Remagnetization of the Coast Range ophiolite at Stanley Mountain, California, during accretion near 10 degree N paleolatitude

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Geology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<0503:ROTCRO>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:6952072

Hagstrum, J T ^[1]

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1. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Paleomagnetic data are presented for a 50-m-thick sequence of Oxfordian to Tithonian sedimentary rocks conformably overlying Upper Jurassic pillow basalt within the Coast Range ophiolite at Stanley Mountain, California. These new data are similar in direction and polarity to previously published paleomagnetic data for the pillow basalt. The Jurassic sedimentary rocks were deposited during a mixed-polarity interval of the geomagnetic field, and uniformity of the remanent magnetization within the entire section of pillow basalt and sedimentary rocks indicates later remagnetization. Remagnetization of the Coast Range ophiolite is interpreted to have occurred during accretion to the continental margin, possibly by burial and low-temperature alteration related to this event. Similar paleolatitudes calculated for the ophiolite (11{degree} {plus minus} 3{degree}) and for mid-Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Stanley Mountain terrane at Figueroa Mountain (6{degree} {plus minus} 5{degree}) are consistent with remagnetization of the ophiolite in southern California and elsewhere along the Pacific coast imply that these rocks were also overprinted, and their magnetic inclinations suggest remagnetization at low paleolatitudes as well. The Coast Range ophiolite at Stanley Mountain is thus inferred to have been remagnetized along the North American margin near 10{degree}N paleolatitude between earliest and mid-Cretaceous time and subsequently transported northward by strike-slip faulting related to relative motions between the Farallon, Kula, Pacific, and North American plates.

• OSTI ID: 6952072
• Journal Information: Geology; (United States), Vol. 20:6; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CALIFORNIA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
PALEOMAGNETISM
BASALT
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
JURASSIC PERIOD
OCEANIC CRUST
PLATE TECTONICS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EARTH CRUST
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
MAGNETISM
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
ROCKS
TECTONICS
USA
VOLCANIC ROCKS
580000* - Geosciences