Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene Extensional Ancestry of the Harcuvar and Buckskin-Rawhide Metamorphic Core Complexes, Western Arizona

Metamorphic core complexes in the western North American Cordillera are commonly interpreted as the result of a single phase of large-magnitude extension during the middle to late Cenozoic. We present evidence that mylonitic shear zones in the Harcuvar and Buckskin-Rawhide core complexes in west-central Arizona also accommodated an earlier phase of extension during the Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene. Microstructural data indicate substantial top-NE mylonitization occurred at amphibolite-facies, and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology documents post-tectonic footwall cooling to < 500 degrees C by the Paleocene to mid-Eocene. Amphibolite-facies mylonites are spatially associated with voluminous and variably deformed footwall leucogranites that were emplaced from ca. 74-64 Ma, and a late kinematic ca. 63 Ma dike indicates this phase of mylonitization had waned by the early Paleocene. Reconstruction of the footwall architecture indicates that this latest Cretaceous-early Paleocene deformation occurred within a NE-dipping extensional shear zone. The leucogranites were likely the result of crustal melting due to orogenic thickening, consistent with a model whereby crustal heating triggered gravitational collapse of overthickened crust. Other tectonic processes, such as the Laramide underplating of Orocopia Schist or mantle delamination, may have also contributed to this episode of orogenic extension. Miocene large-magnitude extension was superimposed on this older shear zone and had similar kinematics, suggesting that the location and geometry of Miocene extension was strongly influenced by tectonic inheritance. We speculate that other Cordilleran core complexes also experienced a more complex and polyphase extensional history than previously recognized, but in many cases the evidence may be obscured by later Miocene overprinting.

Automated summary

Metamorphic core complexes in the western North American Cordillera are commonly interpreted as the result of a single phase of large-magnitude extension during the middle to late Cenozoic. However, evidence suggests that earlier phases of extension also occurred during the Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene. Microstructural data and thermochronology indicate the occurrence of mylonitic shear zones and post-tectonic footwall cooling. The complex history of extension in the Cordillera indicates the influence of various tectonic processes and tectonic inheritance on the location and geometry of extension.