Rather than continuing to clutter the main page with all the extra papers that might be of some interest, I have collected them here with occasional comments (so a partially annotated bibliography, if you will). This is by no means comprehensive but reflects some of the material examined for class. Links are usually to the abstract page for each paper where full text is accessible from CU.--C. H. Jones

Overview

• Dickinson, Evolution of the North American Cordillera, Ann. Rev. Earth Plan. Sci., 32, 13-45, 2004. (kind of an executive overview with a bit of opinion)

Precambrian

• If you want a more recent summary of one model of the Precambrian assembly of North America, Whitmeyer and Karlstrom. Tectonic model for the Proterozoic growth of North America. Geosphere (2007) vol. 3 (4) pp. 220-259 fits the bill.
• Paleoproterozoic assembly of western U.S.
  • Reed, J. C., Jr., T. T. Ball, G. L. Farmer, and W. B. Hamilton, A broader view, in Precambrian: Conterminous U. S., The Geology of North America, vol. C-2, edited by J. C. Reed, Jr. and others, pp. 614-622 (Farmer's section), Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colo., 1993
    
  • Rämö, O. T., and J. P. Calzia, Nd isotopic composition of cratonic rocks in the southern Death Valley region; evidence for a substantial Archean source component in Mojavia, Geology, 26, (10), 891-894, 1998.
  • Bennett, V. C., and D. J. DePaolo, Proterozoic crustal history of the western United States as determined by neodymium isotopic mapping, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 99 (5), 674-685, 1988
  • Duebendorfer, E. M., K. R. Chamberlain, and C. S. Jones, Paleoproterozoic tectonic history of the Cerbat Mountains, northwestern Arizona: Implications for crustal assembly in the southwestern United States, Geol Soc Am Bull, 113 (5), 575-590, 2001
  • Jones, J. V., III, J. N Connelly, K. E. Karlstrom, M. L. Williams, M. F. Doe, Age, provenance, and tectonic setting of Paleoproterozoic quartzite successions in the southwestern United States, GSA Bulletin; 121 (1-2); p. 247-264; DOI: 10.1130/B26351.1, 2009 [suggest some orthoquartzites on Yavapai crust predate Mazatzal orogeny--includes some rocks in Colorado]
• Correlations of bedrock geology of WUS with other regions
• Moores, E.M., Southwest U.S.–East Antarctic (SWEAT) connection: a hypothesis. Geology 19, 425–428, 1991.
• Borg, S. G., and D. J. DePaolo, Laurentia, Australia, and Antarctica As a Late Proterozoic Supercontinent - Constraints From Isotopic Mapping, Geology, 22, (4), 307-310, 1994. [SWEAT reconstruction; Uses Nd provinces to align Precambrian terranes]
  • followup along same lines: Goodge, J.W., J. D. Vervoort, C. M. Fanning, D. M. Brecke, G. L. Farmer, I. S. Williams, P. M. Myrow, and D. J. DePaolo, A Positive Test of East Antarctica–Laurentia Juxtaposition Within the Rodinia Supercontinent, Science, 321 (5886), 235-240, 2008. [Adds Hf isotopes to Nd, picks particularly on 1.4 Ga rocks in US and Antarctica, which addresses argument against SWEAT in Li et al, 2008]
• Rodinia (late Proterozoic supercontinent)
  • Hoffman, P. F., Did the breakout of Laurentia turn Gondwanaland inside-out?, Science 252 , pp. 1409–1412, 1991 (one prominent original source of Rodinia idea, though others out there)
  • X. Li, X, S.V. Bogdanova, A.S. Collins, A. Davidson, B. De Waele, R.E. Ernst, I.C.W. Fitzsimons, R.A. Fuck, D.P. Gladkochub, J. Jacobs, K.E. Karlstrom, S. Lu, L.M. Natapov, V. Pease, S.A. Pisarevsky, K. Thrane and V. Vernikovsky, Assembly, configuration, and break-up history of Rodinia: A synthesis, Precambrian Research, 160 (1-2),p.179-210, 2008. [one of a few attempts to come up with a comprehensive Rodinia model]
• Middle-Late Proterozoic strata dating and tectonics
  (There is a lot out there, and a lot of detail in many of these papers falls below any level of interest we are likely to have)
  • Link, P. K., N. Christie-Blick, W. J. Devlin, D. P. Elston, R. J. Horodyski, M. Levy, J. M. G. Miller, R. C. Pearson, A. Prave, J. H. Stewart, D. Winston, L. A. Wright, and C. T. Wrucke, Middle and Late Proterozoic stratified rocks of the western U.S. Cordillera, Colorado Plateau, and Basin and Range province, in Precambrian: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. C-2, edited by J. C. Reed, Jr., M. E. Bickford, R. S. Houston, P. K. Link, D. W. Rankin, P. K. Sims and W. R. Van Schmus, pp. 463-595, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, 1993. [overview of correlations that predates most use of SHRIMP-style U-Pb work; has a decent recapitulation of the tectonic environments of these rocks].
  • Barth AP, Wooden J, Coleman DS, Vogel MB, Assembling and Disassembling California: A Zircon and Monazite Geochronologic Framework for Proterozoic Crustal Evolution in Southern California. J Geol, 117 (3) pp. 221-239, 2009 [actually covers several issues, suggest Mojavia recycled 1.9-1.79 Ga crust, that Ivanpah compressional orogeny affected region 1795-1640 Ma, modifies some estimates on Neoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic ages, and detrital zircons from west and south suggest continued presence of western continent into Neoproterozoic time (Big Bear Group quartzites)]
  • Timmons, J. M., K. E. Karlstrom, C. M. Dehler, J. W. Geissman, and M. T. Heizler, Proterozoic multistage (ca. 1.1 and 0.8 Ga) extension recorded in the Grand Canyon Supergroup and establishment of northwest- and north-trending tectonic grains in the southwestern United States, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 113, 163-180, 2001. [new Ar-Ar and U-Pb dates buttress interpretation]
    • J. Michael Timmons, Karl E. Karlstrom, Matthew. T. Heizler, Samuel A. Bowring, George E. Gehrels, Laura J. Crossey, Tectonic inferences from the ca. 1255-1100 Ma Unkar Group and Nankoweap Formation, Grand Canyon: Intracratonic deformation and basin formation during protracted Grenville orogenesis, Geol. Soc. Am. Bulletin, 117, 1573-1595, 2005. [Adds low-T thermochron and an early (1250 Ma) compressional episode to earlier story]
  • Stewart, J. H., G. E. Gehrels, A. P. Barth, P. K. Link, B. N. Christie, and C. T. Wrucke, Detrital zircon provenance of Mesoproterozoic to Cambrian arenites in the Western United States and northwestern Mexico, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 113, 1343-1356, 2001. [detrital zircon observations on sources of late pC sediments, generally correlated with North American sources--compare with Barth et al 2009. Prefers match to Australia and Kalahari-Congo craton for few potentially exotic zircons]
  • Sears, J., Belt-Purcell Basin: Keystone of the Rocky Mountain fold-and-thrust belt, United States and Canada, in Sears, J.W., Harms, T.A., and Evenchick, C.A., eds., Whence the Mountains? Inquiries into the Evolution of Orogenic Systems: A Volume in Honor of Raymond A. Price: Geological Society of America Special Paper 433, p. 147–166, doi: 10.1130/2007.2433(07), 2007. [focuses on palinspastic restoration of basin and connections to Siberian rocks interpreted to be conjugate margin and source area for sediments, cites some ~2000 U-Pb dates that revised understanding of Belt rocks. No free CU access]
    • Sears, J. W., and R. A. Price, Tightening the Siberian connection to western Laurentia, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 115, 943-953, 2003. [suggest that the Belt-Purcell basin has a correlative in Siberia]
  • Colpron M, Logan JM, Mortensen JK, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 39 (2): 133-143, 2002 [U-Pb date puts Windermere in SE Canada Cordillera at older than 570 Ma; these volcanics at base of Hamill/Gog probably represent initiation of miogeocline; this paper interprets two rifting episodes, one in north older than one in south]
  • Corsetti, F. A., and A. J. Kaufman, Stratigraphic investigations of carbon isotope anomalies and Neoproterozoic ice ages in Death Valley, California, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 115, 916-932, 2003. [another view of how to interpret the Amargosa rocks using isotopic excursions] --if you want more on d13C timescale attempts in Neoproterozoic/Ediacarian, Halverson et al., GSA Bull 2005 is a starting point.
  • Weil, A.B., J. W. Geissman, and J.M. Ashby, A New paleomagnetic pole for the Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain supergroup, Central Rocky Mountain States, USA. Precambrian Res, 147 (3-4) pp. 234-259, 2006. [Discusses state of late pC paleomag poles and, to lesser extent, use in correlating strata]

Latest Precambrian-Paleozoic Miogeocline

Also note that overall histories, such as Dickinson (2006, Geosphere)

• Bond, G. C., and M. A. Kominz, Construction of tectonic subsidence curves for the early Paleozoic miogeocline, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains; implications for subsidence mechanisms, age of breakup, and crustal thinning, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 95, (2), 155-173, 1984.
• Levy, M., and N. Christie Blick, Tectonic subsidence of the early Paleozoic passive continental margin in eastern California and southern Nevada, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 103, (12), 1590-1606, 1991. [kind of Bond and Kominz for the southern Cordilleran miogeocline, but with some removal of later deformation].
• Fedo, C. M., and J. D. Cooper, Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of Neoproterozoic and Cambrian units across a craton-margin hinge zone, southeastern California, and implications for the early evolution of the Cordilleran margin, Sediment. Geol., 141, 501-522, 2001. [trying to reconcile all the datasets here]
• Bond, G. C., and M. A. Kominz, Evolution of Thought On Passive Continental Margins From the Origin of Geosynclinal Theory (Approximately 1860) to the Present, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100, (12), 1909-1933, 1988.
• McKenzie, D., Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins, Earth Plan. Sci. Letts., 40, 25-32, 1978. [where 1-D thermal subsidence was really first applied to sedimentary basins]
• Hölzel M, R. Faber,and M.Wagreich, DeCompactionTool: Software for subsidence analysis including statistical error quantification. Comput Geosci, 34 (11) pp. 1454-1460, 2008. [a recent code to actually do decompations and get subsidence histories-shows all the gory details of this process]
• Lund. Geometry of the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic rift margin of western Laurentia: Implications for mineral deposit settings. Geosphere, 4 (2) pp. 429-444, 2008. [Using other criteria to try to reconstruct the age and geometry of the rifted margin, particularly relying on the concept of "upper plate" and "lower plate" margins]
• Crafford, A.E.J, Paleozoic tectonic domains of Nevada: An interpretive discussion to accompany the geologic map of Nevada. Geosphere, 4 (1) pp. 260-291, 2008. [although much of this concerns some of the late Paleozoic orogenies in the region, also provides some info on the miogeocline itself].

