Peninsular Ranges Batholith, Baja California and Southern California
Age and isotopic systematics of Cretaceous borehole and surface samples from the greater Los Angeles Basin region: Implications for the types of crust that might underlie Los Angeles and their distribution along late Cenozoic fault systems
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Published:January 01, 2014
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Wayne R. Premo, Douglas M. Morton, Ronald W. Kistler, 2014. "Age and isotopic systematics of Cretaceous borehole and surface samples from the greater Los Angeles Basin region: Implications for the types of crust that might underlie Los Angeles and their distribution along late Cenozoic fault systems", Peninsular Ranges Batholith, Baja California and Southern California, Douglas M. Morton, Fred K. Miller
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Nine U-Pb zircon ages were determined on plutonic rocks sampled from surface outcrops and rock chips of drill core from boreholes within the greater Los Angeles Basin region. In addition, lead-strontium-neodymium (Pb-Sr-Nd) whole-rock isotopic data were obtained for eight of these samples. These results help to characterize the crystalline basement rocks hidden in the subsurface and provide information that bears on the tectonic history of the myriad of fault systems that have dissected the Los Angeles region over the past 15 m.y. Seven of the nine samples have U-Pb ages ranging from 115 to 103 Ma and whole-rock Pb-Sr-Nd isotopic characteristics that indicate the crystalline basement underneath the greater Los Angeles Basin region is mostly part of the Peninsular Ranges batholith. Furthermore, these data are interpreted as evidence for (1) the juxtaposition of mid-Cretaceous, northern Peninsular Ranges batholith plutonic rocks against Late Cretaceous plutonic rocks of the Transverse Ranges in the San Fernando Valley, probably along the Verdugo fault; (2) the juxtaposition of older northwestern Peninsular Ranges batholith rocks against younger northeastern Peninsular Ranges batholith rocks in the northern Puente Hills, implying transposition of northeastern Peninsular Ranges batholith rocks to the west along unrecognized faults beneath the Chino Basin; and (3) juxtaposition of northern Peninsular Ranges batholith plutonic rocks against Late Cretaceous plutonic rocks of the Transverse Ranges along the San Jose fault in the northern San Jose Hills at Ganesha Park. These mainly left-lateral strike-slip faults of the eastern part of the greater Los Angeles Basin region could be the result of block rotation within the adjacent orthogonal, right-lateral, Elsinore-Whittier fault zone to the west and the subparallel San Jacinto fault zone to the east. The San Andreas fault system is the larger, subparallel, driving force further to the east.
- absolute age
- alkaline earth metals
- block structures
- boreholes
- California
- Cenozoic
- Cretaceous
- crust
- crystalline rocks
- dates
- faults
- igneous rocks
- intrusions
- ion probe data
- isotopes
- lead
- Los Angeles Basin
- Los Angeles California
- Los Angeles County California
- magmatism
- mass spectra
- Mesozoic
- metals
- neodymium
- nesosilicates
- North America
- orthosilicates
- Peninsular Ranges Batholith
- plutons
- Puente Hills
- rare earths
- San Andreas Fault
- San Fernando Valley
- SHRIMP data
- silicates
- spectra
- strike-slip faults
- strontium
- systems
- terranes
- Transverse Ranges
- U/Pb
- United States
- whole rock
- zircon
- zircon group
- Chino Basin
- San Jose Fault
- Verdugo Fault