Abstract This field guide covers the Precambrian geology of the western portion of the Clearwater complex and surrounding area in north-central Idaho in the vicinity of Marble Creek within the St. Joe National Forest. The regional geology of the Marble Creek area includes Precambrian basement orthogneisses, possible basement metasupracrustal rocks, and overlying metamorphosed Belt Supergroup strata. These rocks are exhumed within the western portion of the Cretaceous-Eocene Clearwater metamorphic core complex. This guide focuses on the western part of the Clearwater complex in the vicinity of Marble Creek. Outcrops of Paleoproterozoic basement and overlying Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary units provide a better understanding of the Precambrian magmatic and metamorphic history of this region. The road log in this guide describes the regional geology in a south to north transect from Clarkia, Idaho, to the confluence of Marble Creek with the St. Joe River.

ABSTRACT The incorporation of metasedimentary rocks into the mid- to deep crust of continental magmatic arcs has significant mechanical and geochemical consequences for arc systems. The Late Cretaceous–Eocene North Cascades arc is one of the few continental magmatic arcs in the world that exposes a large amount of exhumed deep-crustal metasedimentary rocks. Here, we investigate a range of processes that may have been important in transferring sediment into the arc by combining field mapping with bulk-rock Nd analyses, U-Pb and Hf-isotopic study of detrital zircons, and U-Pb dating of zircon and monazite to determine the timing of metamorphism and melt crystallization from metasedimentary samples collected in two deep-crustal domains of the North Cascades (the Skagit Gneiss and Swakane Gneiss). We also use these data to examine provenance links between the metasedimentary rocks and potential sediment sources in the accretionary wedge (western mélange belt), the forearc (Nooksack Formation), and the present-day backarc (Methow terrane) to the North Cascades arc. Jurassic strata of the Methow terrane and the Nooksack Formation have unimodal detrital zircon age peaks and near-depleted mantle ε Ηfi values, whereas zircons from the middle Cretaceous strata of the Methow terrane have a bimodal age distribution and less radiogenic ε Ηfi values. In comparison, the accretionary western mélange belt (WMB) has Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous sandstones characterized by multiple Mesozoic age peaks, and the Upper Cretaceous sandstones also reveal distinct Proterozoic zircon populations and unradiogenic Late Cretaceous zircons. The Skagit metasedimentary rocks yield zircon-age signatures that fall into two groups: (1) a wide range of zircon dates from Proterozoic to latest Cretaceous and (2) a more limited range of Late Triassic to latest Cretaceous grains with no Proterozoic zircons. Both groups reveal a mix of ε Ηfi values. The Swakane metasedimentary rocks have similar detrital zircon age signatures to Group 1 Skagit metasediments. For Swakane rocks, >100 Ma zircons have radiogenic ε Ηfi values, whereas younger zircons plot between near-depleted mantle to unradiogenic values. Overall, the data are most consistent with some metasedimentary rocks of the Swakane and Skagit Gneisses being sourced from either the forearc or the accretionary wedge. This sedimentary material was buried to mid-crustal depths by ca. 75–65 Ma, coeval with major magmatism within the North Cascades arc. Moreover, the distinct combination of unradiogenic Late Cretaceous detrital zircons and ca. 1.4–1.3 and 1.8–1.6 Ga Proterozoic peaks is documented in many of the forearc and accretionary-wedge units exposed along western North America. The Proterozoic peaks likely reflect zircon derived from southwestern Laurentian crust, equivalent to the latitude of the present-day Mojave Desert. Therefore, the detrital-zircon results from both the Swakane and Skagit Gneisses, as well as parts of the accretionary wedge, support at least moderate translation of sedimentary material along the margin of western North America during the Late Cretaceous.

ABSTRACT The Salmon River suture zone in west-central Idaho is a steep ocean-continent plate boundary separating Paleozoic-Mesozoic island-arc terranes and the ancestral western Laurentian margin that characterizes much of the central North American Cordillera. In the Riggins region, the most complete record of arc-continent collision and subsequent modification of the accretionary boundary is exposed because of the lower abundance of Cretaceous plutonism as compared to exposures of the boundary regionally along strike, and the deep degree of erosion along the Salmon River Canyon. Using recent mapping, microtectonic analysis, geochronological data, and structural models, this field trip explores the time-transgressive structures currently exposed across the Salmon River suture zone from the eastern foothills of the Seven Devils Mountains into the Salmon River Canyon. The Salmon River suture zone contains a Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, west-vergent thrust belt that is overprinted along its eastern extent by the Late Cretaceous, transpressional western Idaho shear zone and Late Cretaceous(?) and Cenozoic ductile-brittle extensional structures. A distinct amalgamation of metavol-canogenic and metasedimentary rocks characterizes the thrust belt and includes the (1) northeastern Wallowa terrane, (2) western Salmon River belt, formally grouped with the Wallowa terrane, and (3) eastern Salmon River belt, known locally as the Riggins Group and Pollock Mountain Amphibolite. The western Idaho shear zone overprints the easternmost rocks and structures associated with the eastern Salmon River belt. It also contains heterogeneous units of tonalite, trondhjemite, and grano-diorite orthogneiss, as well as individual tonalite, granodiorite, and granite plutons that display a gradation and partitioning of deformation and strain internally within the shear zone. East of the magmatic injection zone located along the arc-continent boundary, Laurentian continental metasedimentary rocks and tonalite and granodio-rite plutons occupy the eastern portions of both the shear zone and larger suture zone. Geochronologic data, obtained largely from metaplutonic rocks in the McCall region south of the Riggins region, provide the temporal resolution to constrain current tectonic models proposed for Salmon River suture zone evolution.

ABSTRACT The Salmon River suture zone is the boundary between the accreted (Blue Mountain) terranes and cratonic North America in western Idaho. This region was the focus of study by the EarthScope IDOR (IDaho-ORegon) project that integrated structural geology, geochemistry, geochronology, and seismology. This field trip traverses from western Idaho to eastern Oregon, covering the Atlanta lobe of the Idaho batholith, Blue Mountains terranes, and the middle Cretaceous western Idaho shear zone that separates these two domains. The main component of the Atlanta lobe is the Atlanta peraluminous suite, and it intruded from 83 to 65 Ma, was derived from crustal melting, and lacks a regionally consistent fabric. The crust below the Idaho batholith is relatively thick and seismic velocities are consistent with the entire crust being relatively felsic. The western Idaho shear zone overprints the Salmon River suture zone and obscures most evidence for the suturing. It is the present boundary between Blue Mountains terranes and cratonic North America. From studies along this transect, we have determined that the western Idaho shear zone exhibits dextral transpressional deformation, was active from ca. 103 to 90 Ma, and magmatism occurred during deformation; presently exposed levels on this transect record deformation conditions of 730 °C and 4.3 kbars. There is an ~7 km vertical step in the Moho at or slightly (<20 km) east of the current exposure of the western Idaho shear zone, separating thicker crust to the east from thinner crust to the west. Blue Mountains terranes immediately outboard of the western Idaho shear zone likely were located farther south during the middle Cretaceous and underwent strike-slip displacement during western Idaho shear zone deformation. The Olds Ferry terrane—the accreted terrane located immediately west of the western Idaho shear zone—was underplated by mafic magmatism, likely in the Miocene during eruption of the Columbia River basalt group. The field trip will utilize StraboSpot, a recently developed digital data system for structural geology and tectonics, so participants can investigate the relevant data associated with the IDOR EarthScope project.