Northeast-trending folds in the western Skeena Fold Belt, northern Canadian Cordillera: a record of Early Cretaceous sinistral plate convergence

Abstract

The western portion of the Skeena Fold Belt, northern Canadian Cordillera, contains northeast-trending folds that are highly oblique to northwest-trending folds in the eastern portion of the fold belt, and to most Mesozoic contractional structures in the northern Cordillera. The northeast-trending folds locally interfere with the northwest-trending folds, and one region includes transected folds. Geometric relationships within and between the two fold sets are not easily reconciled by notions of the northeast-trending folds resulting from vertical axis rotation of blocks, influence of basement features, or lateral variations in magnitude of shortening. The northeast-trending folds are inferred to result from sinistral plate convergence early in the history of the fold belt (Early Cretaceous). Northeast-trending folds in the Skeena Fold Belt are the most conspicuous elements of a seldom-studied group of similarly oriented contractional structures, which collectively define a belt at least 1700 km long, within and bordering the Coast Belt. The extent of Early Cretaceous structures potentially related to sinistral convergence supports them having originated in response to the relative plate motion rather than local controls (e.g. indentors). This agrees with relative plate motion studies based on ocean floor reconstructions, which suggest a mid-Cretaceous change from sinistral to dextral convergence.