Paleozoic Ancestral Rockies

• Ye, H. Z., L. Royden, C. Burchfiel, and M. Schuepbach, Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 80, 1397-1432, 1996. [Most recent overview of the whole orogen; infer compressional origin from a margin to SW]
  • Kluth, C. F., Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The Greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains: Discussion, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 82, 2272-2276, 1998.
  • Ye, H. Z., L. Royden, C. Burchfiel, and M. Schuepbach, Late Paleozoic deformation of interior North America: The Greater Ancestral Rocky Mountains: Reply, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 82, 2277-2279, 1998.
• Hoy, R. G., and K. D. Ridgway, Syndepositional thrust-related deformation and sedimentation in an Ancestral Rocky Mountains basin, Central Colorado trough, Colorado, USA, GSA Bulletin; 2002; 114 (7), p. 804-828; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114, 2002.
• Barbeau, D.L., A flexural model for the Paradox Basin: implications for the tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, Basin Research, 15 (1), 97-115, 2003. [in essence, testing Ye et al.'s ideas for origin of Ancestral Rockies more firmly]
• Johnson, S. Y., M. A. Chan, and E. A. Konopka, Pennsylvanian and Early Permian paleogeography of the Uinta­Piceance basin region, northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah, U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper, 1787CC, 1-35, 1992. [detailed stratigraphic info, but the tectonic subsidence curves are of greatest interest to us].
• Trexler JH, Cashman PH, Snyder WS, and Davydov VI. Late Paleozoic tectonism in Nevada: Timing, kinematics, and tectonic significance. Geol Soc Am Bull, 116 (5-6) pp. 525-538, 2004. [emphasis on Pennsylvanian-Permian contraction in eastern Nevada suggest there may be more going on on the western margin than is usually presumed]
• Dickinson, W. R., and T. F. Lawton, Sequential intercontinental suturing as the ultimate control for Pennsylvanian Ancestral Rocky Mountains deformation, Geology, 31 (7), p. 609-612; DOI: 10.1130/0091-7613(2003)031, 2003 [in essense, updating Kluth's papers below]
• Kluth, C. F., Plate tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, Amer. Assoc. Petr. Geol. Memoir, 41, 353-369, 1986. [update and more detail than 1981 Geology paper]
• Kluth, C. F., and P. J. Coney, Plate tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, Geology, 9 ,p. 10-15, 1981. [Ancestral Rockies as final event in Ouachita orogenies, complex of high-angle faulting driven from the south]
  • Goldstein, A. G., C. F. Kluth, and P. J. Coney, Plate tectonics of the ancestral Rocky Mountains: Discussion and reply, Geology, 9, 387-389, 1981.
  • Warner, L. A., C. F. Kluth, and P. J. Coney, Plate tectonics of the ancestral Rocky Mountains: Discussion and reply, Geology, 11, 120-122, 1983.
• Marshak, S., K. Karlstrom, and J. M. Timmons, Inversion of Proterozoic extensional faults; an explanation for the pattern of Laramide and Ancestral Rockies intracratonic deformation, United States, Geology (Boulder), 28, 735-738, 2000. [title says it all]
• Budnik, R. T., Left-lateral intraplate deformation along the ancestral Rocky Mountains: Implications for late Paleozoic plate motions, Tectonophysics, 132, 195-214, 1986.
• Frahme, C. W., and E. B. Vaughn, Paleozoic geology and seismic stratigraphy of the northern Uncompahgre Front, Grant County, Utah,in Lowell, J.D. and R. Gries (eds.), Rocky Mountain foreland basins and uplifts, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, 201-211, 1983.
• Stevenson, G. M., and D. L. Baars, The Paradox; a pull-apart basin of Pennsylvanian age, AAPG Memoir, 41, 513-539, 1986.

Antler Orogeny

(again, note syntheses like Dickinson, 2006, Geosphere paper)

• Giles, K. A., and W. R. Dickinson, The interplay of eustasy and lithospheric flexure in forming stratigraphic sequences in foreland settings: An example from the Antler foreland, Nevada and Utah, in Stratigraphic Evolution of Foreland Basins, SEPM Special Publication, vol. 52, edited by S. L. Dorobek and G. M. Ross, pp. 187-211, SEPM, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1995. [Interpretation of foredeep sedimentation in terms of flexure from Antler orogen].
  • Waschbusch, P. J., and L. H. Royden. Episodicity in foredeep basins. Geology, 20 (10) pp. 915-918, 1992. [discusses how forebulges might hang on weaknesses instead of migrating smoothly]
• Burchfiel, B. C., and L. H. Royden, Antler Orogeny: A Mediterranean-type orogeny, Geology, 19, (1), 66-69, 1991. [unusual explanation of the absence of an arc in the Antler orogeny]
• Crafford, A.E.J, Paleozoic tectonic domains of Nevada: An interpretive discussion to accompany the geologic map of Nevada. Geosphere, 4 (1) pp. 260-291, 2008. [draws domains across Nevada, reinterprets Antler as transpressional and extending into the early Pennsylvanian].
• Smith, M. T., W. R. Dickinson, and G. E. Gehrels, Contractional Nature of Devonian-Mississippian Antler Tectonism Along the North-American Continental Margin, Geology, 21, (1), 21-24, 1993. [propose that Antler extended north along Canadian margin and was contractional even where normal faults are preserved]
• Turner, R. J. W., R. J. Madrid, and E. L. Miller, Roberts Mountains allochthon: Stratigraphic comparison with Lower Paleozoic outer continental-margin strata of the northern Canadian Cordillera, Geology, 17, (4), 341-344, 1989. [correlates early Paleozoic offshore events all along margin from Nevada to northern Canada, suggests these rocks emplaced in Antler all along this margin, does include Dev-Miss extensional event but does place these rocks to east on thrusts]
  • Johnson, J. G., and M. A. Murphy, Roberts Mountains allochthon: Stratigraphic comparison with Lower Paleozoic outer continental-margin strata of the northern Canadian Cordillera - Comment, Geology, 17, (11), 1063, 1989. [mostly minor quibbles]
  • Turner, R. J. W., R. J. Madrid, and E. L. Miller, Roberts Mountains allochthon: Stratigraphic comparison with Lower Paleozoic outer continental-margin strata of the northern Canadian Cordillera - Reply, Geology, 17, (11), 1063-1064, 1989.
• Trexler JH, Cashman PH, Snyder WS, and Davydov VI. Late Paleozoic tectonism in Nevada: Timing, kinematics, and tectonic significance. Geol Soc Am Bull, 116 (5-6) pp. 525-538, 2004. [emphasis on Pennsylvanian-Permian contraction in eastern Nevada]
• Trexler, J. H., Cashman PH, Cole JC, Snyder WS, Tosdal RM, Davydov VI. Widespread effects of middle Mississippian deformation in the Great Basin of western North America. Geol Soc Am Bull, 115 (10) pp. 1278-1288, 2003 [at the young end of Antler time]
• Gehrels, G. E., W. R. Dickinson, B. C. D. Riley, S. C. Finney, and M. T. Smith, Detrital zircon geochronology of the Roberts Mountains Allochthon, Nevada, in Paleozoic and Triassic paleogeography and tectonics of western Nevada and Northern California., edited by J. Soreghan Michael and E. Gehrels George, Geol Soc. Am. Spec. Paper, 347, Geological Society of America (GSA). Boulder, Colorado., 2000. [Zircon evidence that Roberts Mountain allochthon is not far travelled and not near volcanic arc. Link does not get free access. Several other articles in the same volume on zircons in the region]
  • Gehrels, G. E., and W. R. Dickinson, Detrital zircon provenance of Cambrian to Triassic miogeoclinal and eugeoclinal strata in Nevada, Am. J. Sci., 295, 18-48, 1995. [somewhat older but more easily available attack on relation of Roberts Mtn allocthon and Golconda allocthon to North American miogeoclinal strata]
• Speed, R. C., and N. H. Sleep, Antler orogeny and foreland basin: A model, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 93, 815-828, 1982. [arc-continent collision model for Antler orogeny]
  • Johnson, J. G., A. Pendergast (discussion) and R. C. Speed and N. H. Sleep (reply), Antler orogeny and foreland basin: A model: Discussion and reply, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 94 (5), 684-5, 1983 [how much have Antler relationships been disrupted?]
• Miller, E. L., M. M. Miller, C. H. Stevens, J. E. Wright, and R. Madrid, Late Paleozoic paleogeographic and tectonic evolution of the western U.S. Cordillera, in The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. G-3, edited by B. C. Burchfiel, P. W. Lipman and M. L. Zoback, pp. 57-106, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colo., 1992. [Summary overview of material to that point]

Paleozoic truncation of margin?

Numerous papers in GSA Special Paper 393 address ideas related to some strike-slip truncation of the Cordilleran margin in late Paleozoic to mid Mesozoic time. Stevens and Stone have a number of more detailed papers on the Permian geology of the Death Valley-Inyo Mountains region.

