T35 Advances and Applications of Thermochronology to Tectonic, Magmatic, Basin, and Geomorphic Problems (Posters)

Sunday, 22 September 2024
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Hall D

RECONSTRUCTING THE PROPAGATION OF DEFORMATION WITHIN THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FOLD-THRUST BELT USING LOW TEMPERATURE THERMOCHRONOLOGY

Paper number: T35-5
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The eastern Canadian Cordillera is the best studied example of a thin-skinned thrust belt and is foundational to our understanding of cordilleran orogenesis. Despite the eastern Canadian Cordillera’s prominence for orogenic models, fault timing and magnitude along the Rocky Mountain fold-thrust belt remains poorly resolved with Late Jurassic to Miocene exhumation identified. We present preliminary zircon fission-track and zircon (U-Th)/He analyses across major thrusts along an E-W transect at the latitudes of Jasper National Park to determine 1) a detailed record of timing and magnitude of fault-associated exhumation and 2) assess whether the fold-thrust belt experienced pulsed or continuous propagation of deformation. Existing low-temperature thermochronological analyses (apatite [U-Th-Sm]/He and fission-track) have identified that the eastern Canadian Cordillera experienced Eocene-Miocene exhumation associated with widespread glaciation, suggesting a need for higher temperature thermochronometers to assess earlier exhumation associated with oceanic slab subduction. Previous studies have applied illite 40Ar/39Ar analysis to fault gauge samples and support four distinct minimum-age pulses of propagation within the Rocky Mountain fold-thrust belt. By creating a multidimensional exhumational evolution, our findings will provide valuable insight into growth of Cordillera systems globally and the debate around deformation propagation.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 5

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024AM-402599

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