The composite Sunrise Butte pluton, in the central part of the Blue Mountains Province, northeastern Oregon, preserves a record of subduction-related magmatism, arc-arc collision, crustal thickening, and deep-crustal anatexis. The earliest phase of the pluton (Desolation Creek unit) was generated in a subduction zone environment, as the oceanic lithosphere between the Wallowa and Olds Ferry island arcs was consumed. Zircons from this unit yielded a 206 Pb/ 238 U age of 160.2 ± 2.1 Ma. A magmatic lull ensued during arc-arc collision, after which partial melting at the base of the thickened Wallowa arc crust produced siliceous magma that was emplaced into metasedimentary rocks and serpentinite of the overthrust forearc complex. This magma crystallized to form the bulk of the Sunrise Butte composite pluton (the Sunrise Butte unit; 145.8 ± 2.2 Ma). The heat necessary for crustal anatexis was supplied by coeval mantle-derived magma (the Onion Gulch unit; 147.9 ± 1.8 Ma). The lull in magmatic activity between 160 and 148 Ma encompasses the timing of arc-arc collision (159–154 Ma), and it is similar to those lulls observed in adjacent areas of the Blue Mountains Province related to the same shortening event. Previous researchers have proposed a tectonic link between the Blue Mountains Province and the Klamath Mountains and northern Sierra Nevada Provinces farther to the south; however, timing of Late Jurassic deformation in the Blue Mountains Province predates the timing of the so-called Nevadan orogeny in the Klamath Mountains. In both the Blue Mountains Province and Klamath Mountains, the onset of deep-crustal partial melting initiated at ca. 148 Ma, suggesting a possible geodynamic link. One possibility is that the Late Jurassic shortening event recorded in the Blue Mountains Province may be a northerly extension of the Nevadan orogeny. Differences in the timing of these events in the Blue Mountains Province and the Klamath–Sierra Nevada Provinces suggest that shortening and deformation were diachronous, progressing from north to south. We envision that Late Jurassic deformation may have collapsed a Gulf of California–style oceanic extensional basin that extended from the Klamath Mountains (e.g., Josephine ophiolite) to the central Blue Mountains Province, and possibly as far north as the North Cascades (i.e., the coeval Ingalls ophiolite).

Abstract This field trip guide describes a two-day excursion through Mesozoic accreted terranes of the Blue Mountains Province in northeastern Oregon. Day 1 is focused on sedimentary rocks of the Izee terrane. These deposits are divided into two unconformity-bounded megasequences, MS-1 and MS-2, that record two stages of syntectonic basin formation. MS-1 (Late Triassic to Early Jurassic) accumulated in fault-bounded marine sub-basins on the flank of an inferred growing Baker terrane thrust belt. MS-1 sandstones, derived from the Baker terrane, contain abundant Paleozoic, Late Paleoproterozoic, and Late Archean detrital-zircon grains. These observations suggest affinity of the Baker terrane and MS-1 in the Izee area to portions of the Klamath and Sierra Nevada terranes that contain similar detrital-zircon age distributions. MS-2 (Early to early-Late Jurassic) accumulated in a large marine basin that received input from low-grade metavolcanic rocks to the east (modern coordinates). Detrital zircons are dominated by Mesozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Mesoproterozoic grains. Two possible interpretations for MS-2 are: (1) the Jurassic Izee basin was fed directly by the large Mesozoic trans-cratonal sediment-dispersal system, or (2) trans-cratonal sediment was deposited in a Triassic backarc basin in Nevada and was later recycled into the Jurassic Izee basin during Cordilleran orogenesis. Day 2 of the field trip is focused on Jurassic–Cretaceous magmatism in the Baker terrane. Late Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous igneous rocks in the Blue Mountains Province record three distinct pulses of plutonism that are characterized by distinctive spatial and geochemical signatures. These episodes consist of: (1) late Middle to Late Jurassic small gabbro to quartz diorite plutons (ca. 162–154 Ma; low Sr/Y); (2) Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous plutons and batholiths (ca. 148 and 137 Ma; includes spatially distinct belts of low and high Sr/Y at 147–145 Ma); and (3) Early Cretaceous small plutons of tonalitic and trondhjemitic composition (ca. 124–111 Ma). Temporal transitions in geochemical characteristics between these suites raise fundamental questions regarding the origins of plutonism in the Baker terrane. In particular, the transition from low Sr/Y (group 1) to high Sr/Y (group 2) magmatism in the Greenhorn subterrane occurred ~ 7 Ma after regional contraction, and may record partial melting of thickened crust as a direct result of Late Jurassic orogenesis.

The Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) Martin Bridge Formation of northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and western Idaho is characterized by rapidly shifting depositional processes within a tropical volcanic island arc setting. Martin Bridge sequences in the Hells Canyon and northern Wallowa Mountains document shallow-water peritidal evaporitic sediments that are succeeded by deeper and predominantly subtidal deposits. This indicates drowning of the carbonate platform and a transition to deeper-water turbiditic sedimentation before a late Triassic transition into the overlying mid-Norian to Jurassic Hurwal Formation. At the type locality in the southern Wallowa Mountains, dysaerobic shales, carbonate debris sheets, and turbiditic sediments indicate distal slope and basinal environments while other facies at other sites in the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon areas indicate reef and shallow-water platform settings. In this paper we formally recognize the name Martin Bridge Formation and reinstate the type locality in the southern Wallowa Mountains as the principal unit strato-type. An additional reference section is given at Hurricane Creek in the northern Wallowa Mountains. The Martin Bridge is formally divided into four members: the Eagle Creek and Summit Point Members are introduced and formally proposed herein and the BC Creek and Scotch Creek Members also are elevated to formal status. A partial reconstruction of the Wallowa terrane during deposition of the Martin Bridge Formation suggests a north-south (or northeast-southwest) trending platform margin facing a forearc basin situated to the east (or southeast). The lithofacies and paleontological characteristics of the Martin Bridge can be put into the framework of a depositional and a tectonic model to help better explain many of the stratigraphic and paleontologic problems previously encountered. We believe that the Wallowa terrane provides one of the best and most complete examples yet known for shallow-water carbonate depositional patterns in an oceanic island arc setting.