• Stevens CH, Stone P. The Pennsylvanian-Early Permian Bird Spring Carbonate Shelf, Southeastern California: Fusulinid Biostratigraphy, Paleogeographic Evolution, and Tectonic Implications. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 429 pp. 1-82 , 2007. [detailed biostratigraphy of these late Paleozoic strata and one interpretation; latest from these authors who have argued for late Paleozoic truncation based on similar, earlier work. Again, no free CU access]
• Stevens, C. H. and P. Stone. Structure and regional significance of the Late Permian(?) Sierra Nevada-Death Valley thrust system, east-central California. Earth-Sci Rev, 73 (1-4) pp. 103-113,2005. [probably clearest paper attempting to reconcile the numerous Permian thrusts with the inferred late Paleozoic truncation preferred by these authors; use thrust trends to argue in part for that truncation]
• Stewart, J. H., Evidence for Mojave-Sonora megashear—Systematic left-lateral offset of Neoproterozoic to Lower Jurassic strata and facies, western United States and northwestern Mexico, Geological Society of America Special Papers, 393, p. 209-231, doi:10.1130/0-8137-2393-0.209, 2005. [Stewart's compilations of isopachs over the years have suggested that the Paleozoic miogeocline was truncated at its SW end. Not free access].
• Dickinson, W. R., and T. F. Lawton, Carboniferous to Cretaceous assembly and fragmentation of Mexico, GSA Bulletin, 113 (9); p. 1142-1160; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113, 2001 [addresses constraints in Mexico on truncation and bordering orogenies]
• Stevens CH, Stone P, Miller JS, A new reconstruction of the Paleozoic continental margin of southwestern North America: Implications for the nature and timing of continental truncation and the possible role of the Mojave-Sonora megashear, in Anderson, T.H., Nourse, J.A., McKee, J.W., and Steiner, M.B., eds., The Mojave-Sonora megashear hypothesis: Development, assessment, and alternatives, Geological Society of America Special Paper, 393 pp. 597-618 , 2005.
  • Stevens, C. H., P. Stone, G. C. Dunne, D. C. Greene, J. D. Walker, and B. J. Swanson, Paleozoic and Mesozoic evolution of East-central California, in Integrated Earth and Environmental Evolution of the Southwestern United States, edited by W.G. Ernst and C. A. Nelson, pp. 119-160, Bellweather Publ., Columbia Maryland, 1998, also same text in Int. Geol. Review, 39 (9), 788-829, 1997. [A lot here, but of interest to us is the material on the possible truncation of the miogeocline].
• Snow, J. K., Large-magnitude Permian shortening and continental margin tectonics in the southern Cordillera, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 104, 80-105, 1992. [Implicitly argues against any truncation of the Paleozoic margin; adds in major Permian shortening event to explain features Stevens and Stone interpreted as due to strike-slip deformation]
  • Stone, P., and C. H. Stevens, Large-magnitude Permian shortening and continental-margin tectonics in the southern Cordillera: Discussion, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 105, 279-280, 1993. [dispute relations leading to Permian age for Last Chance thrust; they later accept this age]
  • Snow, J. K., and B. Wernicke, Large-magnitude Permian shortening and continental-margin tectonics in the southern Cordillera: Reply, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 105, 280-283, 1993. [defend correlations as retrodeformable, argue Stone and Stevens model kinematically flawed]

Sonoma Orogeny

• Gehrels, G. E., Introduction to detrital zircon studies of Paleozoic and Triassic strata in western Nevada and Northern California, in Paleozoic and Triassic paleogeography and tectonics of western Nevada and Northern California., Special Paper - Geological Society of America, vol. 347, edited by J. Soreghan Michael and E. Gehrels George, pp. 1-17, Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, Colorado, 2000. [provides detailed explanation of detrital zircon techniques and establishes their miogeoclinal reference; not free link]
• Gehrels, G. E., W. R. Dickinson, B. J. Darby, J. P. Harding, J. D. Manuszak, B. C. D. Riley, M. S. Spurlin, S. C. Finney, G. H. Girty, D. S. Harwood, M. M. Miller, J. I. Satterfield, M. T. Smith, W. S. Snyder, E. T. Wallin, and S. J. Wyld, Tectonic implications of detrital zircon data from Paleozoic and Triassic strata in western Nevada and Northern California, in Paleozoic and Triassic paleogeography and tectonics of western Nevada and Northern California., Special Paper - Geological Society of America, vol. 347, edited by J. Soreghan Michael and E. Gehrels George, pp. 133-150, Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, 2000. [main overview of zircon-based connections between tectonic packages; not free link]
  • Gehrels, G.E., and Dickinson, W.R., Detrital zircon provenance of Cambrian to Triassic miogeoclinal and eugeoclinal strata in Nevada:American Journal of Science, 295, p.18–48, 1995 [older but more clearly focused paper connecting the deep-water facies rocks to North America]
• Ketner, K. B., The Inskip Formation, the Harmony Formation, and the Havallah Sequence of Northwestern Nevada—An Interrelated Paleozoic Assemblage in the Home of the Sonoma Orogeny, U.S.Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper, 1757, 21 pp., 2008. [greatly revises Sonoma orogeny, argues that allocthon originated in Canada and travelled parallel to the margin but there was no late Permian orogeny senso stricto and notes absence of any clastic foredeep strata, etc., and proposes that the Golconda thrust is in fact Jurassic. Author does not seem to be making an impression on the literature...]
• Wyld, S. J., Permo-Triassic Tectonism in Volcanic Arc Sequences of the Western United States Cordillera and Implications For the Sonoma Orogeny, Tectonics, 10, 1007-1017, 1991.
• Gehrels, G. E., and J. H. Stewart, Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of Cambrian to Triassic miogeoclinal and eugeoclinal strata of Sonora, Mexico, Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, 103, 2471-2487, 1998. [attempts to determine if the miogeocline to the SW of Death Valley was removed to the SSE; results are inconclusive]
• Miller, E. L., M. M. Miller, C. H. Stevens, J. E. Wright, and R. Madrid, Late Paleozoic paleogeographic and tectonic evolution of the western U.S. Cordillera, in The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. G-3, edited by B. C. Burchfiel, P. W. Lipman and M. L. Zoback, pp. 57-106, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colo., 1992. [overview of many issues on Somona and Antler orogenies].
• Gabrielse, H., Snyder, W.S., and Stewart, J.H., Sonoma orogeny and Permian to Triassic tectonism in western North America (Penrose Conference Report): Geology, 11, p.484–486, 1983 [oft-cited source for standard Sonoma orogeny story]
• Roback, R. C., and N. W. Walker, Provenance, Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronometry, and Tectonic Significance of Permian to Lower Triassic Sandstone in Southeastern Quesnellia, British-Columbia and Washington, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107, 665-675, 1995. [considers the position of Quesnellia, somewhat equivalent to the Klamaths/northern Sierra but in southern Canada, northern Washington; its attachment to North America might be equivalent of Sonoman orogeny to north].

