Geochemical and Isotopic Data for Oligocene Ignimbrites, Calderas, and Granitic Plutons, Southern Stillwater Range and Clan Alpine Mountains: Insights into the Volcanic-Plutonic Connection and Crustal Evolution in Western Nevada

Abstract:

Oligocene calderas and underlying plutons in the southern Stillwater Range (SSR) and Clan Alpine Mountains (CAM) in western Nevada were tilted (40->90°) by large-magnitude Miocene extension and unconformably overlain by 15-13 Ma intermediate and mafic lava flows. New geologic mapping, geochemistry, and Ar-Ar and U-Pb dating document 2 brief periods of magmatism resulting in 5 nested calderas and related plutons in sections locally ≥9 km thick. Early magmatism at ~29 Ma included the Deep Canyon caldera in CAM, and in the SSR, pre-caldera rhyolites, ~5 km of pre- and post-collapse intermediate lavas and rhyolite tuff that filled Job Canyon caldera (JC, ~29.4 to 28.8 Ma), and the >4-5 km thick IXL pluton (~28.5 Ma) that intruded JC and is compositionally similar to the tuff and lava flows. The second period included 3 ignimbrite units in 3 calderas: small-volume tuff of Louderback Mountains (LM, low-silica rhyolite; ≥600 m thick; ~25.3 Ma); multiple cooling units of tuff of Poco Canyon (PC, high-silica rhyolite; ≤4.5 km thick; ~25.3 Ma); and ≥2500 km³ of tuff of Elevenmile Canyon (EC, trachydacite to rhyolite; ≤4.5 km thick; 25.1 Ma) that covers ~1600 km² and extends east from SSR to the northern Desatoya Mountains. The composite Freeman Creek pluton (granodiorite, ~25.0 Ma; granite, ~24.8 Ma) and Chalk Mountain rhyolite porphyry (~25.2 Ma) and granite (~24.8 Ma) plutons intruded LM, PC and EC calderas. Radiogenic isotopes in all caldera units are similar (Sr_i~0.7050, Ε_Nd~0.0), while oxygen isotope compositions are variable (δ¹⁸O_quartz=5.7-8.4‰, δ¹⁸O_zircon=4.1-6.3‰), corresponding to a magmatic range of 5.6-7.6‰, including <6‰ values for JC and lower PC rhyolites. U-Pb zircon dating shows homogeneous age populations and few/no xenocrysts or antecrysts. These data show that (1) thick plutons (>2-5 km) underlie compositionally and temporally related caldera-filling ignimbrites, (2) caldera-forming cycles are isotopically variable, requiring temporally and spatially distinct magma sources, and (3) caldera magmas have a strong mantle affinity and overlap isotopically (Sr, Nd, and O) with regional Late Cenozoic basalts.