Search

[1] New structural, paleomagnetic, and apatite (U-Th)/ He results from the continental margin inboard of the Queen Charlotte fault (~54 [degrees]N) delineate patterns of brittle faulting linked to transform development since ~50 Ma. In the core of the orogen, ~250 km from the transform, north striking, dip-slip brittle faults and vertical axis rotation of large crustal domains occurred after ~50 Ma and before intrusion of mafic dikes at 20 Ma. By 20 Ma, dextral faulting was active in the core of the orogen, but extension had migrated toward the transform, continuing there until

Alpine glaciers are efficient agents of erosion and capable of significantly modifying topography. Despite recent advances in theoretical and field studies that quantify glacial erosion processes, few studies have documented glacial erosion rates over long (>[10.sup.6] yr) or large (more than tens of kilometers) scales. We use apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) and apatite fission track (AFT) cooling ages to address the late Miocene to Holocene erosion history across two 60-km-long transects of the heavily glaciated southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia. Observed AHe cooling ages from equal elevation samples range between 1.5 and 8 Ma and suggest that thick alpine glaciers resulted in a 16 km shift of the highest point in the topography in the past 1.5-4.0 m.y. We evaluated temporal and spatial variations in erosion rates using a three-dimensional thermal-kinematic model that predicted AHe and AFT ages at the surface for different erosion histories. Comparison of model predicted and observed cooling ages suggests an increase in erosion rates of as much as 300% over the past 1.5-7 m.y., coincident with the onset of glaciation of this range. Keywords: glacial erosion, apatite (U-Th)/He, numerical modeling, Coast Mountains, paleotopography.

Examination of the history of deformation, plutonism and metamorphism reveals the evolution of the eastern Waddington thrust belt as an early Late Cretaceous northeast verging thrust belt. Mid-Cretaceous Coast plutonic arc is involved in the contraction and has provided heat for metamorphism. Radiometric, thermochronologic and structural data suggest that the thrust belt was active at 87 Ma and the occurrence of peak of postkinematic metamorphism between 82 and 84 Ma. Structured data reveal the involvement of synmagmatic contraction in the development of the arc.

Early Late Cretaceous east-vergent thrusts deform much of the eastern margin of the Coast Plutonic Complex in western British Columbia. Similarities in timing and style suggest that the faults represent a system of backthrusts to a west-vergent thrust belt on the west side of the complex. This geometry and the rarity of mid-Cretaceous strike-slip faults indicate that the Coast Plutonic Complex was a strongly contractional orogen in mid-Cretaceous time.

This paper documents the newly recognized southern continuation of the early Tertiary Coast shear zone, extending its known length by ~350 km to more than 1200 km. Three sites along the shear zone in British Columbia, Douglas Channel, Bella Coola, and Machmell River, have similar histories during the period ca. 65-55 Ma. The shear zone is 2-11 km thick and is defined by well-developed mylonite zones that strike northwest and dip steeply northeast. Motion on the shear zone was predominantly reverse, with the northeast side up. Synkinematic plutons are common in the shear zone. Lower plate rocks, high-grade gneiss derived from an ancient continental margin assemblage, show little evidence of the extensive deformation and plutonism in the shear zone. North of Bella Coola, high-grade gneiss forms the upper plate, but to the south weakly metamorphosed rocks of Stikinia compose the upper plate, Geochronologic data show that the shear zone was active between ca. 60 and 55 Ma at Douglas Channel, ca. 62 and 56 Ma at Bella Coola, and after 66 and before 56 Ma near the Machmell River. These features match those of the Coast shear zone in southeast Alaska and adjacent British Columbia. Together the shear zones formed a continental-scale reverse ductile fault in Paleocene time. Plate reconstructions show an oblique component to the dominantly dextral transcurrent Paleocene margin. Partitioning of this motion across the continental margin produced a regional system of strike-slip faults and contraction on the Coast shear zone. Keywords: British Columbia, plutons, shear zones, tectonics, thrust faults.