Extending the western North American Proterozoic and Paleozoic continental crust through the Mojave Desert
- Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence (United States)
Data supporting the existence of Proterozoic basement in the central and western Mojave Desert include U-Pb zircon geochronology and Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic values of quartzofeldspathic gneisses, detrital zircon provenance ages, and the presence of basement clasts in Paleozoic and Mesozoic conglomerates. These data corroborate existing isotopic data from Mesozoic and Tertiary intrusive rocks that suggest involvement of Proterozoic crust in their genesis. Exposures of Proterozoic basement and Late Proterozoic and Paleozoic transitional miogeoclinal-cratonal facies trends in the central and western Mojave Desert consistently imply that cratonal North America continues westward uninterrupted through this region to the San Andreas fault. These data place geographic limits on the position of several pre-Tertiary tectonic elements speculated to exist in the Mojave Desert.
- OSTI ID:
- 6991688
- Journal Information:
- Geology; (United States), Journal Name: Geology; (United States) Vol. 20:8; ISSN 0091-7613; ISSN GLGYBA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
580000* -- Geosciences
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
AGE ESTIMATION
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
BASEMENT ROCK
CALIFORNIA
CONGLOMERATES
CONTINENTAL CRUST
CORRELATIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EARTH CRUST
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOLOGIC STRATA
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GNEISSES
ISOTOPE DATING
ISOTOPES
LEAD ISOTOPES
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MINERALS
NEODYMIUM ISOTOPES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROGENESIS
PLATE TECTONICS
PRECAMBRIAN ERA
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SILICATE MINERALS
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
TECTONICS
URANIUM ISOTOPES
USA
ZIRCON