Early Proterozoic crustal provinces in the southwestern U. S. : What they represent and implications about continental reconstructions

The Early Proterozoic basement of the southwestern US can be divided into at least 3 major crustal provinces on the basis of Pb isotopic and geochemical signatures. These are: (1) the Mojave of SE CA, southern NV, and western AZ; (2) the Yavapai of central and northern AZ, northern NM and southern CO; and (3) the Mazatzal of southern AZ., and central and southern NM. The boundary between the Yavapai and Mazatzal provinces is close to the age province boundary proposed by Silver. Crustal provinces defined by chronologic, structural, lithologic, or metamorphic criteria usually don't distinguish regions unique in crustal formation character because these criteria often represent events that affected the crust (well) after the time of its original formation or represent non-unique information (e.g., magmatism can occur at the same time in entirely different crustal provinces). In comparison, isotopic and certain geochemical data often provide unique criteria because they are related to distinct mantle sources, specific processes, or the specific time of crustal formation. New U-Pb zircon ages determined by the SHRIMP ion microprobe indicate that the Mojave province probably has a latest Archean/earliest Proterozoic basement on which sedimentary rocks containing 2.7--2.5 Ga and 2.0--1.8 Ga detrital zircon populationsmore » were deposited. The timing of plutonic events in the Mojave and Yavapai provinces is indistinguishable from 1.76--1.70 Ga. Plutonic rocks with Yavapai isotopic and geochemical signatures intruded the eastern edge ( ) of the Mojave province as early as 1.74 Ga. This suggests that the two provinces were in close proximity from 1.76 Ga and that the older Mojave province was a buttress against which juvenile Yavapai crust formed.« less