Heterogeneous internal fabric of the Mount Barcroft pluton, White Mountains, of eastern California: an anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility study

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) have been used with great success for determining the internal structure and fabrics of Jurassic and Cretaceous plutons of felsic-intermediate compositions in the White-Inyo Range of eastern California. However, application of the AMS techniques to the Mount Barcroft pluton, located in the northern White Mountains, has yielded anomalous scalar and directional AMS data indicative of unprecedented heterogeneity on the meter-kilometer scale. The 165 Ma Mount Barcroft pluton is primarily of granodiorite composition and was intruded into the Barcroft Structural Break, a northeast striking, steeply dipping structure that juxtaposes Mesozoic metavolcanic rocks to the north against Proterozoic-Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks to the south. Two oriented hand samples (A and B) were collected at each of 78 sites distributed on a 1 kilometer grid pattern across the 5 by 15 kilometer Mount Barcroft pluton and oriented cores were prepared from these hand samples for AMS analysis. Microstructure identification of single thin sections prepared for each sample site yielded primarily magmatic with minor solid-state structures. A highly heterogeneous distribution of scalar parameters (Km, P%, F%, L%, T) was documented both between sample sites and between the A and B cores at individual sites. The heterogeneity may be the result of complex mineral assemblages and the interaction between different magnetic mineral species ranging from single domain to pseudo-single domain to multidomain magnetite. More problematic are the directional parameters between A and B cores in orientation and fabric type (e.g. prolate and oblate susceptibility ellipsoids) occur which cannot be readily explained by a complex mineral assemblage. Different fabric types in A and B cores at individual sample sites could be the result of discrete, temporally unrelated, magma pulses of variable composition and viscosity. Heterogeneity of scalar and directional AMS parameters in the Mount Barcroft pluton, and its contrast with the homogeneous AMS signatures within similar age plutons to the south, may provide evidence for a previously unrecognized magma source beneath the northern White Mountains.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geological Sciences

Department dc:contributor.department

Geological Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Michlesen, Karen Joyce

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Law, Richard D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Morgan, Sven
• Spotila, James A.
• Glazner, Allen

• AMS
• White Mountains
• heterogeneous magnetic fabrics
• California
• anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility
• Mount Barcroft pluton

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-01182004-144249

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9720