Exotic Terranes

• Haggart, J.W., R. J. Enkin and J. W.H. Monger (eds.) Paleogeography of the North American Cordillera : evidence for and against large-scale displacements, Geol. Assoc. Canada Spec. Paper, 46, 420 pp., 2006 [from a conference in 2003; yes, the geological papers ask for relatively small translations and the paleomagnetic papers insist on large ones, still]
• Gerald M. Ross, G.M., P. J. Patchett, M. Hamilton, L. Heaman, P. G. DeCelles, E. Rosenberg, and M. K. Giovanni, Evolution of the Cordilleran orogen (southwestern Alberta, Canada) inferred from detrital mineral geochronology, geochemistry, and Nd isotopes in the foreland basin, Geological Society of America Bulletin,117, p. 747-763, 2005 [looking at this from the continent side to see when juvenile terranes make a significant contribution to foredeep sediments; this is also relevant for the evolution of the fold-and-thrust belt in Canada]
• Early Permian location of western North American terranes based on brachiopod, fusulinid, and coral biogeography, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 179 (3-4), 20 May 2002, pp. 245-266, 2002 [revision to some degree of paleontological basis for northward motion of exotic terranes]
• Patchett, P. J., and G. E. Gehrels, Continental influence of Canadian Cordilleran terranes from Nd isotopic study, and significance for crustal growth processes, Journal of Geology, 106, 269-280, 1998. [Documents non-Precambrian origin for some of the terranes in western Canada].
• Butler, R. F., G. E. Gehrels, and D. R. Bazard, Paleomagnetism of Paleozoic strata of the Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, p. 1372-1388, 1997 [Suggests original continent of the Alexander terrane from paleomag and detrital zircons]
  • Gehrels, G. E., R. F. Butler, and D. R. Bazard, Detrital zircon geochronology of the Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 108, 722-734, 1996. [More of the detrital zircon aspects of the story]
• Dorsey, R. J., and T. A. LaMaskin, Stratigraphic record of Triassic-Jurassic collisional tectonics in the Blue Mountains province, northeastern Oregon, American Journal of Science, 307 (12), P.1167-1193; doi:10.2475/10.2007.03, 2007 [suggests that parts of the Blue Mountains collided with western U.S. in early Mesozoic, driving some of early shortening; usually these rocks tied to Wrangellia]
• Gehrels, G., Rusmore M, Woodsworth G, Crawford M, Andronicos C, Hollister L, Patchett J, Ducea MN, Butler R, Klepeis K, Davidson C, Friedman R, Haggart J, Mahoney B, Crawford W, Pearson D, Girardi J, U-Th-Pb geochronology of the Coast Mountains batholith in north-coastal British Columbia: Constraints on age and tectonic evolution. Geol Soc Am Bull (2009) vol. 121 (9-10) pp. 1341-1361, 2009 [Coast Ranges batholith interpreted as stitching Insular and Intermontaine terranes in mid-Cretaceous, and Insular is thought to come from the north, not south]
• Irving, E., and P. J. Wynne, Part A, Paleomagnetism: Review and tectonic implications, Chapter 3, in Geology of the Cordilleran Orogen in Canada, Geology of Canada, v. 4, edited by H. Gabrielse and C. J. Yorath, pp. 61-86, Geol. Surv. Canada, 1991. [also called The Geology of North America, vol. G-2].
• Saleeby, J. B., Petrotectonic and paleogeographic settings of U.S. Cordilleran ophiolites, in The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. G-3, edited by B. C. Burchfiel, P. W. Lipman and M. L. Zoback, pp. 653-682, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colorado, 1992.
• Saleeby, J. B., and C. Busby-Spera, Early Mesozoic tectonic evolution of the western U.S. Cordillera, in The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. G-3, edited by B. C. Burchfiel, P. W. Lipman and M. L. Zoback, pp. 107-168, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colorado, 1992.
• Baja-B.C. (northward motion of terranes in latest Cretaceous to early Tertiary)
  • Umhoefer, P. J., Northward translation of “Baja British Columbia” along the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene margin of western North America: Tectonics, 6, p. 377–394, 1987.
  • Irving, E., P. J. Wynne, D. J. Thorkelson, and P. Schiarizza, Large (1000 to 4000 km) northward movements of tectonic domains in the northern Cordillera, 83 to 45 Ma, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 17,901 – 17,916, 1996. [Generally summarizes paleomagnetic arguments for large displacements to this point]
  • Stephen T. Johnston, S. T., P. J. Wynne, D. Francis, C. J. R. Hart, R. J. Enkin, and D. C. Engebretson, Yellowstone in Yukon: The Late Cretaceous Carmacks Group, Geology, 24, p. 997-1000, 1996. [low-latitude paleomag plus arguments that volcanics were early Yellowstone hotspot, argues for profound displacement of Intermontane terrane. Carmacks erupted across Yukon-Tanana and Stikene terranes]
    • McCausland, P.J.A, D.T.A. Symons, C. J. R. Hart, Rethinking "Yellowstone in Yukon"and Baja British Columbia: Paleomagnetism of the Late Cretaceous Swede Dome stock, northern Canadian Cordillera, J. Geophys. Res., 110, B12107, doi:10.1029/2005JB003742, 2005 [argue that Carmacks paleomag is messed up and inconsistent with other observations; also argues that Carmacks could still be Yellowstone, but Pacific hotspots have migrated south, so not indicative of large displacements]
    • Symons, D.T.A., Kawasaki, K., and P.J.A. McCausland, The Yukon-Tanana terrane: Part of North America at similar to 215 Ma from paleomagnetism of the Taylor Mountain batholith, Alaska, Tectonophysics, 465 (1-4), 60-74, 2009. [Disconnects Yukon-Tanana from Intermontane terranes, argues Yukon-Tanana para-autocthonous, Intermontane far travelled]
  • Cowan, D., Brandon, M., and Garver, J., 1997, Geologic tests of hypotheses for large coastwise displacements—A critique illustrated by the Baja British Columbia controversy:American Journal of Science, 297, p.117–173, 1997. [Tries to break logjam by suggesting critical tests; reviews arguments to this point]
  • Mahoney, J. B.,Mustard, P. S.,Haggart, J.W.,Friedman, R.M.,Fanning, C.M.,and McNicoll, V.J.,Archean zircons in Cretaceous strata of the western Canadian Cordillera: The “Baja B.C.”hypothesis fails a “crucial test”, Geology, 27,p.195–198, 1999. [use detrital zircons to argue that Insular superterrain must have been near its present latitude in Cretaceous--inspired by Cowan et al. 1997]
  • Housen, B. A., and M. E. Beck, Jr., Testing terrane transport; an inclusive approach to the Baja B.C. controversy, Geology (Boulder), 27, 1143-1146, 1999. [response to Mahoney et al. refuting zircon interpretation and arguing for paleomag interpretation]
  • Butler, R. F., G. E. Gehrels, and K. P. Kodama, A moderate translation alternative to the Baja British Columbia hypothesis, GSA Today, 11, 4-10, 2001.
  • Stamatakos, J. A., J. M. Trop, and K. D. Ridgway, Late Cretaceous paleogeography of Wrangellia: Paleomagnetism of the MacColl Ridge Formation, southern Alaska, revisited, Geology, 29 (10), p. 947-950; doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029, 2001. [Gets a less extreme amount of post-Cretaceous motion for part of Wrangellia, but this is northern part in Alaska; moved 15±8° north and rotated substantially]
  • Enkin RJ, Mahoney JB, Baker J, Riesterer J, Haskin ML, Deciphering shallow paleomagnetic inclinations: 2. Implications from Late Cretaceous strata overlapping the Insular/Intermontane Superterrane boundary in the southern Canadian Cordillera. J Geophys Res, 108 (B4) pp. 2186, 2003 [pull off the interesting trick of supporting an overlap assemblege connecting Insular and Intermontane terranes and arguing for even more profound displacements]
  • Housen, B. A., and R. J. Dorsey, Paleomagnetism and tectonic significance of Albian and Cenomanian turbidites, Ochoco Basin, Mitchell Inlier, central Oregon, J. Geophys. Res., 110, B07102, doi:10.1029/2004JB003458, 2005. [Blue Mtns province in eastern Oregon moved 16±4°N from paleomag since Cretaceous; relation to some of the other terranes a bit vague but this is often tied to Wrangellia]
  • Miller IM, Brandon MT, and Hickey LJ, Using leaf margin analysis to estimate the mid-Cretaceous (Albian) paleolatitude of the Baja BC block. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 245 (1-2) pp. 95-114, 2006. [A new wrinkle. Suggest subtropical origin most consistent with origin far to the south]
  • Krijgsman, W. and L. Tauxe. E/I corrected paleolatitudes for the sedimentary rocks of the Baja British Columbia hypothesis. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 242 (1-2) pp. 205-216, 2006. [attempts to fix sedimentary paleomag for possible flattening]
  • Paleomag of the Mt. Stuart batholith (a curious case of parry and thrust in chronological order...; I've tried to capture the full range of discussion to illustrate the arc of an idea while omitting a rather considerable literature on the origin of the magma and the deformation accompanying emplacement)
    • Beck, M. E., Jr., and Noson, L., 1972, Anomalous paleolatitudes in Cretaceous granitic rocks: Nature, Physical Science, v. 235, p. 11–13. [Start of northward transport arguments in Cretaceous-Early Tertiary; 3 stable sites in Mt. Stuart batholith]
    • Beck, M. E., Jr., 1976, Discordant paleomagnetic pole positions as evidence of regional shear in the western Cordillera of North America: American Journal of Science, v. 276, p. 694–712, 1976. [Includes Mt. Stuart, more complete than older paper, argues from pattern of paleomag seen for combination of northward displacement and clockwise rotation, but notes tilt could be a factor]
    • Beck, M. E., Jr., Burmester, R. F., and Schoonover, R., Paleomagnetism and tectonics of the Cretaceous Mt. Stuart batholith of Washington: Translation or tilt?: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 56, p. 336 –342, 1981 [second paleomagnetic study of the Mt. Stuart batholith; argues that Euler pole placing batholith on margin of North America is best; this places Mt. Stuart at modern position of southern Baja California]
    • Irving, E., Woodsworth, W., Wynne, P., and Morrison, A., Paleomagnetic evidence for displacement from the south of the Coast Plutonic Complex: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22, p. 584 –598, 1985. [This is not Mt. Stuart strictly speaking but tends to get rolled into the same arguments; these data advanced to support large displacement hypothesis]
    • Butler,R., Gehrels,G., McClelland,W., May,S.R., and Klepacki, D., Discordant paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast Plutonic Complex: Regional tilt rather than large-scale displacement?, Geology, 17,p.691–694, 1989. [argue that a tilt of Mt. Stuart and other plutonic bodies explains paleomag and is more acceptable geologically. Mt Stuart depends mostly on relations with country rock]
      
      • Miller, R. B., Johnson, S. Y., and McDougall, J. W., Discordant paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast Plutonic Complex: Regional tilt rather than large displacement?: Comment :Geology, 18,p. 1164 –1165, 1990. [contest geologic basis for tilting]
      • Butler,R., Gehrels,G., McClelland,W., May,S.R., and Klepacki, D., Discordant paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast Plutonic Complex: Regional tilt rather than large-scale displacement?:Geology, 18, p. 1165-1166, 1990.[contests Miller et al, argues more forcefully that sediments nearly record amount of tilt needed to reconcile paleomag with only 500 km displacement]
      • Umhoefer, P. J., J. F. Magloughlin, Comment on "Discordant paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast Plutonic Complex: Regional tilt rather than large-scale displacement", Geology, 18, p. 800-802, 1990. [considerable focus on the Mt. Stuart batholith as a place to dispute Butler et al. Argue that all tilt or all displacement interpretations merely end members, go on to suggest some tilting evidence is superimposing multiple events--e.g., reheating as tilting of K-Ar dates]
      • R. F. Butler, G. E. Gehrels, W. C. McClelland, S. R. May, and D. Klepacki, Reply on "Discordant paleomagnetic poles from the Canadian Coast Plutonic Complex: Regional tilt rather than large-scale displacement", Geology, 18, p. 800-802, 1990, [defend their position that large displacements unnecessary and arguments for tilt]
    • Ague, J. J., and Brandon, M. T., Tilt and northward offset of Cordilleran batholiths resolved using igneous barometry: Nature, v. 360, p. 146 –149, doi:10.1038/360146a0, 1992. [Instead of relying on the country rock tilts, use paleodepths to find paleohorizontal, suggest significant tilting but still large displacements]
    • Ague, J. J., and Brandon, M. T., Regional tilt of the Mt. Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum-in-
      hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 108, p. 471– 488, 1996 [much more complete than 1992 paper, same conclusion: Mt. Stuart moved 3000 km to north and was tilted down to southeast]
      • Anderson, J. L., Regional tilt of the Mount Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum- in-hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia: Discussion: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, p. 1223–1225, 1997 [argues Al-in-hornblende geobarometer too poorly calibrated for this use]
      • Ague, J. J., and Brandon, M. T., Regional tilt of the Mount Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum-in-
        hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia: Discussion: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, p. 1225–1227, 1997 [suggests Anderson's calibration issues for other lithologies outside range of calibration for geobarometer, notes consistency with other geologic info]
      • Paterson, S. R., Robert B. Miller, Regional tilt of the Mount Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum-in-hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia: Discussion: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 110 (5); p. 685-687; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(1998)110, 1998 [note complexities evident in more recent paleomag than the Beck work (Lund et al. abstracts) and that Windy Pass thrust, active as batholith emplaced, probably deformed the pluton; also notes difficulties with the paleomag]
      • Ague, J. J., Regional tilt of the Mount Stuart batholith, Washington, determined using aluminum-in-hornblende barometry: Implications for northward translation of Baja British Columbia: Reply: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 110 (5); p. 685-687; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(1998)110, 1998 [refutes point by point; basically that the scale of structures PAterson worries about don't affect things at the batholith scale]
      • Hoskin, P. W. O.; Steinitz, A., Mount Stuart amphibole; intra-sample variation and Al-in-hornblende barometry reassessed, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 72, no. 12S, p. A393, Jul 2008 [abstract at Goldschimdt conference suggesting that the geobarometry of Ague and Brandon done on the rims of hornblende that was in fact not in magmatic equilibrium]
      • Anderson JL, Morrison J, Paterson S, Francis J, Post-emplacement fluids and pluton thermobarometry: Mt. Stuart batholith, Washington Cascades. J Metamorph Geol (in revision in 2008) [something to watch for, as this changes the interpretation of tilting, but not out by early 2010]
    • Butler RF, Gehrels GE, Baldwin SL, Davidson C, Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Ecstall pluton in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia: Evidence for local deformation rather than large-scale transport. J Geophys Res, 107 (B1) , doi: 10.1029/2001JB000270, art.. 2009, 2002 [again, not Mt. Stuart, but the same kind of discussion of tilt vs. displacement and bears on Mt. Stuart, this time coming down in favor of local tilts using a number of kinds of data.]
      • Beck, M. E., and B. A. Housen. Comment on "Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Ecstall pluton in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia: Evidence for local deformation rather than large-scale transport'' by R. F. Butler et al. J Geophys Res, 110 (B1) doi:10.1029/2004JB003346, art.. B01101, 2005. [argue that while Ecstall pluton might be folded, paleomag from Mt. Stuart shows strong northward displacement and seems likely Ecstall participated]
      • Butler RF, Gehrels GE, and Davidson C, Reply to comment by M. E. Beck and B. A. Housen on "Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Ecstall pluton in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia: Evidence for local deformation rather than large-scale transport''. J Geophys Res,110 (B1) doi:10.1029/2004JB003439, art. B01102, 2005. [Defends geologic basis for the fold chosen and attacks the large-displacement hypothesis as getting unwieldy. Suggest that alternate fold axis of Beck and Housen is chosen to make paleomag consistent with large displacement and lacks geologic basis]
    • Housen B.A., Beck M.E., Burmester R.F., Fawcett T., Petro G., Sargent R., Addis K, Curtis K, Ladd J, Liner N, Molitor B, Montgomery T, Mynatt I, Palmer B, Tucker D, and White I, Paleomagnetism of the Mount Stuart batholith revisited again: What has been learned since 1972?. Am J Sci, 303 (4) pp. 263-299, 2003. [Class reexamination of paleomag data relevant to Mt. Stuart comes to similar conclusion to original work]
• Plate reconstructions
  • Debiche, M. G., A. Cox, and D. Engebretson, The Motion of Allochthonous Terranes, Special Paper Geological Society of America, 207, 1-49, 1985. [this continues to be cited although the plate reconstruction underneath it is probably in error]
  • Engebretson, D. C., A. Cox, and R. G. Gordon, Relative motions between oceanic and continental plates in the Pacific Basin, Special Paper Geological Society of America, 206, 1-59, 1985. [Although the premise of the hotspot reconstruction has severe limits, this paper really clarified how terranes could have very large latitudinal motions and provided a plate tectonic construct for understanding these terranes]
  • Wilson, K. M., W. W. Hay, and C. N. Wold, Mesozoic evolution of exotic terranes and marginal seas, western North America, Marine Geology, 102, 311-361, 1991. [This is Bill Hay's very alternative view to the western U.S., with numerous arcs, marginal seas, and subduction zones]
• Stock, J., and P. Molnar, Uncertainties and implications of the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary position of North America relative to the Farallon, Kula, and Pacific plates, Tectonics, 7, 1339-1384, 1988. [How to do plate reconstructions with uncertainties]
• Doubrovine, P. and J. Tarduno. A revised kinematic model for the relative motion between Pacific oceanic plates and North America since the Late Cretaceous. J Geophys Res, 113 (B12) art.. B12101, doi: 10.1029/2008JB005585, 2008.

Sevier Orogeny (fold-and-thrust belt)

• DeCelles, P. G., and G. Mitra, History of the Sevier orogenic wedge in terms of critical taper models, Northeast Utah and Southwest Wyoming, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107, 454-462, 1995
• Jordan, T. E., Thrust loads and foreland basin evolution, Cretaceous, western United States, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 65, 2506-2520, 1981. [Early attempt to use plate flexure to understand the history of a thrust belt]
• Lageson, D. R., J. G. Schmitt, B. K. Horton, T. J. Kalakay, and B. R. Burton, Influence of Late Cretaceous magmatism on the Sevier orogenic wedge, western Montana, Geology, 29, 723-726, 2001. [A somewhat different use of Coulomb wedge positing changes in wedge properties ]
• Allmendinger, R. W., Fold and thrust tectonics of the western United States exclusive of the accreted terranes, in The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S., The Geology of North America, vol. G-3, edited by B. C. Burchfiel, P. W. Lipman and M. L. Zoback, pp. 583-607, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colorado, 1992. [overview of state of the field c. 1990.]
• DeCelles. Late Jurassic to Eocene evolution of the Cordilleran thrust belt and foreland basin system, western USA. Am J Sci, 304 (2) pp. 105-168, 2004. [DeCelles overview of the whole of the orogen]
  • DeCelles, P. G., Late Cretaceous-Paleocene synorogenic sedimentation and kinematic history of the Sevier thrust belt, northeast Utah and southwest Wyoming, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106, 32-56, 1994. [Geology that was interpreted in DeCelles and Mitra paper]
  • DeCelles and Coogan. Regional structure and kinematic history of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, central Utah. Geol Soc Am Bull, 118 (7-8) pp. 841-864, 2006 [details in area to the south of the previous work]
• Miall, A. D., Initiation of the Western Interior foreland basin. Geology, 37 (4) pp. 383-384, 2009. [Brief recent perspective on when the foredeep in front of fol-and-thrust belt initially developed]
• Critical wedge/Coulomb wedge theory:
  • Moores, E. M., and R. J. Twiss, Tectonics, pp. 174-178 (also Fig. 7.27), W. H. Freeman & Co., New York, 1995. [the Cliff Notes version]
  • Davis, D., J. Suppe, and F. A. Dahlen, Mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges: Cohesive Coulomb theory, Journal of Geophysical Research, 88, 1153-1172, 1983. [where this started]
  • Dahlen, F. A., and T. D. Barr, Brittle Frictional Mountain Building .1. Deformation and Mechanical Energy Budget, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 3906-3922, 1989. [This and the following two papers attempt to consider a number of implications for running a Coulomb wedge over time]
  • Barr, T. D., and F. A. Dahlen, Brittle frictional mountain building .2. Thermal structure and heat budget, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 3923-3947, 1989.
  • Barr, T. D., F. A. Dahlen, and D. C. McPhail, Brittle Frictional Mountain Building 3. Low-Grade Metamorphism, J. Geophys. Res., 96 (B6), 10,319–10,338, 1991.
  • Dahlen, F. A., Critical taper model of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Scis., 18, 55-99, 1990 [not free for CU; overview from one of the principal authors]
  • Chapple, W. M., Mechanics of thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull, 89 (8), 1189-1198; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(1978)89, 1978. [this actually broke a logjam in thinking about fold-and-thrust belts, but uses a plastic rheology]
    • Elliott, D., Mechanics of thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts-Discussion, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 91, 185-187, 1980. [disputes mathematics of Chapple's solution; Elliott had previously written on this. Chapple was fatally ill by this time and did not respond]
    • Rod, E., Mechanics of thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts-Discussion, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 91, 188, 1980. [a rather cheesy disputation of the paper]
  • Price, R. A., The mechanical paradox of large overthrusts, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 100 (12), 1898-1908, 1988. [argues that solution to thrust-sheet paradox is in episodic motion of parts of the fault]
    • Washington, P. A., The mechanical paradox of large overthrusts-Alternative interpretation, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 102 (4), 529-532, 1990. [defends critical wedge theory against Price's assertion it is oversimplified; Price's response follows and is that internal deformation of fold-and-thrust belt is beyond critical-wedge theory]
  • Stockmal, G.S., C. Beaumont, M. Nguyen, and B. Lee, Mechanics of thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belts: Insights from numerical models, Geological Society of America Special Papers, 433, 63 - 98, 2007. [Not free link. Physical solution within fold-and-thrust belt illustrating structures that Coulomb wedge can't quite address; notes that issue remains with very weak faults required to reproduce thrust belt geometries.]

