Detrital zircon provenance of the Late Cretaceous-Eocene California forearc: Influence of Laramide low-angle subduction on sediment dispersal and paleogeography

摘要

Upper Cretaceous-Eocene forearc strata deposited along the California continental margin record a complex history of plate convergence that shaped the tectonic development of the U.S. Cordillera. Synthesis of new and published detrital zircon U-Pb ages over a 2000 km length of the southern Oregon-California-northern Baja forearc clearly demonstrates spatial and temporal changes in sandstone provenance that reflect evolving sediment dispersal patterns associated with the extinction of continental margin arc magmatism and transfer of deformation to the continental interior during latest Cretaceous-early Cenozoic Laramide low-angle subduction.