Timing of extension in the Pioneer metamorphic core complex with implications for the spatial-temporal pattern of Cenozoic extension and exhumation in the northern U.S. Cordillera

Abstract

The Pioneer core complex (PCC) in central Idaho lies along a transition between Early Eocene and ca. 40 Ma core complexes to the north and south, respectively. Thus, the age of extensional development of the PCC is important in understanding the spatial-temporal patterns of core-complex development in the North American Cordillera. New results, including structural observations and U-Pb zircon (SHRIMP and ICPMS) geochronology, constrain the early extensional history of the footwall for the first time. High-temperature strain with a top-WNW shear-sense is pervasive throughout metamorphic rocks of the northwestern footwall. An isoclinally folded dike yields a crystallization age of ∼48-47 Ma, whereas a crosscutting dike yielded an age of 46 Ma. Metamorphic rocks are also intruded by the ∼50-48 Ma Pioneer intrusive suite (PIS), a W-dipping granodiorite sheet displaying a magmatic fabric. Northwest-trending lineations are locally visible and also defined by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, indicating that during emplacement, the PIS was undergoing similarly oriented extensional strain as the enclosing metamorphic rocks. Therefore, WNW-directed extension spanning this structural section occurred between ∼50 and 46 Ma. Following emplacement of crosscutting 46 Ma dikes, deformation was partitioned into the WNW-directed Wildhorse detachment. Motion on the detachment occurred between ∼38 and 33 Ma, as documented by previous 40Ar/ 39Ar thermochronology. It is not clear, however, whether extension was continuous through the interval between these two time periods. Although Early Eocene extension in the PCC was synchronous with extension in core complexes to the north, rates of footwall exhumation in central Idaho were much lower. This southward slowing is compatible with N-S differences in inferred subduction zone geometry/kinematics and in the internal character of the orogenic wedge. Show more