Internal Fabrics of the Idaho Batholith, USA
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THEMED ISSUE: EarthScope IDOR project (Deformation and Magmatic Modification of a Steep Continental Margin, Western Idaho–Eastern Oregon) Internal fabrics of the Idaho batholith, USA A. Byerly1, B. Tikoff1, M. Kahn1, B. Jicha1, R. Gaschnig2,*, and A.K. Fayon3 1DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON, MADISON, WISCONSIN 53706, USA 2SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30332, USA 3DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55455, USA ABSTRACT The Idaho batholith of the North American Cordillera is a large and long-lived silicic intrusive center. We studied fabrics at the regional scale within the different intrusive suites of the Idaho batholith, using microstructural characterization, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility mea- surements, and shape preferred orientation analyses. Each studied outcrop was collocated with existing U-Pb zircon geochronology and ongoing (U-Th)/He zircon thermochronology results. Three new 40Ar/39Ar biotite ages, collocated with the existing U-Pb zircon ages, constrain the cooling rates within the batholith. The presence of dominantly magmatic microstructures allows us to interpret the results relative to the U-Pb zircon ages and observe spatial and temporal patterns of fabric development. The early (pre–80 Ma) intrusive suites exhibit solid-state microstructures that show a consistent orientation only in the western part of the batholith. Fabrics in the 83–67 Ma Atlanta peraluminous suite are weak and inconsistent in orientation, despite emplacement during regional contraction. We hypothesize that the lack of consistently oriented fabrics in the Atlanta lobe results from either: (1) topographic effects that caused local extensional/neutral strain environments in the upper parts of a crustal plateau; or (2) emplacement in thin, horizontal magmatic sheets. In contrast, fabrics within the 66–53 Ma Bitterroot peraluminous suite are well developed and consistently oriented (NW-striking; NE-dipping), recording localized contraction during magmatism. LITHOSPHERE; v. 9; no. 2; p. 283–298 | Published online 12 October 2016 doi: 10.1130/L551.1 INTRODUCTION this Cordilleran magmatic arc. They evaluated 1989, 1998; Benn, 2010). The preservation of deformation within restricted areas and time magmatic microstructures indicates the mag- Large silicic intrusive complexes are funda- frames defined by mapped plutonic boundar- matic fabrics were “locked in” during a limited mental building blocks of the continental crust. ies. The fabrics, within the framework of known time interval immediately prior to crystallization Understanding these large intrusive centers is regional-scale plate trajectories and average (e.g., Fowler and Paterson, 1997; Yoshinobu et essential to our understanding of the growth and strain rates, were then used to elucidate the ori- al., 1998). By combining microstructural data recycling of continental crust. Many workers entation and magnitude of broad-scale tectonic with U-Pb zircon ages from individual plutons, have evaluated the internal structure of individ- strain. Similarly, Chardon et al. (1999) exam- the regional tectonic activity through time can ual plutons as constituent parts of larger batho- ined fabrics within compositionally and structur- be assessed. liths to understand batholith construction and ally distinct plutons in the Coast plutonic com- The majority of the Idaho batholith lacks the deformation through time (Tobisch et al., 1995; plex (Fig. 1). These syntectonic plutons record typical internal plutonic contacts of other large Borradaile and Henry, 1997; Benn et al., 1998, large-scale transpression and together were used silicic batholiths in the North American Cordil- 2001; Launeau and Cruden, 1998; McNulty to reconstruct the tectonic evolution of shear lera (Fig. 1). Common structures in other mag- et al., 2000; Neves et al., 2003; Mamtani and zones within the broader batholith. Results have matic arcs—mesoscale folds, kilometer-scale Greiling, 2005; Sen and Mamtani, 2006; Zak et shown that the growth and deformation record shear zones, mixing and mingling zones—are al., 2007; Archanjo et al., 2008; DeCelles et al., of batholiths provides magmatic and tectonic largely absent in the Atlanta lobe of the Idaho 2009; Benn, 2010; Mamtani et al., 2013; Cao constraints that contribute to our understanding batholith. Rather, these granites are remarkably et al., 2015; Paterson and Ducea, 2015). This of the growth and recycling of continental crust. uniform in composition and structure, consisting approach of analyzing plutons as discrete, time- Construction of a batholith can be under- primarily of biotite granodiorite and two-mica