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Structural and Metamorphic Relations in the Southwest Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Crustal Extension and the Unroofing of Blueschists

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Structural and Metamorphic Relations in the Southwest Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Crustal Extension and the Unroofing of Blueschists Structural and metamorphic relations in the southwest Seward Peninsula, Alaska: Crustal extension and the unroofing of blueschists Kimberly A. Hannula* Elizabeth L. Miller Department of Geology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 Trevor A. Dumitru } Jeffrey Lee* Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 Charles M. Rubin Department of Geology, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington 98926 ABSTRACT role in the exhumation of the blueschist-fa- these interpretations of similar structures is cies rocks but may have followed an earlier an indication of the difficulty of distinguish- An oblique crustal section on the south- period of partial erosional unroofing of ing structures formed during subduction western Seward Peninsula, Alaska, exposes these rocks. from those formed during exhumation of polydeformed, polymetamorphosed rocks blueschists. Careful determination of the that record extensional thinning of the crust INTRODUCTION age of structures and associated metamor- in the Late Cretaceous. The rocks experi- phic grade, along with consideration of tim- enced an early (M1a) high-pressure/low- The preservation, uplift, and exhumation ing of regional events (i.e., brittle supra- temperature metamorphism (pumpellyite- of high-pressure/low-temperature metamor- crustal faulting, basin formation, igneous actinolite facies in the upper part of the phic rocks have long been considered prob- activity, etc., synchronous with blueschist ex- section; blueschist facies at deeper struc- lematic (e.g., Ernst, 1988). Numerous mod- humation), is necessary to understand the tural levels) followed by a greenschist-facies els have been proposed to explain how significance of different generations of struc- overprint (M1b) and accompanied by D1 de- blueschist-facies rocks might be returned to tures. In this paper, we discuss new struc- formation. A second deformational event, the surface: return flow in a melange (Cloos, tural, metamorphic, and geochronologic D2, is responsible for the prominent, gently 1982), a combination of thrusting and ero- observations relating to the exhumation dipping foliation, northwest-southeast– sion (Suppe, 1979; Rubie, 1984), upper- history of high-pressure/low-temperature trending stretching lineations, and abun- crustal extension synchronous with subduc- metamorphic rocks found on the Seward dant recumbent isoclinal folds throughout tion and underplating (Platt, 1986), and Peninsula, Alaska. the section. Metamorphism during D2 (M2) postorogenic extensional collapse (Dewey, Multiply deformed blueschist- to green- varied from extremely low-grade at the shal- 1988; Platt and Vissers, 1989). It is difficult schist-facies rocks of Paleozoic and presum- lowest structural levels to upper amphibo- to test these models in the field because ably Precambrian age (the Nome Group of lite- to granulite-facies within the Kigluaik rocks that have undergone blueschist-facies Till et al. [1986]) underlie a large portion of gneiss dome. Apatite fission-track ages from metamorphism have usually experienced a the rolling hills of the Seward Peninsula the shallowest structural levels indicate complex structural history. The multiple (Fig. 1). The Nome Group flanks several that cooling below ;120 &C took place at ca. generations of ductile structures commonly Cretaceous high-temperature gneiss domes 70–100 Ma, during the same time span as found in blueschists have been explained in (the Kigluaik Group) exposed in the Kig- high-grade metamorphism and pluton in- several ways: progressive, evolving shear luaik, Bendeleben, and Darby Mountains trusion at depth. Significant vertical atten- during a single event (e.g., Ridley, 1984; and is structurally overlain by the lower uation of the crustal section apparently took Harris, 1985; Helper, 1986; Patrick, 1988); grade slate of the York region (Sainsbury, place during D2 deformation, resulting in two phases of deformation, with D1 occur- 1972) and thin-bedded Paleozoic (?) silty close spacing of both M1a and M2 isograds ring during subduction and D2 resulting limestone (Fig. 1). Weakly metamorphosed and overall thinning of the crust. This ex- from thrusting during uplift (e.g., Bell and to little metamorphosed Ordovician to Mis- tensional deformation played an important Brothers, 1985; Jayko and Blake, 1989; Phil- sissippian (A. Harris, 1991, written com- ippot, 1990; Joyce, 1992); and two phases of mun.) carbonate rocks lie in low-angle fault deformation, D1 during subduction and D2 contact above the more-deformed silty lime- *Present address: Hannula: Geology Depart- resulting from ductile extension during up- stone and slate of the York region (Sains- ment, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 05753; Lee: Department of Geology, Central lift (e.g., Lister et al., 1984; Anderson and bury, 1972) (Fig. 1). Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington Jamtveit, 1990; Ave´ Lallement and Guth, Previous studies of the structural and met- 98926. 1990; Little et al., 1992). The variation in amorphic history of the Nome Group have Data Repository item 9524 contains additional material related to this article. GSA Bulletin; May 1995; v. 107; no. 5; p. 536–553; 11 figures. 536 STRUCTURAL AND METAMORPHIC RELATIONS, SEWARD PENINSULA This paper reports the results of a de- tailed investigation undertaken to deter- mine the polyphase structural and metamor- phic history of the rocks of the southwestern Seward Peninsula (Fig. 1). Our work fo- cused on the question of which fabric ele- ments developed during the blueschist-fa- cies metamorphism and which developed during later events related to the uplift and exhumation of these rocks. STRUCTURAL AND METAMORPHIC HISTORY (OVERVIEW) Previous detailed work on structures within the Nome Group focused on areas south of the eastern Kigluaik Mountains (Thurston, 1985; Patrick, 1988). They iden- tified two main foliations: an earlier S1 fo- liation subparallel to lithologic layering, and an S2 foliation axial planar to isoclinal folds of S1. They interpreted both of these folia- tions as having formed during a single de- formational event synchronous with high- pressure metamorphism. On the basis of our observations north and west of the Kigluaik Mountains, we disagree with their interpre- tation and believe that the two foliations they observed are the result of two tempo- rally distinct deformational events. North of the Kigluaik Mountains, meta- sedimentary rocks dip gently, generally northward or northwestward, and display two main tectonic foliations (Fig. 2). The oldest recognized foliation (S1) predates a strongly developed second foliation, which Figure 1. Geologic map of the Seward Peninsula (simplified from Sainsbury [1972], is the dominant one in the map area. S1 ap- Sainsbury et al. [1972], and Till et al. [1986]). Rocks assigned to the slate of the York region pears to postdate an early high-pressure met- in the Nome 1:250 000 quadrangle by Sainsbury et al. (1972) are shown as part of the Nome amorphism (M1a) that varied from pumpel- Group based on a redefinition of the Nome Group by Till et al. (1986) to include all lyite-actinolite facies near Teller, where blueschist-greenschist-facies rocks of the Seward Peninsula. North-trending fold axes are original bedding and sedimentologic fea- inferred from foliations and outcrops in Sainsbury et al. (1972) and Till et al. (1986). tures are preserved, to blueschist-facies far- ther south, across a map distance of about 25 km and across a structural section of concluded that the regionally pervasive pen- ulite-facies metamorphism of the Kigluaik about 5–10 km (Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 11, below). etrative subhorizontal fabrics and north- Group as the result of post-tectonic relax- S1 formed synchronous with a greenschist- south stretching lineations in these rocks ation of formerly depressed isotherms fol- facies overprint (M1b) on the early high- formed as a consequence of top-to-the- lowing the cessation of subduction. How- pressure assemblages. north overthrusting and continental (A- ever, Miller et al. (1992), Calvert (1992), and The most readily measured foliation in type) subduction (Patrick, 1988). Armstrong Amato et al. (1994) have shown that signif- the field is S2, which developed during the et al. (1986) attempted to date the blue- icant deformation in the Kigluaik Group second recognized deformational event schist-facies metamorphism using the K-Ar took place synchronous with the younger (D2) and is responsible for the present dis- and Rb-Sr methods; the scatter of the re- high-temperature metamorphism. These tribution of map units (Fig. 2). S2 is axial ported ages (ranging from 96 to 194 Ma) was later studies raised the question of how planar to tight to isoclinal recumbent folds interpreted as the result of a partial over- much of the deformation in the overlying of both bedding and S1 everywhere in the print by Cretaceous high-temperature met- Nome Group took place in a subduction map area. S2 foliation surfaces (solution amorphism, and 160 Ma was interpreted to zone synchronous with high-pressure/low- cleavage surfaces in the northern part of the be a minimum age for the blueschist-facies temperature metamorphism and how much area and a syn-metamorphic foliation to the metamorphism. Patrick and Lieberman deformation took place at a later time, per- south) display a weak northwest-southeast (1988) interpreted the amphibolite- to gran- haps related to the exhumation of the rocks. stretching lineation (Ls) first seen
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