Balancing sections (related to Sevier and Laramide topics)

• Suppe, J., Geometry and kinematics of fault-bend folding, Am J Sci, 283 (7) pp. 684-721, 1983. [A very influential approach to constructing cross sections that are balanced and generally retrodeformable; Suppe's approach led to a large number of reinterpretations of folds, including blind thrusts in places like California that began experiencing earthquakes on such structures starting with the Coalinga earthquake of 1983]
  • Medwedeff, D.A., and J. Suppe, Multibend fault-bend folding. Journal of Structural Geology, 19 (3-4) pp. 279-292, 1997 [more recent update illustrating some complex fold geometries possible with fault-bend fold structures]
• Erslev, E. A, Trishear fault-propagation folding, Geology, 19 (6) pp. 617-620, 1991. [Particularly developed and applicable to foreland structures in crystalline rock, it seems; an alternative to the fault-bend fold style advocated by Suppe]

Laramide Orogeny: Structural style and displacement

• Brown, W. G., Deformational style of Laramide uplifts in the Wyoming foreland, in Interaction of the Rocky Mountain Foreland and the Cordilleran thrust belt, Geological Society of America Memoir, vol. 171, edited by C. J. Schmidt and W. J. Perry, Jr., pp. 1-25, Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, Colo., 1988. [Reviews some of the older ideas for the geometry of Laramide faults]
• Smithson S.B., J. Brewer, S. Kaufman, J. Oliver, and C. Hurich, Nature of Wind River Thrust, Wyoming, from COCORP deep-reflection data and from gravity data, Geology, 6 (11) pp. 648-652, 1978. [Direct evidence that at leat one major range-bounding fault was a thrust; Greis (1983) paper also confirms low-angle thrusts from industry data for a number of other structures]
• Erslev, E. A., Thrusts, back-thrusts, and detachment of Rocky Mountain foreland arches, in Laramide Basement deformation in the Rocky Mountain Foreland of the Western United States, Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Paper, vol. 280, edited by C. J. Schmidt, R. B. Chase and E. A. Erslev, pp. 339-358, Geol. Soc. Amer., Boulder, Colo., 1993. [stands back and looks at the whole of Laramide deformation to infer that shortening is relatively constant along NE-SW profiles across Wyoming]
  • Erslev, E. A.. Basement balancing of Rocky Mountain Foreland uplifts, Geology, 14 (3) pp. 259-262, 1986. [earlier paper discussing how to balance sections that include basement]
• Erslev, E. A. and N. V. Koenig. Three-dimensional kinematics of Laramide, basement-involved Rocky Mountain deformation, USA: Insights from minor faults and GIS-enhanced structure maps. Geol. Soc. Am. Memoir, 204 pp. 125-150, 2009. [no free CU link; compilation of fold and fault information for region to attempt to test ideas on influence of older structure and evolution of shortening direction with time]
• Bird, P., Kinematic history of the Laramide orogeny in latitudes 35 degrees-49 degrees N, western United States, Tectonics, 17, (5), 780-801, 1998. [compiles displacement histories across most Laramide structures and integrates to get displacement rate fields during the Laramide]
• Stress inversion methodology (additional refs on handout; also in more recent structural geology texts)
  • Angelier, J., Determination of the mean principal directions of stresses for a given fault population, Tectonophysics, 56, T17 – T26, 1979. (kind of the start of all this)
  • Angelier, J., Tectonic analysis of fault slip data sets: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 89, p. 5835–5848, 1984.(a more thorough discussion and demonstration of this approach)
    
  • Angelier, J., Inversion of field data in fault tectonics to obtain the regional stress: III. A new rapid direct inversion method by analytical means, Geophys. J. Int., 103 (2), pp. 363 - 376, 1990. (not free; one of the more recent restatements of this technique)
  • Krantz, Robert W., ORTHORHOMBIC FAULT PATTERNS: THE ODD AXIS MODEL AND SLIP VECTOR ORIENTATION, Tectonics, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 483–495, 1989. (effect of 3-D strain fields on fault geometries)
  • Pollard, D. D., S. D. Saltzer, and A. M. Rubin, Stress Inversion Methods - Are They Based on Faulty Assumptions?, J. Struct. Geol., 15, 1045-1054, 1993. [title says it all; mainly arguing the fault interactions can interfere with these approaches]
  • Sperner, B., and Zweigel, P., A plea for more caution in fault–slip analysis, Tectonophysics, 482 (1-4), 29-41, 2010
• Minor fault analyses
  • Bump, A. P., and G. H. Davis. Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary Laramide deformation of the northern Colorado Plateau, Utah and Colorado. Journal of Structural Geology, 25, pp. 421-440, 2003 (argues for multiple shortening directions in Colorado Plateau)
  • Bump, A.P., Three-dimensional Laramide deformation of the Colorado Plateau: Competing stresses from the Sevier thrust belt and the flat Farallon slab. Tectonics, 23 (1) art. TC1008, 2004. (takes the two orthogonal shortening directions and argues they are synchronous and thus result of triaxial strain)
  • Varga, R. J., Rocky Mountain foreland uplifts: Products of a rotating stress field or strain partitioning?, Geology, 21, (12), 1115-1118, 1993. (finds principal shortening normal to uplift trends, but argues this is an effect of strain partitioning)

Late Cretaceous subsidence: Dynamic topography

• Catuneanu O, A.R. Sweet, and A.D. Miall, Reciprocal stratigraphy of the Campanian-Paleocene Western Interior of North America. Sediment. Geol., 134 (3-4), pp. 235-255, 2000. [Tries to separate tectonic loads from sea level changes by comparing forebulge and foredeep sedimentation rates]
  • Catuneau, O., C. Beaumont, and P. Waschbusch, Interplay of static loads and subduction dynamics in foreland basins: Reciprocal stratigraphies and the ''missing'' peripheral bulge, Geology. 25 (12) pp. 1087-1090, 1997.[first intro to this idea, less detail]
    • Burgess, P. M., Interplay of static loads and subduction dynamics in foreland basins: Reciprocal stratigraphies and the "missing" peripheral bulge: Comment. Geology, 27 (1) pp. 93-94, 1999. (reply follows on pp. 94-5) [Complains that forebulges generally pretty small in overall picture, that dynamic effects easily identified without reciprocal stratigraphy, and that orogenic loads migrate and thus complicate picture. Reply notes misinterpretation of "static" load, defends physics as applied and notes that it is not absolute amplitudes of features but their change in time that matters]
• Mitrovica J.X., C. Beaumont, and G. T. Jarvis, Tilting of continental interiors by the dynamical effects of subduction, Tectonics, 8 (5) pp. 1079-1094, 1989. [kind of the start of the dynamic topography thread in the western U.S.]
• Liu, S., and D. Nummedal, Late Cretaceous subsidence in Wyoming: Quantifying the dynamic component. Geology, 32 (5) pp. 397, 2004 [detailed look at sedimentation in southern Wyoming and how much seems unrelated to flexural subsidence]
• Burgess P.M., M. Gurnis, and L. Moresi, Formation of sequences in the cratonic interior of North America by interaction between mantle, eustatic, and stratigraphic processes. Geol Soc America Bull, 109 (12) pp. 1515-1535, 1997. [Application of numerical models assuming fixed slab geometries to sedimentary history of North America]
  • Gurnis, M., Phanerozoic marine inundation of continents driven by dynamic topography above subducting slabs, Nature, 364, pp. 589-593, 1993. [global scale advances and retreats of sea level by variations in subduction and not ridge/spreading parameters]
• Tovish, A., G. Schubert, and B.P. Luyendyk, Mantle flow pressure and the angle of subduction - non-Newtonian corner flows J. Geophys. Res., 83 (NB12) pp. 5892-5898, 1978. [similar to the calculations also seen in Turcotte and Schubert, but adds non-Newtonian rheology; argues there is a range where slab dips are unstable]

Pelona/Orocopia/Rand schists

• Saleeby, J. B.,Segmentation of the Laramide Slab - evidence from the southern Sierra Nevada region. Geol Soc America Bull, 115 (6) pp. 655-668, 2003. [Structural geology at the north end of the schist belt; considers emplacement to be as slab steepens and under extensional tectonism at surface]
• Grove, M., C. E. Jacobson, A. P. Barth and A. Vucic, Temporal and spatial trends of Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary underplating Pelona and related schist beneath southern California and southwestern Arizona. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 374 pp. 381-406, 2003. [link not free; author has copy online, though. Presents detrital zircon and geochronological constraints on emplacement ages of schists; interprets variation as long-lived underplating progressively expanding inland]
  • Jacobson CE, Barth AP, Grove M, Late Cretaceous protolith age and provenance of the Pelona and Orocopia Schists, southern California: Implications for evolution of the Cordilleran margin. Geology, 28 (3) pp. 219-222, 2000. [Earlier dating with detrital zircons focused on southern schists, noting that north-to-south decrease in ages not consistent with Baja-B.C. cause for schists]
• Kidder, S., and M. N. Ducea. High temperatures and inverted metamorphism in the schist of Sierra de Salinas, California. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 241 (3-4) pp. 422-437, 2006. [Dates emplacement somewhat younger than Grove et al., argues that metamorphic gradient has to be conduction from overriding plate and not shear heating]
  • Ducea M.N., S. Kidder, J. Chesley, J. Saleeby, Tectonic underplating of trench sediments beneath magmatic arcs: the central California example. Int Geol Rev, 51 (1) pp. 1-26, 2009. [more recent paper focusing on relation of underthrusting and cessation of magmatism in Salinian region]

Laramide models

• Maxson, J., and B. Tikoff, Hit-and-run collision model for the Laramide orogeny, western United States, Geology, 24, (11), 968-972, 1996. [Baja-B.C. drives Laramide]
• Livaccari, R. F., Role of crustal thickening and extensional collapse in the tectonic evolution of the Sevier-Laramide Orogeny, Western United States, Geology, 19, (11), 1104-1107, 1991. [Extension in Sevier hinterland drives Laramide shortening]
• Bird, P., Formation of the Rocky Mountains, Western United States; a continuum computer model, Science, 239, (4847), 1501-1507, 1988. [quantitative apex of flat slab models for the Laramide]
  • Bird, P., Laramide crustal thickening event in the Rocky Mountain foreland and Great Plains. Tectonics, 3 (7) pp. 741-75, 1984. [this longer paper does a better job providing insight into the basic physics Bird uses in the 1988 paper, as well as summarizing the literature to this point]
  • Saleeby, J. B.,Segmentation of the Laramide Slab - evidence from the southern Sierra Nevada region. Geol Soc America Bull, 115 (6) pp. 655-668, 2003. [suggests a more limited Laramide flat slab than Bird and most earlier workers had; also notes more difficulties in removing lithosphere than Livaccari and Parry (1993)]
• Livaccari, R. F., and F. V. Perry, Isotopic evidence for preservation of Cordilleran lithospheric mantle during the Sevier-Laramide Orogeny, Western United States, Geology, 21, (8), 719-722, 1993. [tests Bird model of massive removal of lithosphere]
  • Bird, P., Isotopic evidence for preservation of Cordilleran lithospheric mantle during the Sevier-Laramide Orogeny, Western United States: Comment, Geology, 22, (7), 670-671, 1994. [argues removed lithosphere could have flowed back in by laminar flow]
  • Perry, F. V., and R. F. Livaccari, Isotopic evidence for preservation of Cordilleran lithospheric mantle during the Sevier-Laramide Orogeny, Western United States: Reply, Geology, 22, (7), 671-672, 1994.[Responds that lithosphere present before slab rollback]
• Bird, P., Kinematic history of the Laramide orogeny in latitudes 35 degrees-49 degrees N, western United States, Tectonics, 17, (5), 780-801, 1998. [tests shortening directions predicted by different models]
• English, J. M., and S.T. Johnston. The Laramide orogeny: What were the driving forces? Int Geol Rev, 46 (9) pp. 833-838, 2004. [Concludes we don't know what caused the Laramide deformation. A companion paper of sorts in EPSL in 2003 concluded that magmatic gap was consistent with a flat slab in region where magmatism is absent]
• Humphreys, E.D., Relation of flat subduction to magmatism and deformation in the western United States. Geological Society of America Memoirs, 204 pp. 85-98, 2009. [Not free. A recent overview, rather sketchy on details, of cause of Laramide; really more interested in consequences of slab removal]

