Structural evidence for northeastward movement on the Chocolate Mountains Thrust, southeasternmost California
Journal of Geophysical Research
By: J. T. Dillon, G. B. Haxel, and R. M. Tosdal
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Abstract
The Late Cretaceous Chocolate Mountains Thrust of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona places a block of Proterozoic and Mesozoic continental crust over the late Mesozoic continental margin oceanic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Orocopia Schist. The Chocolate Mountains Thrust is interpreted as a thrust (burial, subduction) fault rather than a low-angle normal fault. An important parameter required to understand the tectonic significance of the Chocolate Mountains and related thrusts is their sense of movement. The only sense of movement consistent with collective asymmetry of the thrust zone folds is top to the northeast. Asymmetric microstructures studied at several localities also indicate top to the northeast movement. Paleomagnetic data suggest that the original sense of thrusting, prior to Neogene vertical axis tectonic rotation related to the San Andreas fault system, was northward. Movement of the upper plate of the chocolate Mountains thrust evidently was continentward. Continentward thrusting suggests a tectonic scenario in which an insular or peninsular microcontinental fragment collided with mainland southern California. -from Authors
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Structural evidence for northeastward movement on the Chocolate Mountains Thrust, southeasternmost California |
| Series title | Journal of Geophysical Research |
| Volume | 95 |
| Issue | B12 |
| Year Published | 1990 |
| Language | English |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Journal of Geophysical Research |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |