Tectonic history of the eastern edge of the Alexander Terrane, southeast Alaska

Abstract

Rocks exposed west of the Coast Plutonic Complex in southern southeast Alaska form an imbricate thrust belt that overprints the tectonic boundary between two of the largest allochthonous crustal fragments in the North American Cordillera, the Insular and Intermontane composite terranes. In the Alexander terrane (Insular composite terrane), lower Paleozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks (Descon Formation) and dioritic plutons are unconformably overlain by Lower Devonian clastic strata (Karheen Formation). These rocks are overlain locally by Upper Triassic basalt, rhyolite and marine clastic strata (Hyd Group). Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous metavolcanic and metasedimentary strata of the Gravina sequence unconformably overlie the Alexander terrane. The Gravina sequence forms a structural package over 15 km thick and records intermittent arc volcanism along the eastern edge of the Alexander terrane. The Gravina sequence is structurally overlain by upper Paleozoic and lower Mesozoic metamorphosed basaltic strata, marble, and argillite (Alava sequence), and locally by lower Paleozoic supracrustal rocks and orthogneiss (Kah Shakes sequence). Together, these constitute the Taku terrane which we correlate with the Intermontane composite terrane. Local unconformity of Gravina sequence strata over the Alava sequence demonstrates that the Gravina sequence overlapped an earlier structural boundary between the Intermontane and Insular composite terranes. The rocks were deformed in the mid-Cretaceous by west-vergent thrusting that was was broadly coeval with arc magmatism. Deformation involved emplacement of west-directed thrust nappes over the structurally intact and relatively unmetamorphosed Alexander terrane basement. Mid-Cretaceous tonalite, granodiorite, and quartz diorite intrude rocks of the thrust belt and are locally affected by the deformation. Mid-Cretaceous deformation occurred during two episodes that were contemporaneous with the emplacement of large sill-like plutons. Older structures record ductile southwest-vergent folding and faulting, regional metamorphism, and development of axial-planar foliation. The second-generation structures developed during the later stages of southwest-directed thrust faulting, which juxtaposed rocks of contrasting metamorphic pressures and temperatures. Structural, stratigraphic, and geochronologic data indicate that the two phases of regional thrusting in southeast Alaska occurred between 113 Ma and 89 Ma. Rocks in the western part of the thrust belt were uplifted regionally by 70 Ma. Deformation involved the collapse of a marginal basin(s) and a magmatic arc, and overprinted the older tectonic boundary between the Insular composite terrane and the late Mesozoic western margin of North America (at that time the Intermontane composite terrane). Contractional deformation along the length of the thrust belt was broadly coeval with arc magmatism, and thus records intra-arc tectonism. Late Paleocene to early Eocene igneous activity and extensional (?) deformation subsequently affected the thrust belt.

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