Accreted terranes of northwestern British Columbia, Canada: Lithospheric velocity structure and tectonics

Abstract

Lithospheric structure beneath the accreted terranes of the northwestern Canadian Cordillera is interpreted from analyses of P wave refraction and wide‐angle reflection data. The 535 km long profile extends from the deformed and displaced ancestral North American margin across the Omineca belt suture zone and Intermontane superterrane to the Coast belt. This region is interpreted to have grown westward through a progression from thin‐skinned to thick‐skinned accretionary tectonics. Large lateral variations of velocities (2.0–6.4 km/s) within the upper 15 km correlate with the mapped geological and terrane elements; fault offsets and the imbricated base of an overlap basin are clearly identified. Inboard of the Stikine accreted terrane a zone of slow upper crustal velocities thins to the east, consistent with an interpretation of thin‐skinned accretion leaving slivers of terranes overlying a wedge of metamorphosed Proterozoic continental margin sediments. However, in the lower crust the proposed underlying cratonic ramp is not distinguished from outboard or overlying accreted crust by lateral P velocity contrasts or wide‐angle reflections. The Moho remains nearly horizontal beneath the Intermontane and Omineca belts, gradually thinning to the east from 36.5 to 35 km. To the southwest below the Coast belt and to the northeast beneath the Tintina fault, the crust thins to 32 km. Upper mantle velocities across the Coast, Intermontane, and Omineca belts are 7.8–7.9 km/s. The slow upper mantle and lower crustal velocities are indicative of high temperatures that may permit the flat Moho or weak lower crust to partially decouple the crust from the mantle. Reflections in the upper mantle between 50–70 km depth may be related to the base of the lithosphere or to heterogeneities introduced through melting or accretionary subduction events.