. within the Walker graben. In late middle Miocene through early Pleistocene The southern Sierra Nevada is widely recognized for its extensive expo- time, this linkage was maintained by a major fluvial system that we call sure of Cretaceous batholithic rocks. This region has gained recent attention the Caliente River, whose lower trunk was structurally controlled by growth for its surface expressions of the progressive loss of its underlying mantle faults along the Edison graben, which breached the western wall of the litho sphere (Saleeby, 2003; Saleeby et al., 2013a, 2013b), leaving distinct struc- Walker graben. The Caliente River redistributed into the southeastern San tural, geomorphic, and thermal imprints (Wood and Saleeby, 1998; Saleeby, Joaquin Basin much of the ~2 km of volcaniclastic and siliciclastic strata 2003; Saleeby et al., 2007, 2013a, 2013b; Chapman et al., 2010, 2012). Many of that filled the Walker graben. This sediment redistribution was forced by a the unique features of the San Joaquin Basin owe their origin to these litho- regional topographic gradient that developed in response to uplift along the sphere-scale dynamic processes. Cretaceous batholithic rocks extend for a eastern Sierra escarpment system. The Caliente River built a fluvial-deltaic considerable distance westward from the Sierra Foothills as the Great Valley fan system that prograded northwestward across the lower trunk of the Kern crystalline basement (Saleeby, 2007, 2014), which is particularly well docu- River and thereby deflected the Kern drainage flux of sediment into the Basin mented for the basement of the San Joaquin Basin (May and Hewitt, 1948). edge northward. In mainly late Miocene time, turbidites generated primarily Thus the exhumation history of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith is a criti- off the Caliente River delta front built the Stevens submarine fan system of cal aspect of San Joaquin Basin geologic history. the southeastern and central areas of the San Joaquin Basin. In late Quater- Tertiary strata of the southeastern San Joaquin Basin are currently under- nary time, 1–1.8 km of Caliente River–built strata were eroded as an epeiro- going active erosion between ~35.2°N and ~36°N (Fig. 1), along an active genic uplift that we call the Kern arch emerged along the southeastern Basin epeirogenic uplift named the Kern arch (Saleeby et al., 2013a, 2013b). These margin, in response to underlying mantle lithosphere removal. The sediment Tertiary strata and their facies equivalents once extended for an unknown that was eroded off the arch was redistributed mainly into the Maricopa and distance nonconformably across the current southwestern Sierra basement For permission to copy, contact Copyright Tulare sub-basins that are located to the southwest and northwest, respec- uplift, as shown by erosional truncation and up-dip projection patterns and Permissions, GSA, or [email protected]. tively, of the arch. the mapping of the partially exhumed basement nonconformity (Fig. 1). © 2016 Geological Society of America GEOSPHERE | Volume 12 | Number 6 Saleeby et al. | Sediment provenance and dispersal of Neogene–Quaternary strata, southeastern San Joaquin Basin Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/12/6/1744/1000572/1744.pdf 1744 by guest on 02 October 2021 Research Paper E 119.5 O W 119 O 118.5 O a 118 O s t e r n California r N S Sierra Nevada Kings Rive i e r r west tilt axis a O Great wens 36.5 o N E s V San V c alle alley a r Andreas flt. p y area of r m e Fig.1 n Kaweah Rive t . t l San Joaquin Basin f Figure 1. Map of the southern Sierra n o Nevada– eastern San Joaquin Basin re- y n Garlock flt. a gion showing generalized stratigraphic C n units exposed along Kern arch, regional r e K geomorphic features, major structural Tule River blocks, selected members of late Ceno- s y s zoic southern Sierra Nevada fault sys- t Tulare e 17 m tem, and the subsurface distribution of 5 mi o G 36 r Stevens submarine fan system (sources: sub-basin e e ork Kern f n Fox, 1929; Nugent, 1942; MacPherson, . Kern River h S 23 o N. fork Kern r 1978; Davis, 1983; Bartow, 1984; Dibblee oil eld White Rive n f l and Warne, 1986; Hirst, 1986; Mahéo et al., t r . 22 15 2009; Saleeby et al., 2009a, 2013a, 2013b; N Saleeby and Saleeby, 2013, 2016). Also 11 20 10 shown are our detrital-zircon sample sites Indian as sample numbers (Table 2) and sample 12 S Wells sites of Lechler and Niemi (2011) abbre- 21 Kern Valley Breckenridge viated in yellow as: N—North Fork Kern 19 . arch t l P f channel sand; S—South Fork Kern channel o e s w - Greenhorn o 18 . g sand; L—Tejon Formation; W—Witnet For- B d Cre r i e r k e o c n k 35.5 mation; G (G1 and G2)—Golar Formation 1 8 K e e n k e 1 r r id horst c and 2; and from Sharman et al. (2013, n g e 27 r G e G or flt B 2014): S—Uvas member of Tejon Forma- ge . Kern 14 flt 7 W tion; and SE—San Emigdio Formation. River 6 alk 13 er B E asin l Paso Mtns Inset map of California shows principal 26 d 16 flt. E is features of Sierra Nevada microplate after on 9 flt. 5 3 ? Argus and Gordon (1991) and Unruh et al. CR San (2003). Inset map of Kern River oil field 25 Bea 4 A r shows well core and surface sample loca- ndreas flt. 24 Mt flt. n tions in more detail. flt.—fault. Maricopa lf . fl W t. sub-basin ck flt. White Wo lo ar G Tejon 35 o 2 proto- L, S & SE embayment es ? 0 10 20 30 k ang S pi r 0 10 20 i an Emigdio - Tehacha Mojave plateau northern facies (Etchegoin & San Joaquin Fms. transitional) Surface projection of Stevens Late Cenozoic southern Sierra “Kern River” Fm. (upper Miocene-Pliocene) submarine fan system Nevada fault system southern (Caliente River) facies Area of Walker graben fill normal, sinistral Tertiary strata exhumed along eastern Kern arch Area of El Paso Basin subsurface Witnet Fm. (lower Paleogene) Zircon sample site Kern arch topographic crest Exhumed early Tertiary nonconformity surface Published zircon sample sites CR Caliente River Area of low relief upland surface Area of multiple published sites terminal channel GEOSPHERE | Volume 12 | Number 6 Saleeby et al. | Sediment provenance and dispersal of Neogene–Quaternary strata, southeastern San Joaquin Basin Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/12/6/1744/1000572/1744.pdf 1745 by guest on 02 October 2021 Research Paper The west-tilt axis between Sierra Nevada uplift and erosion and Great Valley dispersal, and deposition of Neogene–Quaternary strata of the southeast- subsidence and sedimentation has long been treated as a regional structural- ern San Joaquin Basin.
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