Formation of the Sierra Nevada Batholith

This comprehensive field guide takes you on a six-day, west-to-east geologic journey across the Mesozoic magmatic arc of the central Sierra Nevada in California. It contains a summary of field, structural, geochemical, and geochronologic data collected by a number of researchers on individual intrusions (Guadalupe Igneous Complex and nearby Hornitos pluton, Fine Gold Intrusive Suite, Yosemite Valley Intrusive Suite, Tuolumne Intrusive Complex). This guide also includes data on the basement terranes intruded by these intrusions, Mesozoic volcanic-sedimentary sections, and data derived of several Sierra Nevada-wide data sets (plutonic, volcanic and sedimentary geochronology, strain analyses, structures, and geochemistry). Syntheses of these data sets at the end of the guide focus on magmatic processes from the mineral to the arc scale, as well as contemporaneous tectonics, and the tempos controlling magmatism, deformation, exhumation, and erosion/redeposition in the Sierran arc.
Day 4: Magmatic evolution of the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex
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Published:January 01, 2014
Abstract
Day 4 of the Field Forum is dedicated entirely to the magmatic evolution of the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex. The Tuolumne Intrusive Complex is mostly located in Yosemite National Park and is superbly exposed due to a series of glaciations that started 2–3 million years ago and ended ca. 10,000 yr B.P. one of the many reasons why it has become one of the most studied intrusions in the world. We will be driving from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite National Park taking Hwy 395 north and then Hwy 120 west crossing the entire Tuolumne Intrusive Complex before we start off at its western margin. On this side, the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex intruded into the rocks of the Yosemite Valley Intrusive Suite, Sentinel, and Yosemite Creek granitoids (Day 3). Today we will make stops along Hwy 120 while traversing the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex from west to east ( Fig. 4-1) looking at exposures near the road and discussing field data, structural geology, geochronology, and geochemistry from the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex…
- absolute age
- amphibole group
- Ar/Ar
- biotite
- California
- Central California
- chain silicates
- clinoamphibole
- Cretaceous
- dates
- deformation
- emplacement
- fabric
- faults
- field trips
- folds
- granites
- guidebook
- hornblende
- igneous rocks
- inclusions
- intrusions
- mafic composition
- magma chambers
- magmas
- magmatism
- melts
- Mesozoic
- mica group
- models
- nesosilicates
- orthosilicates
- outcrops
- plutonic rocks
- plutons
- processes
- road log
- schlieren
- sheet silicates
- Sierra Nevada
- silicates
- strain
- temperature
- thermal history
- thermochronology
- transpression
- Tuolumne Intrusive Suite
- U/Pb
- United States
- Upper Cretaceous
- zircon
- zircon group
- Yosemite Valley Intrusive Suite