Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Dickinson, W. R. Articles by Butler, R. F. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Coastal and Baja California paleomagnetism reconsidered

¹ Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

Systematic reappraisal of paleomagnetic data from upper Mesozoic and lower Cenozoic sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks of late Mesozoic age in coastal and Baja California indicates that pluton tilt and shallowing of paleomagnetic directions by sedimentary compaction resolve observed discordances with the North American apparent polar wander (APW) path when the best available reference paleopoles are used for comparison. The hypothesis of major tectonic transport in excess of distances inherent in current models for evolution of the San Andreas transform system is unnecessary and in conflict with geologic observations. Fresh insights derived from recent data sets and improved analysis include the following. (1) The limited paleomagnetic data recording primary remanence for Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous volcanic rocks in coastal California are concordant with the North American APW path. (2) The tilt of the Peninsular Ranges batholith inferred from paleobarometric data eliminates its declination discordance and reduces its inclination discordance to a level where ovals of confidence for observed and expected paleomagnetic directions overlap. (3) Key Cretaceous and Paleogene red-bed successions on the Salinian block of coastal California and in Baja California have yielded concordant paleolatitudes. (4) The discordances of different apparent paleolatitudes inferred from Cretaceous and Paleogene marine sedimentary strata lie within a range that can be attributed to compaction shallowing on the basis of both experimental information and observations from elsewhere. (5) Turbidites are more susceptible to compaction shallowing than shelf and deltaic strata. (6) The uniform rotation of paleomagnetic directions inferred previously for peninsular California is not supported by the full array of data now available from multiple localities. (7) Basement ties of the Salinian block in California and of the Baja California peninsula to the continental interior preclude any hypothesis for tectonic transport much in excess of San Andreas transform slip.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D.T.A. Symons, T.E. Smith, and W.H. Blackburn Constraining the travels of a "suspect" terrane: Paleomagnetism and geobarometry of two Early Cretaceous igneous complexes in the Peninsular Ranges Batholith, California Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2008; 120(9-10): 1159 - 1170. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. R. Saul and R. L. Squires Volutoderminae (Gastropoda: Volutidae) of Coniacian Through Maastrichtian Age from the North American Pacific Slope Journal of Paleontology, March 1, 2008; 82(2): 213 - 237. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. S. Petronis, J. W. Geissman, J. S. Oldow, and W. C. McIntosh Tectonism of the southern Silver Peak Range: Paleomagnetic and geochronologic data bearing on the Neogene development of a regional extensional complex, central Walker Lane, Nevada Geological Society of America Special Papers, January 1, 2007; 434(0): 81 - 106. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. R. Dickinson and W. R. Dickinson Geotectonic evolution of the Great Basin Geosphere, December 1, 2006; 2(7): 353 - 368. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. R. SAUL and C. J. STADUM FOSSIL ARGONAUTS (MOLLUSCA: CEPHALOPODA: OCTOPODIDA) FROM LATE MIOCENE SILTSTONES OF THE LOS ANGELES BASIN, CALIFORNIA Journal of Paleontology, May 1, 2005; 79(3): 520 - 531. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. L. Barbeau Jr., M. N. Ducea, G. E. Gehrels, S. Kidder, P. H. Wetmore, and J. B. Saleeby U-Pb detrital-zircon geochronology of northern Salinian basement and cover rocks Geological Society of America Bulletin, March 1, 2005; 117(3-4): 466 - 481. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Butzer, R. F. Butler, G. E. Gehrels, C. Davidson, K. O'Connell, and M. L. Crawford Neogene tilting of crustal panels near Wrangell, Alaska Geology, December 1, 2004; 32(12): 1061 - 1064. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. E. Le Grand Plate tectonics, terranes and continental geology Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2002; 192(1): 199 - 213. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. A. Stamatakos, J. M. Trop, and K. D. Ridgway Late Cretaceous paleogeography of Wrangellia: Paleomagnetism of the MacColl Ridge Formation, southern Alaska, revisited Geology, October 1, 2001; 29(10): 947 - 950. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. R. Dickinson and T. F. Lawton Carboniferous to Cretaceous assembly and fragmentation of Mexico Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2001; 113(9): 1142 - 1160. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K.P. Kodama and P. D. Ward Compaction-corrected paleomagnetic paleolatitudes for Late Cretaceous rudists along the Cretaceous California margin: Evidence for less than 1500 km of post-Late Cretaceous offset for Baja British Columbia Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2001; 113(9): 1171 - 1178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. C. Schott and C. M. Johnson Garnet-bearing trondhjemite and other conglomerate clasts from the Gualala basin, California: Sedimentary record of the missing western portion of the Salinian magmatic arc? Geological Society of America Bulletin, July 1, 2001; 113(7): 870 - 880. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]