Geology along the Yuba Pass and Highway 70 corridors: A complex history of tectonics and magmatism in the northern Sierra Nevada

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Abstract

This field trip traverses a cross section of northern Sierra Nevada geology and landscape along two major corridors, Highway 49 (Yuba Pass) and Highway 70. These highways, and adjacent roadways, offer roadcuts, outcrops, and overviews through diverse pre-Cenozoic metamorphic rocks along the Laurentian margin, Mesozoic batholithic rocks, and Miocene volcanic rocks. Observing this array of rocks on a single trip provides an opportunity to examine the progression of tectonic forces in this region since the Paleozoic Era. Inspiration for this trip is a 1:100,000-scale geologic map and geophysical maps of the Portola 30′ × 60′ quadrangle that integrate decades of published and unpublished mapping with new geophysical data. The quadrangle map will seamlessly depict a geologically complex region along the boundary between the Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range provinces, dominated by transtensional tectonics of the Walker Lane. This field trip highlights many of the major units of the geologic map and will also feature new geochronological data on plutonic rocks.

Study Area

Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Geology along the Yuba Pass and Highway 70 corridors: A complex history of tectonics and magmatism in the northern Sierra Nevada
DOI 10.1130/2023.0065(02)
Volume 65
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 15 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Monograph
Larger Work Title Field excursions to the northern Sierra Nevada of California, the mining districts of the Sierra Nevada, and Cretaceous and Paleocene sediments in Maryland, USA
First page 21
Last page 35
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial northern Sierra Nevada, Yuba Pass
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