Cretaceous age of the upper part of the McCoy Mountains Formation, southeastern California and southwestern Arizona, and its tectonic significance: Reconciliation of paleobotanical and paleomagnetic evidence

Abstract

The upper part of the 7-km-thick McCoy Mountains Formation in southeastern California contains fossil angiosperm wood that closely resembles the genus Paraphyllanthoxylon , which is known only from strata of late Early Cretaceous and younger age. This wood, in conjunction with geologic field relations, supports previous interpretations that the upper part of the McCoy Mountains Formation is of late Early Cretaceous and/or Late Cretaceous age, in contrast to a more recent interpretation that the entire formation is of Jurassic age. Alternatives are therefore needed to the recent hypothesis that deposition, deformation, and metamorphism of the McCoy Mountains Formation were related to movement on the Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear.