Petrogenesis of mylonites of high metamorphic grade in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California

Ted G. Theodore

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81[435:pomohm]2.0.co;2

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Petrogenesis of mylonites of high metamorphic grade in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California

Ted G. Theodore

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Abstract

A fairly continuous, narrow belt of mylonite gneisses extends approximately 60 miles across southern California and crops out prominently at Coyote Mountain, near Borrego Springs, San Diego County. At Coyote Mountain, both prebatholithic rocks and igneous rocks lithologically similar to rocks from the nearby southern California batholith have been deformed in the mylonite zone—a deformation that is the last plutonic event recorded in the rocks. Petrographic evidence within these mylonites at Coyote Mountain indicates that sillimamte-K feldspar-muscovite-quartz assemblages remained stable or recrystallized (or both) during mylonitization. In addition, a maximum “set” temperature of 580° C, inferred from the MgCO 3 content of calcite in deformed dolomite marbles, was determined. The physical conditions probable at the metamorphic peak accompanying mylonitization are: P-T conditions inferred from experimentally studied systems, T = 580° to 660° C and Pxotai = PH, O( ? ) = 3.4 to 7.0 kb; high H 2 O activity, as indicated by the continued stability of muscovite at such high temperatures. Mylonitization within this belt may be related to a rise of magma to higher crustal levels from within the southern California batholith.

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Bulletin of the Geological Society of America Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 33.32249604487461° to 33.366664003369884° latitude; -116.35002136230469° to -116.29783630371092° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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Ted G. Theodore. 1970. Petrogenesis of mylonites of high metamorphic grade in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1970)81%5B435%3Apomohm%5D2.0.co%3B2

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