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Strontium and oxygen isotopic variations in Mesozoic and Tertiary plutons of central Idaho

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Abstract

Regional variations in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (r i) of Mesozoic plutons in central Idaho locate the edge of Precambrian continental crust at the boundary between the late Paleozoic-Mesozoic accreted terranes and Precambrian sialic crust in western Idaho. The r i values increase abruptly but continuously from less than 0.704 in the accreted terranes to greater than 0.708 across a narrow, 5 to 15 km zone, characterized by elongate, lens-shaped, highly deformed plutons and schistose metasedimentary and metavolcanic units. The chemical and petrologic character of the plutons changes concomitantly from ocean-arc-type, diorite-tonalite-trondhjemite units to a weakly peraluminous, calcic to calcalkalic tonalite-granodiorite-granite suite (the Idaho batholith). Plutons in both suites yield Late Cretaceous ages, but Permian through Early Cretaceous bodies are confined to the accreted terranes and early Tertiary intrusions are restricted to areas underlain by Precambrian crust. The two major terranes were juxtaposed between 75 and 130 m.y. ago, probably between 80 and 95 m.y.

Oxygen and strontium isotopic ratios and Rb and Sr concentrations of the plutonic rocks document a significant upper-crustal contribution to the magmas that intrude Precambrian crust. Magmas intruding the arc terranes were derived from the upper mantle/subducted oceanic lithosphere and may have been modified by anatexis of earlier island-arc volcanic and sedimentary units.

Plutons near the edge of Precambrian sialic crust represent simple mixtures of the Precambrian wall-rocks with melts derived from the upper mantle or subducted oceanic lithosphere with r i of 0.7035. Rb/Sr varies linearly with r i, producing “pseudoisochrons” with apparent “ages” close to the age of the wall rocks. Measured δ 18O values of the wall rocks are less than those required for the assimilated end-member by Sr-O covariation in the plutons, however, indicating that wall-rock δ 18O was reduced significantly by exchange with circulating fluids. Metasedimentary rocks of the Belt Supergroup are similarly affected near the batholith, documenting a systematic depletion in 18O as much as 50 km from the margin of the batholith.

Plutons of the Bitterroot lobe of the Idaho batholith are remote from the accreted terranes and represent mixtures of Precambrian wall-rocks with melts dominated by continental lower crust (r i>0.708) rather than mantle. “Pseudoisochrons” resulting from these data are actually mixing lines that yield apparent “ages” less than the true age of the wall rocks and meaningless “ri”. Assimilation/ fractional-crystallization models permit only insignificant amounts of crystal fractionation during anatexis and mixing for the majority of plutons of the region.

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  1. U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, 94025, Menlo Park, California, USA

    R. J. Fleck & R. E. Criss

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Fleck, R.J., Criss, R.E. Strontium and oxygen isotopic variations in Mesozoic and Tertiary plutons of central Idaho. Contr. Mineral. and Petrol. 90, 291–308 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378269

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