Quick
Search: 
 
advanced search
 GSW Home    GeoRef Home    My GSW Alerts    Contact GSW    About GSW    Journals List    Help 
GSA Bulletin Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS

GSA Bulletin; January 2006; v. 118; no. 1-2; p. 210-218; DOI: 10.1130/B25797.1
© 2006 Geological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vermeesch, P.
Right arrow Articles by McWilliams, M. O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Multimethod detrital thermochronology of the Great Valley Group near New Idria, California

Pieter Vermeesch{dagger},1, Donald D. Miller{ddagger},2, Stephan A. Graham§,3, Johan De Grave#,4 and Michael O. McWilliams{dagger}{dagger},5

1 Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Braun Hall, room 320, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA
2 Aera Energy, LLC, P.O. Box 11164, Bakersfield, California 93389-1164, USA
3 Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Braun Hall, room 320, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA
4 Geological Institute, University of Gent, Krijgslaan 281, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
5 Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Braun Hall, room 320, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, California 94305-2115, USA

The simultaneous use of several thermochronological methods on replicate sedimentary rock samples can reveal their pre- and postdepositional history. Single grain U/Pb dating of zircon, zircon and apatite fission track dating, and vitrinite reflectance measurements were performed on Cretaceous through Miocene sedimentary rocks of the Great Valley Group and the Temblor Formation near Coalinga and New Idria, California. The data show that the Sierra Nevada was exhumed and cooled at ~0.5–1 km/m.y. or ~20 °C/m.y. during the Cretaceous. After deposition in the Great Valley forearc basin, Sierra Nevada erosional products were buried at great depth under low thermal gradients. At ca. 12–14 Ma, northward progression of the Mendocino triple junction triggered folding on the eastern flanks of the California Coast Ranges and rapid exhumation of the New Idria serpentinite diapir. This middle Miocene event caused the deposition of spectacular deposits of sedimentary serpentinite (Big Blue Formation). The rapid rise of the hot serpentinite body created a thermal pulse that may have provided the enigmatic heat source for oil fields in the shallow Vallecitos syncline, a few kilometers north of New Idria.

Key Words: detrital thermochronology • fission track • Great Valley Group • serpentinite • Sierra Nevada • exhumation




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Geological Society of America Special PapersHome page
T. Tsujimori, J. G. Liou, and R. G. Coleman
Finding of high-grade tectonic blocks from the New Idria serpentinite body, Diablo Range, California: Petrologic constraints on the tectonic evolution of an active serpentinite diapir
Geological Society of America Special Papers, January 1, 2007; 419(0): 67 - 80.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Geological Society of America BulletinHome page
I. S.E. Carmichael, R. A. Lange, C. M. Hall, and P. R. Renne
Faulted and tilted Pliocene olivine-tholeiite lavas near Alturas, NE California, and their bearing on the uplift of the Warner Range
Geological Society of America Bulletin, September 1, 2006; 118(9-10): 1196 - 1211.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]




JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of America