MAGMATIC TRIGGER FOR EXTENSIONAL COLLAPSE? CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF PRE-EXTENSIONAL VOLCANIC ACTIVITY IN THE WHIPPLE MOUNTAINS REGION, LOWER COLORADO RIVER EXTENSIONAL CORRIDOR

Abstract:

The character and timing of voluminous Miocene volcanic activity associated with regional crustal extension in the lower Colorado River Extensional Corridor (CREC) shed light on the interplay between tectonic and magmatic processes in the area. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages from holocrystaline groundmass separates of mafic lava flows and phenocrystic plagioclase, biotite, hornblende, and sanidine from silicic extrusive rocks, combined with LA-ICPMS U-Pb ages of zircon from the more altered intermediate to silicic rocks provide important new constraints on the ages of pre-, syn-, and post-extensional volcanic sequences in the vicinity of the Whipple Mountains metamorphic core complex. Local eruptive activity began ~20.5 Ma and persisted for 1.5 million years prior to the inception of major extensional faulting and tilting at ~19 Ma, as recorded by upper plate tilt blocks. The pre-extensional sequences are homoclinal, steeply tilted, and disconformably overlie older arkosic sedimentary rocks. There is no compelling evidence for angular unconformities or growth faulting during this earliest pre-extensional volcanic activity. These early erupted units are dominantly mafic, forming ≥1 km thick sections of olivine-basalt and olv-cpx-plag basaltic andesite lava flows punctuated by rare aphyric to crystal poor dacite ignimbrites. Plag±pyx±bio±hbl dacite lava flows and domes with associated pyroclastic deposits appear late in the pre-extensional sequence, immediately prior to and during the onset of major extensional faulting. These crystal-poor to aphyric silicic rocks show abundant evidence of magma mingling and may represent hybridized partial melts generated by the influx of basaltic magma into the crust. The pre-extensional sequence is locally overlain by ~18.5 to 18.8 Ma syn- and post-extensional volcanic and sedimentary rocks along a pronounced 30-60° angular unconformity, indicating very rapid extension during the early stages of the CREC's development. This overall evolution of magmatism immediately prior to inception of rapid, large-scale crustal extension is compatible with an “active rifting” model, wherein sustained input of mantle derived basaltic melts led to thermal weakening of the crust, enhanced crustal melting, and triggered extensional collapse.