U–Pb and K–Ar dates related to the timing of magmatism and deformation in the Cache Creek terrane and Quesnellia, southern British Columbia

Abstract

U–Pb dating of zircon from the Guichon Creek batholith indicates an emplacement age of 210 ± 3 Ma. Comparison with previously published K–Ar (211–188 Ma) and Rb–Sr (205 and 196 Ma) dates reveals that intrusion, mineralization, cooling, and uplift of the batholith took some 20 Ma, spanning the Triassic–Jurassic boundary on the Decade of North American Geology (DNAG) time scale.The Mount Martley pluton and Tiffin Creek stock yield Late Jurassic dates of 155 ± 2 Ma (U–Pb, zircon) and 152 ± 5 Ma (K–Ar, hornblende), respectively, and provide a reliable minimum age (Kimmeridgian) for penetrative deformation in the Cache Creek terrane. K–Ar whole-rock dates from Cache Creek terrane and Ashcroft Formation argillites range from Early Permian (266 ± 8 Ma) and Early Jurassic (194 ± 6 Ma) to Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian (154 ± 5 Ma). We interpret the younger dates as recording Middle–Late Jurassic tectonism and the older ones as possible relics from earlier deformation episodes.An Early Cretaceous K–Ar date (129 ± 5 Ma) for a lamprophyre dike that cuts the Nicola Group suggests that the Early Cretaceous magmatic arc of the Coast Plutonic Complex had an eastern alkalic fringe in the Intermontane Belt.