Synextensional magmatism leading to crustal flow in the Albion–Raft River–Grouse Creek metamorphic core complex, northeastern Basin and Range

Abstract

AbstractThis study addresses the origin of granitic magmas in the Albion–Raft River–Grouse Creek (ARG) metamorphic core complex and environs and how these inform us about the deep crustal processes leading to crustal flow and the formation of the ARG. SHRIMP‐RG U‐Pb zircon ages, whole‐rock geochemical data (major and trace element data, as well as Sr and Nd isotopes), and zircon geochemistry (in situ O‐isotope, Hf‐isotope, and trace element compositions) from Eocene to Oligocene magmas now exposed at three structural levels of the ARG show that the 41–32 Ma Emigrant Pass and the 32–25 Ma Cassia plutonic complexes have a common origin, sharing a deep crustal “hot zone” that remained above solidus temperatures for at least 16 Myr. This magmatism is part of the protracted magmatism that swept southward across the western U.S. between ∼42 and 21 Ma, inferred to be the result of foundering of the shallow Farallon slab. Isotopic modeling of geochemical data from these magmas suggests that between 41 and 32 Ma, the influx of mantle‐derived basalt into the lower crust triggered large‐scale hybrid magmatism generating calc‐alkaline magmas that erupted and intruded the upper crust and significantly weakened the lower and middle crust. Between 32 and 25 Ma, this “hot zone” incorporated large amounts of continental crustal melts, resulting in greater mobility of the lower and middle crust, driving middle crustal flow and the formation of granitic plutons that rose to shallower levels of the crust forming the granite‐cored gneiss domes of the ARG.