New Mexico Geological Society Downloaded from: http://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/66 Revised location for the Yavapai-Mazatzal crustal province boundary in New Mexico: Hf isotopic data from Proterozoic rocks of the Nacimiento Mountains T. A. Grambling, M. Holland, K. E. Karlstromn, G. E. Gehrels, and M. Pecha, 2015, pp. 175-184 in: Guidebook 66 - Geology of the Las Vegas Area, Lindline, Jennifer; Petronis, Michael; Zebrowski, Joseph, New Mexico Geological Society 66th Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, 312 p. This is one of many related papers that were included in the 2015 NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebook. Annual NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebooks Every fall since 1950, the New Mexico Geological Society (NMGS) has held an annual Fall Field Conference that explores some region of New Mexico (or surrounding states). Always well attended, these conferences provide a guidebook to participants. 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YAVAPAI-MAZATZALNew Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, CRUSTAL 66th Field PROVINCE Conference, Geology BOUNDARY of the Meadowlands, Las Vegas Region, 2015, p. 175–184 175 REVISED LOCATION FOR THE YAVAPAI-MAZATZAL CRUSTAL PROVINCE BOUNDARY IN NEW MEXICO: HF ISOTOPIC DATA FROM PROTEROZOIC ROCKS OF THE NACIMIENTO MOUNTAINS TYLER A. GRAMBLING1, MARK HOLLAND1, KARL E. KARLSTROM1, GEORGE E. GEHRELS2, AND MARK PECHA2 1 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, [email protected] 2 Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ ABSTRACT—Lithospheric growth of southwestern Laurentia during the Paleoproterozoic has been hypothesized to have involved addition of two dominantly juvenile crustal provinces: the 1.8–1.7 Ga Yavapai province and the 1.7–1.6 Ga Mazatzal province. Timing of assembly of these two crustal provinces has been stated to have occurred during the 1.72–1.68 Ga Yavapai orogeny and 1.65–1.60 Ga Mazatzal orogeny, with both provinces undergoing high temperature deformation and metamorphism at middle crustal depths accompanying Mesoproterozoic intrusions from 1.45–1.35 Ga. The boundary between provinces remains poorly understood, but has been inferred to lie along the northern edge of the Jemez volcanic lineament and through the Nacimiento uplift in northern New Mexico. This basement-cored Laramide uplift exposes a 53-km-long north-south transect dominated by Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic granite, providing an ideal locality to examine age and origin of continental lithosphere across this proposed boundary on a local scale. A quartzite metasedimentary unit from the northern Nacimiento that is intruded by ca. 1696 Ma granite was analyzed with U-Pb and Hf isotopic analyses of zircons. The detrital zircon data show a narrow unimodal age peak at 1720 Ma and a maximum depositional age of ~1.7 Ga. Detrital zircons from this sample yield initial epsilon Hf (ɛHf(t)) values ranging from +6.4 to +14.2 suggesting an isotopically juvenile ca. 1.7–1.8 Ga source region for the quartzites. Detrital zircon ages suggest a correlation with the greater Hondo Group and equivalents of northern New Mexico. A 1449 ±12 Ma granite from the southern Nacimiento Mountains has initial epsilon Hf (ɛHf(t)) values of +2.6 to +10.5 suggesting that the lower crustal melt source region contained 1.7–1.8 Ga (Yavapai) crust that was partially melted by and may have mixed with juvenile 1.4 Ga melt. Together these data suggest that >1.7 Ga (Yavapai) crustal province rocks extend in the subsurface south of the southern Nacimiento Mountains. INTRODUCTION (Karlstrom and Humphreys, 1998; Shaw and Karlstrom., 1999; Karlstrom and Williams, 2006). Growth of continental crust along the southwestern margin of 2) Some models suggest the provinces are made up of domi- Laurentia by accretion and stabilization of arc terranes through- nantly juvenile additions to the lithosphere (1.7–1.8 for out the Proterozoic has been postulated for over 30 years (e.g. Yavapai and 1.7–1.6 Ga for Mazatzal; Bowring and Condie, 1982; Karlstrom et al., 1987; Karlstrom et al., 2001). Karlstrom, 1990), while others have proposed there is sig- In New Mexico, two crustal age provinces have