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Paper No. 13
Presentation Time: 12:00 PM

NEOPROTEROZOIC TO CAMBRIAN PASSIVE MARGIN?  EVIDENCE FOR ACTIVE TECTONISM DURING THE SAUK TRANSGRESSION IN CENTRAL IDAHO AND MONTANA


MAHONEY, J. Brian, Department. of Geology, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 54702, LINK, Paul K., Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, TODT, Mary K., Geosciences, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Ave, STOP 8072, Pocatello, ID 83209, TAYLOR, Samantha S., Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 54701 and BALGORD, Elizabeth, Geology, University of Arizona, 242 E 5th St, Tucson, AZ 85705, MAHONEJ@uwec.edu

Thick miogeoclinal Neoproterozoic and Cambrian strata in southern Idaho and Utah are abruptly truncated along the present Snake River Plain and do not extend into central Idaho and Montana. Lund et al. (2010) suggest segmentation of the continental margin into upper and lower plate domains. Sparse Neoproterozoic to Cambrian strata of central Idaho and Montana suggest laterally variable sedimentation on an irregular topographic surface. Sedimentation patterns, coupled with coeval alkalic magmatism, suggest active tectonism consistent with margin asymmetry.

North of the Helena Salient of the Montana fold and thrust belt, near Lewis and Clark Pass, the Flathead Sandstone unconformably overlies both the Ravalli (lower Belt) and Missoula (upper Belt) groups. This relationship requires substantial pre-middle Cambrian uplift (>5 km) and erosion of the Belt Supergroup. South of the Helena Salient, near Ermont, MT, boulder fanglomerate within the Flathead Sandstone where it unconformably overlies probable pre-Belt “Argenta” strata suggests structurally-controlled sedimentation. In central Idaho, where Cambrian strata are absent, rapid uplift and erosion of Neoproterozoic plutons yields 500 Ma zircon within the ca. 500 Ma Worm Creek quartzite of SE Idaho.

In contrast, within the Helena Salient area, the mapped contact between coarse-grained Flathead Sandstone and underlying fine-grained strata of the Ravalli Group appears to be a conformable transition suggesting the putative Spokane Formation is in fact Neoproterozoic to Middle Cambrian strata conformably below the Flathead Sandstone. This relationship is supported by the intercalation of two distinct zircon populations.

The highly variable nature of the basal Cambrian contact (locally an angular unconformity, a disconformity about crystalline basement, and an apparent conformable contract), the coarse grained nature of basal Cambrian strata, and evidence for uplift of both Belt Supergroup strata (>5 km) and Neoproterozoic plutonic rocks suggests the continental margin was tectonically active in Neoproterozoic to Cambrian time, in markedly contrast to the traditional interpretation of a passive margin setting.

Session No. 56

T190. The Life and Death of Mobile Belts along the North American Cordillera: Advances in Understanding the Long- Term Construction of Continental Margins (Posters)
Sunday, 27 October 2013: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
Hall D (Colorado Convention Center)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 45, No. 7, p.166
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