Laramide analogy papers (esp. the flat slab and geology of the Sierra Pampeanas):

• Jordan, T. E., and R. W. Allmendinger, The Sierras Pampeanas of Argentina: A modern analogue of Rocky Mountain foreland deformation, American Journal of Science, 286, (10), 737-764, 1986. [not the first but probably most complete comparison]
• Cahill, T. A., and B. L. Isacks, Seismicity and shape of the subducted Nazca Plate, Journal of Geophysical Research, 97, (12), 17,503-17,529, 1992. [one of several showing the geometry of subduction as illuminated by seismicity]

Dynamics of flat slabs

• van Hunen J, A. P. van den Berg,and N. J. Vlaar, Various mechanisms to induce present-day shallow flat subduction and implications for the younger Earth: a numerical parameter study. Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors, 146 (1-2) pp. 179-194, 2004.[provides an overview of physical mechanisms for shallowing subduction as well as range of parameters when such shallowing is likely]
• Espurt N, F. Funiciello, J. Martinod, B. Guillaume, V. Regard, C. Faccenna, and S. Brusset, Flat subduction dynamics and deformation of the South American plate: Insights from analog modeling. Tectonics, 27 (3), art. TC3011, doi:10.1029/2007TC002175, 2008. [most notably, shows impact of buoyant plateau on subduction geometry as well as the topography in the overriding plate]

Hinterland extension and geobarometry

• Winter, John D., 27.4 Geothermobarometry, in An Introduction to Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, pp. 543-559, 2001. [this explains how geobarometry works and what assumptions it needs]
• Wernicke, B. P., and S. R. Getty, Intracrustal subduction and gravity currents in the deep crust; Sm-Nd, Ar-Ar, and thermobarometric constraints from the Skagit gneiss complex, Washington, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, 1149-1166, 1997. [Unusual means of decompressing lower crustal rocks]
• Hodges, K. V. and Walker, J. D., Extension in the Cretaceous Sevier orogen, North American Cordillera. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 104, pp. 560-569, 1992.
  • Hodges, K. V., A. W. Snoke, and H. A. Hurlow, Thermal evolution of a portion of the Sevier Hinterland; the northern Ruby Mountains-East Humboldt Range and Wood Hills, northeastern Nevada, Tectonics, 11, 154-164, 1992.
  • Harris, CR, T. D. Hoisch, and M. Wells, Construction of a composite pressure-temperature path: revealing the synorogenic burial and exhumation history of the Sevier hinterland, USA. J Metamorph Geol, 25 (8) pp. 915-934, 2007 [zoned garnet P-T work from NE Nevada]
• Druschke, P, A.D. Hanson, M.L. Wells, T. Rasbury, D. F. Stockli, and G. E. Gehrels, Synconvergent surface-breaking normal faults of Late Cretaceous age within the Sevier hinterland, east-central Nevada, Geology, 37 (5) pp. 447-450, 2009 [Argument for surface-breaking normal faulting as Sevier/Laramide shortening ongoing]
  • Druschke, P, A.D. Hanson, and M.L. Wells, Structural, stratigraphic, and geochronologic evidence for extension predating Palaeogene volcanism in the Sevier hinterland, east-central Nevada. Int Geol Rev, 51 (7-8) pp. 743-775, 2009 [longer and more purely geologic discussion with same conclusion]
• Martin, A, S. Wyld, J. Wright and J. Bradford, The Lower Cretaceous King Lear Formation, northwest Nevada: Implications for Mesozoic orogenesis in the western U.S. Cordillera. Geol Soc Am Bull, 122 (3-4) pp. 537-562, 2010. [argues that these nonmarine sediments post date all contraction and postdate significant Mesozoic extension in this area]
• Wells, M. L., and T. D. Hoisch. The role of mantle delamination in widespread Late Cretaceous extension and magmatism in the Cordilleran orogen, western United States. Geol Soc Am Bull, 120 (5-6) pp. 515-530, 2008. [overview of extensional interpretations along with a different interpretation]
  • Wells, M. L., Alternating contraction and extension in the hinterlands of orogenic belts: An example from the Raft River Mountains, Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, pp. 107-126, 1997. [structural geologic interpretation of multiple deformation events in one area thought to have extended in Sevier time]
  • Wells, M. L., T. L. Spell, T. D. Hoisch, T. Arriola, and K. A. Zanetti, Laser-probe ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of strain fringes: Mid-Cretaceous synconvergent orogen-parallel extension in the interior of the Sevier orogen, Tectonics, 27, TC3012, doi:10.1029/2007TC002153, 2008 [date syndeformational micas with Ar-Ar to conclude that extension parallel to trend of orogen occurred in 110-100 Ma range]
• Sullivan, W.A. and A. W. Snoke. Comparative anatomy of core-complex development in the northeastern Great Basin, U.S.A., Rocky Mountain Geology,42 (1) pp. 1-29, 2007. [Considers full history of core complexes but also summarizes somewhat different view of the Mesozoic extensional history]

Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic igneous activity:

• Ducea, M., The California arc: Thick granitic batholiths, eclogitic residues, lithospheric-scale thrusting, and magmatic flare-ups, GSA Today, 11, 4-10, 2001. [argues that pulses of high-volume magmatic activity come as sediments thrust under arcs]
  • Ducea, M. N., and M. Barton. Igniting flare-up events in Cordilleran arcs. Geol, 35 (11) pp. 1047-1050, 2007 [the reviewed version of this idea, with somewhat greater detail]
• Glazner, A. F., Plutonism, oblique subduction, and continental growth: An example from the Mesozoic of California, Geology, 19, p. 784-786, 1991. [Suggest plutonism only when space made by tectonics in the arc; at other times, just volcanism]
  • Ingersoll, R. V., Comment on Plutonism, oblique subduction, and continental growth: An example from the Mesozoic of California, Geology, 20 (3), 280-1, 1992. Reply follows, pp. 281-2.
• Armstrong, R. L. and P. L. Ward, Late Triassic to earliest Eocene magmatism in the North American Cordillera: Implications for the western interior basin, in Evolution of the Western Interior Basin (W.G.E. Caldwell and E. G. Kaufmann, eds.), Geol. Assoc. Canada Spec. Paper, 39 pp. 49-72, 1993 [Link to Ward website; Major compilation of radiometric ages to early 1990s from Mesozoic and early Cenozoic through whole Cordillera]
  • Ward, P. L., Subduction cycles under western North America during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras: Geol. Soc. Special Paper, 299, p. 1-45, 1995 [relates major plutonic episodes to times between substantial contractional episodes]
  • Tobisch, O.T , J. B. Saleeby, and R. S. Fiske, Structural history of continental volcanic arc rocks, eastern Sierra Nevada, California - A case for extensional tectonics. Tectonics, 5 (1) pp. 65-94, 1986. [infers many batholithic structures previously interpreted as compressional as extensional, cited by Ward but retracted in later work by these authors]
  • Tobisch O.T., R. S. Fiske, J. B. Saleeby, E. Holt, S. S. Sorensen, Steep tilting of metavolcanic rocks by multiple mechanisms, central Sierra Nevada, California. Geol Soc Am Bull,112 (7) pp. 1043-1058, 2000. [explicitly notes that Tobisch et al. 1986, not supported]
  • Sharp, et al. Development of Cretaceous transpressional cleavage synchronous with batholith emplacement, central Sierra Nevada, California Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 112(7), 2000. [overlapping authors, seems with another paper in same issue to retract extensional interpretation of Tobisch et al. 1986]
• DeGraaff-Surpless, K, S. A. Graham, J. L. Wooden, and M. O. McWilliams, Detrital zircon provenance analysis of the Great Valley Group, California: Evolution of an arc-forearc system. Geol Soc Am Bull, 114 (12) pp. 1564-1580, 2002. (Erratum published in 2003)[Contains a lot of detrital zircons from the arc that indicate significant volcanism at times without much plutonism]
• Ernst, W, U. Martens, and V. Valencia, U-Pb ages of detrital zircons in Pacheco Pass metagraywackes: Sierran-Klamath source of mid-Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous Franciscan deposition and underplating. Tectonics, 28 (6) paper TC6011, 2009. [detrital zircons both connecting Franciscan accretionary rocks to North America and indicating major volcanic pulses when Sierran plutonism was minor]
• Laramide:
  • Mutschler, F. E., E. E. Larson, and R. M. Bruce, Laramide and younger magmatism in Colorado; new petrologic and tectonic variations on old themes, in Cenozoic volcanism in the Southern Rocky Mountains updated; a tribute to Rudy C. Epis; Part 1., Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, vol. 82; 4, edited by W. Drexler John and E. Larson Edwin, pp. 1-47, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, United States, 1987. [argues for mantle source in part for Colorado Mineral Belt, notes failure of arc explanation]
  • Stein, H. J., and J. G. Crock, Late Cretaceous-Tertiary magmatism in the Colorado Mineral Belt; Rare earth element and samarium-neodymium isotopic studies, in The nature and origin of Cordilleran magmatism,Geol. Soc. Am. Memoir, vol. 174, edited by J. L. Anderson, pp. 195-223, Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, Colorado, 1990.