been proposed nificant older crust in the subsurface, i.e. pre-1.8 Ga for the based largely on geophysical lineaments, U-Pb ages, and iso- Yavapai (Bickford and Hill, 2007; Karlstrom et al., 2007) and topic character of surface outcrops: Yavapai (1.8–1.7 Ga) and pre-1.7 Ga for the Mazatzal province (Amato, 2008). Mazatzal (1.7–1.6 Ga). A northeast-trending boundary between the age provinces has been defined as the north edge of a zone of 3) The timing of accretionary deformation(s) and location of positive aeromagnetic anomalies associated with the Jemez lin- any accretionary sutures is debated. Some models envision eament (Karlstrom and Daniel, 1993) and the southern extent of suturing of terranes to have accompanied and closely fol- pre-1.7 Ga basement rock exposures (Karlstrom and Humphreys, lowed lithospheric growth during the 1.72–1.68 Ga Yavapai 1998). This boundary has been drawn through the Nacimiento and 1.65–1.60 Ga Mazatzal orogenies (Whitmeyer and Mountains in the northern part of New Mexico (Karlstrom and Karlstrom, 2007); others question the arc accretion model as Daniel, 1993; Karlstrom et al., 2004). the mechanism for crustal growth (Bickford and Hill, 2007; A plate scale model for progressive southwards growth of c.f. Karlstrom et al., 2007); and some suggest final sutur- Proterozoic lithosphere was presented by Whitmeyer and ing of the Mazatzal terrane in northern New Mexico may Karlstrom (2007). Several aspects of this model are debated: have taken place later, during the 1.45 Ga Picuris orogeny (Daniel et al., 2013). 1) The boundary between the age provinces has been variably defined as a relatively discrete suture between age provinces Northern New Mexico is an important locality to continue to (Fig. 1; Magnani et al., 2004; 2005; Karlstrom et al., 2005) refine and test models of crustal growth throughout the Protero- and/or as part of a wide distributed transitional zone of ter- zoic. Various datasets that need improving include the delineation rane imbrication that extends north into southern Colorado and definition of surface and subsurface crustal age provinces, timing and nature of magmatic events, and more precise geo- Appendix data for this paper can be accessed at: chronologic constraints on timing of basin formation, deforma- http://nmgs.nmt.edu/repository/index.cfm?rid=2015001 tion, and metamorphism. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate 176 GRAMBLING, HOLLAND, KARLSTROM, GEHRELS, AND PECHA FIGURE 1. Simplified geologic map of northern New Mexico and south- ern Colorado showing Proterozoic outcrops and mountain range names, modified after Karlstrom et al. (2004). Location of proposed Yavapai- Mazatzal age province boundary and location of Picuris orogeny (~1.45 Ga) shear zones shown with heavy dashed lines. Detail map shows area of study with sample locations shown, starred locations indicate samples with new U-Pb-Hf data. the previously defined crustal boundary posited to pass through the Nacimiento uplift using paired U-Pb-Hf isotopic data from igneous and detrital zircon. We use the Hf isotopic composi- tion of zircons separated from 1.4 Ga granites in the Nacimiento Mountains to probe lower crustal composition and help delineate lower crustal age provinces (e.g. Cecil et al., 2011; Foster et al., 2012). U-Pb and Hf isotopic data from detrital zircon in quartzites in the Nacimiento uplift are also examined to help test regional stratigraphic correlations. Our new data are the first published Hf isotopic data obtained from Proterozoic rocks of northern New Mexico. GEOLOGIC BACKGROUND Limited outcrop, and a history of subsequent deformations (1.5–1.4 Ga and Phanerozoic), complicates the goal of identify- ing any boundary delineating the Yavapai from Mazatzal prov- inces in New Mexico. However, the proposed Yavapai-Mazatzal province boundary in northern New Mexico (Fig. 1) is shown as parallel to the Jemez lineament (Aldrich, 1986)—a NE-SW striking locus of Cenozoic tectonic activity, volcanism, and aeromagnetic lineaments that transect the state from near Springerville, AZ, in the west, to Raton, NM, in the northeast YAVAPAI-MAZATZAL CRUSTAL PROVINCE BOUNDARY 177 (Karlstrom et al., 2004, Magnani et al., 2004, Cather et al., the pieces to avoid any weathered samples.