successive crustal additions provides insight stood by evaluating the growth history of indi- granite/granodiorite. The recent designation of into the broader magmatic and tectonic regime. vidual plutons. Most granitic intrusions record magmatic suites within the batholith required a Tobisch et al. (1995), for example, used the spa- some fabric, and quantitative evaluation of the combination of geochronology and geochem- tial and temporal distribution of magmatic ver- macro scopically indiscernible fabrics helps istry (Gaschnig et al., 2010, 2011). Due to the sus solid-state fabric in the central Sierra Nevada to elucidate the subtle strain recorded during apparent compositional homogeneity and cryp- batholith (Fig. 1) to reconstruct the evolution of magma crystallization (e.g., Bouchez, 1997). tic structure, little attention has been paid to the Magmatic fabrics, in particular, preserve orien- tectonic record preserved within the batholith. tations and magnitudes that result from the final Because of these factors, evaluating the first- *Present address: Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Mas- increment of strain at the time of crystallization order growth and deformation history of the sachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA (e.g., Marre, 1986; Hutton, 1988; Paterson et al., Idaho batholith requires a different approach LITHOSPHERE© 2016 Geological | Volume Society 9 of| AmericaNumber 2| |For www.gsapubs.org permission to copy, contact [email protected] 283 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/lithosphere/article-pdf/9/2/283/1001569/283.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 BYERLY ET AL. Coast -125˚ W -115˚ W Coast Plutonic Plutonic complex ABcomplex CANADA CANADA PA PA USA USA CIFI CIFI 45˚ N Accreted Accreted C C Terranes Idaho Terranes Idaho batholith batholith OCEA OCEAN 35˚ N N Sierra Sierra Nevada North Nevada North Batholith America Batholith America EXPLANATION EXPLANATION Limit of Cordilleran Thrust Belt Limit of Accreted Terranes Restored crustal thickness contour Two-mica granite belt (km) Peninsular Peninsular Granitic batholiths Range Range 500 km Batholith 500 km Batholith Figure 1. (A) Four large North American Cordilleran batholiths and their spatial relationship to the Sr 0.706 line, the geochemi- cally defined boundary between accreted terranes and cratonic North America (Armstrong et al., 1977). (B) Map of restored crustal thicknesses (Coney and Harms, 1984) superimposed on Late Cretaceous–Paleogene two-mica granite belt (Miller and Bradfish, 1980) showing the spatial coincidence of overthickened crust and the Idaho batholith. Contours are 10 km. than that applied to the study of other Cordil- constrained the emplacement and crystalliza- Magmatism continued in Idaho with the Challis leran batholiths. tion history and tracked the source and isotopic intrusive suite (51–43 Ma; Gaschnig et al., 2010, We present fabric measurements of samples evolution of the crustal melt. The emplacement 2011), which is not considered to be part of the from dated (U-Pb zircon; Unruh et al., 2008; of the Idaho batholith and the intrusion of the Idaho batholith. Giorgis et al., 2008; Gaschnig et al., 2010, 2013, subsequent Challis suite account for ~32,000 The border zone suites consist of a series 2016; Braudy et al., 2016) field sites to recon- km2 spatial extent at present, representing a 50 of N-S–trending tabular bodies located east of struct the fabric evolution of the Idaho batholith m.y. (98–43 Ma) episode of magmatism. the western Idaho shear zone and suture zone through time. By tying structural measurements Prior to Idaho batholith magmatism, a spa- plutons. Early metaluminous plutons were to geochronologic data, we evaluate the record of tially restricted N-S–trending series of plutons emplaced simultaneously with the border zones deformation preserved within the Idaho batho- forming the suture zone suite of Gaschnig et al. suite, but they are exposed in the Atlanta lobe lith at specific time-space points. This approach (2010) was intruded in western Idaho, straddling of the Idaho batholith as roof pendants and was chosen for the Idaho batholith because it is the boundary between cratonic North America septa within the younger phases and along the not dependent on the a priori ability to map indi- and accreted terranes (Manduca et al., 1992, eastern boundary of the batholith. The Atlanta vidual plutonic boundaries. Fabric orientations 1993; Giorgis et al., 2008; Gaschnig et al., 2010). peraluminous suite is the largest phase of the and magnitudes were measured using shape The suture zone suite was affected by the west- batholith, making up the majority of the Atlanta preferred orientation (SPO) and anisotropy of ern Idaho shear zone, a major transpressional lobe,