Potassium–Argon Age Determinations of Metamorphic and Plutonic Rocks in the Yukon Crystalline Terrane

Abstract

Forty-four new potassium–argon age determinations on minerals of metamorphic and igneous rocks from the Yukon Crystalline Terrane define the timing of the three most recent thermal events affecting this region. The oldest, 160 to 170 Ma ago, involved weak retrograde metamorphism of igneous and metamorphic rocks and coincides with the intrusion of batholiths of pink quartz monzonite. The next event, 90 to 100 Ma ago, reflects the emplacement of batholiths of the Coffee Creek quartz monzonite suite. The youngest thermal episode, 50 to 60 Ma ago, marks the time when the Nisling Range alaskite, with its porphyry dyke swarms and explosive acid volcanic rocks, was emplaced and when the K–Ar system of the Ruby Range Batholith was thermally reset. The data provide a younger limit to the age of the oldest Mesozoic plutonic rocks, the Klotassin suite, but they do not define its time of emplacement.