Intermediate to felsic middle crust in the accreted Talkeetna arc, the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, Alaska : an analogue for low-velocity middle crust in modern arcs

View/ Open
Date
2010-05-08Author
Rioux, Matthew
Concept link
Mattinson, James
Concept link
Hacker, Bradley R.
Concept link
Kelemen, Peter B.
Concept link
Blusztajn, Jerzy S.
Concept link
Hanghoj, Karen
Concept link
Gehrels, George
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3876As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2009TC002541DOI
10.1029/2009TC002541Keyword
Talkeetna arc; Arc; AlaskaAbstract
Seismic profiles of several modern arcs have identified thick, low-velocity midcrustal layers (Vp = 6.0–6.5 km/s) that are interpreted to represent intermediate to felsic plutonic crust. The presence of this silicic crust is surprising given the mafic composition of most primitive mantle melts and could have important implications for the chemical evolution and bulk composition of arcs. However, direct studies of the middle crust are limited by the restricted plutonic exposures in modern arcs. The accreted Talkeetna arc, south central Alaska, exposes a faulted crustal section from residual subarc mantle to subaerial volcanic rocks of a Jurassic intraoceanic arc and is an ideal place to study the intrusive middle crust. Previous research on the arc, which has provided insight into a range of arc processes, has principally focused on western exposures of the arc in the Chugach Mountains. We present new U-Pb zircon dates, radiogenic isotope data, and whole-rock geochemical analyses that provide the first high-precision data on large intermediate to felsic plutonic exposures on Kodiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula. A single chemical abrasion–thermal ionization mass spectrometry analysis from the Afognak pluton yielded an age of 212.87 ± 0.19 Ma, indicating that the plutonic exposures on Kodiak Island represent the earliest preserved record of Talkeetna arc magmatism. Nine new dates from the extensive Jurassic batholith on the Alaska Peninsula range from 183.5 to 164.1 Ma and require a northward shift in the Talkeetna arc magmatic axis following initial emplacement of the Kodiak plutons, paralleling the development of arc magmatism in the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains. Radiogenic isotope data from the Alaska Peninsula and the Kodiak archipelago range from $\varepsilon$Nd(t) = 5.2 to 9.0 and 87Sr/86Srint = 0.703515 to 0.703947 and are similar to age-corrected data from modern intraoceanic arcs, suggesting that the evolved Alaska Peninsula plutons formed by extensive differentiation of arc basalts with little or no involvement of preexisting crustal material. The whole-rock geochemical data and calculated seismic velocities suggest that the Alaska Peninsula represents an analogue for the low-velocity middle crust observed in modern arcs. The continuous temporal record and extensive exposure of intermediate to felsic plutonic rocks in the Talkeetna arc indicate that evolved magmas are generated by repetitive or steady state processes and play a fundamental role in the growth and evolution of intraoceanic arcs.
Description
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Tectonics 29 (2010): TC3001, doi:10.1029/2009TC002541.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Tectonics 29 (2010): TC3001Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
A detailed geochemical study of island arc crust : the Talkeetna Arc section, south–central Alaska
Greene, Andrew R.; Debari, Susan M.; Kelemen, Peter B.; Blusztajn, Jerzy S.; Clift, Peter D. (2005-12-23)The Early to Middle Jurassic Talkeetna Arc section exposed in the Chugach Mountains of south central Alaska is 5-18 km wide and extends for over 150 km. This accreted island arc includes exposures of upper mantle to ... -
The stability of arc lower crust : insights from the Talkeetna Arc section, south-central Alaska and the seismic structure of modern arcs
Behn, Mark D.; Kelemen, Peter B. (American Geophysical Union, 2006-11-11)One process for the formation of continental crust is the accretion of arc terranes at continental margins. A longstanding problem with this model is that although the composition of the continental crust is andesitic, ... -
Drilling the oceanic lower crust and mantle : a global strategy for exploring the deep oceanic crust and mantle in the 1990's
Workshop on Drilling the Oceanic Lower Crust and Mantle (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1989-03)This workshop was convened to follow up on the Second Conference on Scientific Ocean Drilling (COSOD II) to devise a specific plan for deep crustal and mantle drilling over the next decade. Since COSOD II, however, there ...