Geology topics

W.R. Dickinson

Publications and source records attributed to W.R. Dickinson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2010

The Paleogene California River: Evidence of Mojave-Uinta paleodrainage from U-Pb ages of detrital zircons

U-Pb age spectra of detrital zircons in samples from the Paleogene Colton Formation in the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah and the Late Cretaceous McCoy Mountains Formation of southwestern Arizona (United States) are statistically indistinguishable. This finding refutes previous inferences that arkosic detritus of the Colton was derived from cratonic basement exposed by Laramide tectonism, and instead establishes the Cordilleran magmatic arc (which also provided sediment to the McCoy Mountains Formation) as the primary source. Given the existence of a north-south-trending drainage divide in eastern Nevada and the north-northeast direction of Laramide paleoflow throughout Arizona and southern Utah, we infer that a large river system headed in the arc of the Mojave region flowed northeast ~700 km to the Uinta Basin. Named after its source area, this Paleogene California River would have been equal in scale but opposite in direction to the modern Green River-Colorado River system, and the timing and causes of the subsequent drainage reversal are important constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Cordillera and the Colorado Plateau. ?? 2010 Geological Society of America.

Geology↗

USGS1991

Resetting of RbSr ages of volcanic rocks by low-grade burial metamorphism

We report a nine-point RbSr whole-rock isochron age of 70±3 Ma (MSWD 3.97) for Mid-Jurassic volcanic rocks. The same rocks have also been dated by the UThPb method on zircon, giving a crystallization age of 166 ± 11 Ma, over twice as old as the RbSr age. The data demonstrate that whole-rock RbSr ages of volcanic rocks, even lava flows with SiO 2 content as low as 57 wt.%, are susceptible to complete resetting. The rocks range in composition from rhyodacite tuffs to andesite lavas. The complete breakdown of all major minerals that contain Rb and Sr resulted in an alteration mineral assemblage consisting of phengite, albite, secondary quartz, and minor amounts of chlorite and epidote. Phengite is the K-bearing product of the breakdown of biotite and K-feldspar. Pressure during low-grade metamorphism of the volcanic rocks, estimated from phengite composition to have been in the range of 4 to 6 kbar, points to thrust-related burial as the main cause of resetting. Consequently, such reset isochrons may date large-scale events such as regional thrusting and metamorphism. The coherent resetting of the RbSr isochron suggests large-scale pervasive fluid movement during thrust-related burial metamorphism.

Chemical Geology: Isotope Geoscience Section↗

USGS1976

Tectonic implications of space-time patterns of Cenozoic magmatism in the western United States

Locations of 2,100 radiometrically dated igneous rocks were plotted on a series of 20 maps, each representing an interval within the period 80 m.y. B.P. to present. Derivative maps showing the distributions in space and time of dated granitic intrusive rocks, silicic lavas and domes, ash-flow tuffs, andesitic-dacitic rocks, and basalts depict well the two main petrogenetic assemblages noted previously by others: (1) mainly intermediate andesitic-dacitic suites, including associated granitic intrusive rocks, silicic extrusive rocks, and minor basaltic lavas, are interpreted as reflecting plate interactions related to subduction along the continental margin; and (2) bimodal suites, dominantly basaltic but with minor silicic extrusive rocks, are interpreted as reflecting extensional tectonics. Space-time distribution of the two assemblages suggests that magmatic arcs extended continously parallel to the continental margin from Canada to Mexico in latest Mesozoic and in Oligocene times. An early Cenozoic null in magmatism in the Great Basin may delineate the region where subduction was arrested temporarily by development of the proto-San Andreas fault as a transform in coastal California or, alternatively, may reflect complex subsurface configurations of subducted plates. The late Cenozoic transition from subduction-related magmatism to extention-related basaltic volcanism in the southern Cordillera occurred at different times in different areas in harmony with current concepts about the migration of the Mendocino triple junction as the modern San Andreas transform fault was formed. The plots also reveal the existence of several discrete magmatic loci where igneous activity of various kinds was characteristically more intense and long-lived than elsewhere.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