The Tectonic Setting and Origin of Cretaceous Batholiths within the North American Cordillera

Download or read book The Tectonic Setting and Origin of Cretaceous Batholiths within the North American Cordillera written by Robert S. Hildebrand and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Special Paper, Hildebrand and Whalen present a big-picture, paradigm-busting synthesis that examines the tectonic setting, temporal relations, and geochemistry of many plutons within Cretaceous batholithic terranes of the North American Cordillera. In addition to their compelling tectonic synthesis, they argue that most of the batholiths are not products of arc magmatism as commonly believed, but instead were formed by slab failure during and after collision. They show that slab window and Precambrian TTG suites share many geochemical similarities with Cretaceous slab failure rocks. Geochemical and isotopic data indicate that the slab failure magmas were derived dominantly from the mantle and thus have been one of the largest contributors to growth of continental crust. The authors also note that slab failure plutons emplaced into the epizone are commonly associated with Cu-Au porphyries, as well as Li-Cs-Ta pegmatites.