HR: 17:15h
AN: T44A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling Flat Subduction Initiation and Accretion of the Pelona and Related Schists of Southern California
AU: * Kidder, S B
EM: kidder@gps.caltech.edu
AF: California Inst. of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
AU: Herman, F
EM: frederic@erdw.ethz.ch
AF: ETH Zurich, HAD G 4 Haldenbachstr. 44, Zurich, 8092, Switzerland
AU: Saleeby, J
EM: jason@gps.caltech.edu
AF: California Inst. of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
AU: Avouac, J
EM: avouac@gps.caltech.edu
AF: California Inst. of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
AU: Ducea, M N
EM: ducea@email.arizona.edu
AF: University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th St, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States
AB: The Pelona and related schists of Southern California represent continental detritus deposited, subducted to depths of ~30 km, and accreted during a major Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary collisional event. Emplacement of the schists coincided with the termination of magmatism along a ~500 km segment of the California continental arc, the disappearance and probable subduction of the forearc and western portions of the arc, and the loss of the mafic lower crust and root of eastern portions of the arc. Conceptual models of schist emplacement differ in detail, but generally involve a dramatic flattening of subduction. In order to better understand the stresses, accretion rates, and emplacement histories of the schists, we constructed a two- dimensional, finite element, kinematic-thermal model of flat subduction initiation using the program Pecube (Braun, 2003). The model is able to satisfy geologic constraints available from the literature on cooling rates (35- 100 °/m.y.), peak temperatures in upper portions of the schists (550-720 °C), and steep inverted metamorphic gradients (>70-240 °/km). Preliminary models indicate shear stresses were less than ~20 MPa on the decollement and accretion rates were ~1 mm/yr. With constant accretion and a convergence rate of 100 km/m.y., the thickest exposures of schist were built over ~4 m.y. as material was scraped off ~400 km of lower plate. In two less widely accepted alternative tectonic models, the schists represent either transpressional basin or forearc Great Valley deposits. Both alternative basin types are too narrow (<100 km) to produce the observed inverted gradients.
DE: 3040 Plate tectonics (8150, 8155, 8157, 8158)
DE: 8011 Kinematics of crustal and mantle deformation
DE: 8034 Rheology and friction of fault zones (8163)
DE: 8104 Continental margins: convergent
DE: 8164 Stresses: crust and lithosphere
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting