In the Footsteps of Warren B. Hamilton: New Ideas in Earth Science

This unusual book, published to honor the late iconoclast and geologist extraordinaire Warren Bell Hamilton, comprises a diverse, cross-disciplinary collection of bold new ideas in Earth and planetary science. Some chapters audaciously point out all-too-obvious deficits in prevailing theories. Other ideas are embryonic and in need of testing and still others are downright outrageous. Some are doubtless right and others likely wrong. See if you can tell which is which. See if your students can tell which is which. This unique book is a rich resource for researchers at all levels looking for interesting, unusual, and off-beat ideas to investigate or set as student projects.
Cenozoic magmatism and plate tectonics in western North America: Have we got it wrong? Available to Purchase
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Published:May 03, 2022
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CiteCitation
Allen F. Glazner*, 2022. "Cenozoic magmatism and plate tectonics in western North America: Have we got it wrong?", In the Footsteps of Warren B. Hamilton: New Ideas in Earth Science, Gillian R. Foulger, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Donna M. Jurdy, Carol A. Stein, Keith A. Howard, Seth Stein
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ABSTRACT
The current tectonic framework for understanding Cenozoic magmatism in western North America was laid out in a series of influential papers in the early days of the plate-tectonics revolution. These ideas, largely developed through deductive analysis, were so revolutionary yet seemingly self-evident that they quickly passed from hypothesis to axiom. These include the following. (1) Inboard and outboard sweeps of magmatism resulted from shallowing and then rapid steepening of a subducted slab. (2) The Oligocene–Miocene ignimbrite flareup resulted from sinking and rollback of a shallow slab. (3) Late Cenozoic basaltic magmatism resulted from opening of a slab window. (4) The current Cascade arc is the remnant of a much more continuous ancestral arc that ran the length of western North America. When tested against current databases of igneous rock ages and chemical analyses, these conjectures largely fail; some are clearly contradicted, whereas others are possible but ad hoc and unfalsifiable. Ironically, the plate-tectonics revolution nicely explains plate-boundary magmatism in much of the world but is less successful in western North America, where many of these links were first developed. It is time for a second revolution.