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Geology topics

W. P. Irwin

Publications and source records attributed to W. P. Irwin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1977

Significance of Mesozoic radiolarians from the pre-Nevadan rocks of the southern Klamath Mountains, California

Ribbon cherts and siliceous tuffs of the North Fork and Rattlesnake Creek terranes of the Klamath Mountains yield Mesozoic radiolarians. Rocks of the North Fork terrane were previously considered to be of Paleozoic age and those of the Rattlesnake Creek to be of Paleozoic and Triassic age, on the basis of fossiliferous limestone bodies that are now considered to be exotic blocks. In both terranes, however, red cherts that are closely associated with ophiolitic rocks contain Late Triassic radiolarians; overlying cherts and siliceous tuffs contain Early or Middle Jurassic radiolarians. The Jurassic radiolarian fauna from the North Fork terrane is similar to a fauna contained in Franciscan chert near Santa Barbara in southern California. The change in age assignment of the dominant rocks of these terranes, based on this new radiolarian data, indicates that the suture between the North Fork terrane and the Devonian rocks of the central metamorphic belt on the east probably formed during Middle or Late Jurassic time.

California↗
USGS1971

Structural implications of an offset Early Cretaceous shoreline in northern California

Recognition of a nonmarine to marine transition in sedimentary rocks at Glade Creek and Big Bar in the southern Klamath Mountains permits reconstruction of the approximate position of a north-trending Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) shoreline. At the southern end of the Klamath Mountains, the shoreline is displaced 60 mi or more to the east by a west-northwest-trending fault zone. South of this fault zone the shoreline is buried at a much lower level beneath late Cenozoic rocks in the Great Valley. This large displacement probably is the result of differential movement along a system of left-lateral tear faults in the upper plate of the Coast Range thrust. The westward bulge of the Klamath arc also may have resulted from this faulting, as the amount and direction of the bulge is comparable with the displacement of the Valanginian shoreline. Basal clastic strata at both Glade Creek and Big Bar contain abundant fresh-water or brackish-water clams, many of which consist of unabraded paired valves. These are conformably overlain by Valanginian marine strata containing Buchia crassicollis solida. The position of the Valanginian shoreline beneath the Great Valley cannot be directly observed because it is buried by thick late Cenozoic deposits. However, its approximate westernmost limit must lie between the outcrop belt of marine strata on the west side of the valley and drill holes to basement on the east side, in which equivalent strata are absent. Franciscan rocks containing Valanginian fossils occur 10 mi southwest of Glade Creek, but these are deep-water marine eugeosynclinal rocks that were deposited far to the west of the shoreline. The deformation responsible for the displacement of the Valanginian shoreline and juxtaposition of the Franciscan rocks and Klamath Mountain basement rocks involved eastward under-thrusting of the Franciscan beneath the Coast Range thrust contemporaneous with differential movement along tear faults within the upper plate.

California↗
USGS1969

Blueschist-facies metamorphism related to regional thrust faulting

Rocks of the blueschist (glaucophane schist) facies occur throughout the world in narrow tectonic belts associated with ultramafic rocks. In the Coast Range province of California, blueschist rocks are devloped in the eugeosynclinal Franciscan Formation of Late Mesozoic age. The blueschist rocks form a narrow belt for more than 800 km along the eastern margin of this province and commonly are separated from rocks of an overlying thrust plate by serpentinite. Increasing metamorphism upward toward the thrust fault is indicated mineralogically by a transition from pumpellyite to lawsonite and texturally by a transition from metagraywacke to schist. The blueschist metamorphism probably occurred during thrusting in a zone of anomalously high water pressure in the lower plate along the sole of the thrust fault. This tectonic mode of origin for blueschist differs from the generally accepted hypothesis involving extreme depth of burial. Other belts of blueschist-facies rocks, including the Sanbagawa belt of Japan, the marginal synclinal belt of New Zealand, and the blueschist-ultramafic belts of Venezuela, Kamchatka, Ural mountains, and New Caledonia have similar geologic relations and might be explained in the same manner.

Tectonophysics↗