American Geophysical Union, Tectonics, 1(30), 2011
DOI: 10.1029/2010tc002798
Full text: Unavailable
As one of two well-exposed intraoceanic arcs, the Talkeetna arc of Alaska affords an opportunity to understand processes deep within arcs. This study reports new Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd garnet ages, 40Ar/39Ar hornblende, mica and whole-rock ages, and U-Th/He zircon and apatite ages from the Chugach Mountains, Talkeetna Mountains, and Alaska Peninsula, which, in conjunction with existing geochronology, constrain the thermal history of the arc. Zircon U-Pb ages establish the main period of arc magmatism as 202–181 Ma in the Chugach Mountains and 183–153 Ma in the eastern Talkeetna Mountains and Alaska Peninsula. Approximately 184 Ma Lu-Hf and ∼182 Ma Sm-Nd garnet ages indicate that 25–35 km deep sections of the arc remained above ∼700°C for as much as 15 Myr. The 40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages are chiefly 194–170 Ma in the Chugach Mountains and 175–150 Ma in the Talkeetna Mountains and Alaska Peninsula but differ from zircon U-Pb ages in the same samples by as little as 0 Myr and as much as 33 Myr, documenting a spatially variable thermal history. Mica ages have a broader distribution, from ∼180 Ma to 130 Ma, suggesting local cooling and/or reheating. The oldest U-Th/He zircon ages are ∼137 to 129 Ma, indicating no Cenozoic regional heating above ∼180°C. Although the signal is likely complicated by Cretaceous and Oligocene postarc magmatism, the aggregate thermochronology record indicates that the thermal history of the Talkeetna arc was spatially variable. One-dimensional finite difference thermal models show that this kind of spatial variability is inherent to intraoceanic arcs with simple construction histories.