Extending the ancient margin outboard in the Canadian Cordillera: record of Proterozoic crust and Paleocene regional metamorphism in the Nicola horst, southern British Columbia

The Nicola horst exposes plutonic and amphibolite-grade metamorphic rocks and is surrounded by low-grade arc rocks of the Late Triassic Nicola Group. We present new geological mapping and U–Pb, Nd, and metamorphic data for the Nicola horst near Bob Lake, ~40 km south of Kamloops, British Columbia. The Bob Lake assemblage includes felsic to intermediate metavolcaniclastic rocks, metaconglomerate, schist, phyllite, and other rock types. From U–Pb zircon analysis, a felsic metaporphyry clast in metaconglomerate is 1.04 Ga old. The oldest detrital zircons in metaconglomerate and schist are also near 1 Ga. The Bob Lake assemblage was intruded by 230 Ma tonalite, 219 Ma diorite, and 64 Ma leucogranite and includes 161 Ma felsic porphyry and 157 Ma rhyodacite. Amphibolite-grade metamorphism and ductile flattening and stretching affected all rocks except crosscutting Paleocene granite and granodiorite. The high-grade rocks may be exposed as a result of latest Cretaceous – Eocene extensional ductile flow beneath a...