Core complexes:

Core complexes in the western U.S. were a subject of intense interest in the late 1970s (when their extensional origin became apparent) to the early 1990s; the literature is far too broad to fully embrace here. In particular, there are a large number of field geologic studies that describe the history of various core complexes. This list is more focused on the potential processes that could produce such features.

• Brace, W. F., and D. L. Kohlstedt, Limits on lithospheric stress imposed by laboratory experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 85, 6248-6252, 1980. [Seminal paper on changes in stress-strain relations in the lithosphere and what probably dictates them; essential to understanding many theories on core complexes]
  • Jackson, J., Strength of the continental lithosphere: Time to abandon the jelly sandwich?: GSA Today, v. 12, no. 9, doi: 10.1130/1052-5173(2002)012<0004:SOTCLT>2.0.CO;2, p. 4-10, 2002. [the "jelly sandwich" is the weak lower crust suggested by Brace and Kohlsetdt]
• Davis, G. H., and P. J. Coney. Geologic development of the Coridilleran metamorphic core complexes, Geology, 7 (3) pp. 120-124, 1979 [one of the first papers to outline core complexes as major Cenozoic extensional structures]
  • DeWitt, E., Comment on " Geologic development of the Coridilleran metamorphic core complexes", Geology, 8(1), pp. 6-7, 1980. (Reply follows on p. 8) [Argues a lot of core complexes are Mesozoic, and illustrates to some degree the challenge that emerged in understanding these things]
• Crittenden, M. D., Jr., P. J. Coney, and G. H. Davis, editors, Cordilleran Metamorphic Core Complexes, Geol. Soc. Am. Memoir, 153, 490 pp., 1980. [Contains much of the early literature that defined core complexes as we understand them today]
• Coney, P. J., and T. A. Harms, Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes - Cenozoic extensional relics of Mesozoic compression. Geology, 12 (9) pp. 550-554, 1984. [generally cited for suggesting that core complexes were result of crustal welt in hinterland of Mesozoic contractional belts]
• Gans, P. B., An open system, 2-layer crustal stretching model for the eastern Great Basin, Tectonics, 6, 1-12, 1987. [clearly outlined the problem of high-strain areas being adjacent to low-strain areas, solves it with magmatic additions]
  • Miller, E., P. Gans, and J. Garing, The Snake Range décollement: An exhumed mid-Tertiary ductile-brittle transition, Tectonics, 2 (3), 239-263, doi:10.1029/TC002i003p00239, 1983. [Tail end of a large debate on whether core complexes were bounded by major shear zones or vertically different modes of extension, the so-called "simple-shear" vs. "in-situ" or "pure-shear" modes of extension. This was one of the last major pure shear papers]
  • Bartley, J. M., and B. P. Wernicke, The Snake Range Decollement interpreted as a major extensional shear zone, Tectonics, 3 (6), 647-657, 1984 [in essences, the return salvo to Miller et al., 1983]
    • Gans, P., and E. Miller, Comment on “The Snake Range Decollement interpreted as a major extensional shear zone” by John. M. Bartley And Brian P. Wernicke, Tectonics, 4 (4), 411-415, 1985. [and back...]
    • Wernicke, B. P., and J. M. Bartley, Reply, Tectonics, 4 (4), 417-419, 1985.[..and forth]
• Block, L., and L. H. Royden, Core complex geometries and regional scale flow in the lower crust, Tectonics, 9, 557-567, 1990. [shows why you need crustal flow]
• Kruse, S., M. K. McNutt, J. Phipps-Morgan, L. Royden, and B. Wernicke, Lithospheric extension near Lake Mead, Nevada; a model for ductile flow in the lower crust, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 4435-4456, 1991. [one of the earliest papers to apply a physical model to flow in the lower crust generating core complexes]
• Wernicke, B., The fluid crustal layer and its implications for continental dynamics, in Exposed Cross-Sections of the Continental Crust, NATO Advanced Studies Institute, Series C, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, vol. 317, edited by M. H. Salisbury and D. M. Fountain, pp. 509-544, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, Mass., 1990.
• Sullivan, W. A., and A. W. Snoke. Comparative anatomy of core-complex development in the northeastern Great Basin, U.S.A. Rocky Mountain Geology, 42 (1) pp. 1-29 , 2007. [a relatively recent comparison of structures and dates in several core complexes, including Mesozoic events]
• Buck, W.R., Flexural rotation of normal faults: Tectonics, 7 pp. 959-973, 1988. [Physical basis for a "rolling hinge" model where low-angle faults are not active at low angles]
  • Buck, W. R., Modes of continental lithospheric extension, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 20,161-20,178, 1991. [expands on earlier work, using relatively simple conceptulization of the problem, shows under what conditions core complexes might be expected]
  • Buck, W. R. Effect of lithospheric thickness on the formation of high- and low-angle normal faults. Geology 21, 933–936, 1993.
  • Spencer, J.E., The role of tectonic denudation in the warping and uplift of low-angle normal faults: Geology, 12 pp. 95-98 doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1984)12<95:ROTDIW>2.0.CO;2, 1984 [predates rolling hinge, invoked isostasy to explain domal shape of core-complex-bounding faults]
  • Wernicke, B., and Axen, G.J., 1988, On the role of isostasy in the evolution of normal fault systems: Geology, v. 16 pp. 848-851 doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1988)016<0848:OTROII>2.3.CO;2, 1988 [this has been a popular touchstone for "rolling hinge" model of low-angle faults, but is tangled in the specific application to the Virgin-Beaver Dam Mtns, which isn't fully represented here]
    • Daniel G. Carpenter, James A. Carpenter, Michael D. Bradley, Ulrich A. Franz, Spence J. Reber, Gary J. Axen, and Brian P. Wernicke, Comment and Reply on "On the role of isostasy in the evolution of normal fault systems", Geology, 17, p. 774-776, 1989. [Objection to folding being late Cenozoic]

Basin and Range driving forces (ancient)

• Fleitout L, and C. Froidevaux, Tectonics and topography for a lithosphere containing density heterogeneities. Tectonics, 1 (1) pp. 21-56, 1982 [somewhat difficult but thorough exposition of role of body forces in tectonics]
• Jones, C. H., L. J. Sonder, and J. R. Unruh, Lithospheric gravitational potential energy and past orogenesis: Implications for conditions of initial basin and range and Laramide deformation. Geology, 26 pp. 639-642, 1998 [outlines evolution of body forces for Basin and Range and Rockies]
• Sonder, L. J., and C. H. Jones. Western United States extension: How the West was widened. Annu Rev Earth Pl Sc, 27 pp. 417-462+3 color plates, 1999. [this is rather long and is more a reference than a paper to study closely]

Low-angle normal faults:

Another subject littered with a lot of stuff, so this is just a small subset of the literature.

• Axen, G. J., Research Focus: Significance of large-displacement, low-angle normal faults, Geology, 35 (3), 287-288, 2007. [short, recent overview of argument over slip on low-angle faults when at low angle]
• Wernicke, B., Low-angle normal faults in the Basin and Range Province: nappe tectonics in an extending orogen. Nature 291, 645 - 648, doi:10.1038/291645a0, 1981. [not free at CU. Although earlier work had been pointing at possibly active low-angle normal faults, this crystalized the idea]
• Buck, W. R. Effect of lithospheric thickness on the formation of high- and low-angle normal faults. Geology 21, 933–936, 1993. [more specifically addresses low-angle normal faults with large displacements]
  • Lavier LL, W. R. Buck, and A.N.B. Poliakov, Self-consistent rolling-hinge model for the evolution of large-offset low-angle normal faults. Geology vol. 27 (12) pp. 1127-1130, 1999.
• Sevier Desert Detachment: although only one of several proposed LANFs, this one has attracted a lot of attention and serves to illustrate a lot of the problems in these interpretations. It is kind of the Baja-BC of extensional faults, though here opposition is focused in a single camp. Also, there is a move to try and drill this potential detachment fault (though webpages have not been updated since workshop was held).
  • Allmendinger, R. W., James W. Sharp, Douglas Von Tish, Laura Serpa, Larry Brown, Sidney Kaufman, Jack Oliver, and Robert B. Smith
    Cenozoic and Mesozoic structure of the eastern Basin and Range province, Utah, from COCORP seismic-reflection data
    Geology, 11, p. 532-536, 1983.[Although McDonald (1976) first suggested a large low-angle normal fault under the Sevier Desert, this paper served to advance the idea to the broader community]
  • Von Tish, D.B., R. W. Allmendinger, and J. W. Sharp, History of Cenozoic extension in central Sevier Desert, west-central Utah, From COCORP seismic reflection data. AAPG Bull (1985) vol. 69 (7) pp. 1077-1087, 1985 [more thorough geologic history from COCORP interpretation]
    • Mitchell, G. C., And R. E. McDonald. History of Cenozoic extension in central Sevier Desert, west-central Utah, from COCORP seismic reflection data - Discussion. AAPG Bull, 70 (8) pp. 1015-1021, 1986.
    • Von Tish, D.B., R. W. Allmendinger, and J. W. Sharp, History of Cenozoic extension in central Sevier Desert, west-central Utah, From COCORP seismic reflection data-Reply, AAPG Bull., 70 (8), 1022-1024, 1986.
  • Anders, M. H., and N. Christie-Blick. Is the Sevier Desert reflection of west-central Utah a normal fault?, Geology, 22 (9) pp. 771-774, 1994
    • Allmendinger, R. W. and F. Royse, Is the Sevier Desert reflection of west-central Utah a normal fault - Comment, Geology, 23 (7) pp. 669-670, 1995 (reply on p. 670)
  • Otton, J. K., Western frontal fault of the Canyon Range: Is it the breakaway zone of the Sevier Desert detachment?: Geology, 23 (6), p. 547–550, 1995. [argues that detachment is exposed]
    • Wills, S., and M. H. Anders. Western frontal fault of the canyon range: Is it the breakaway zone of the Sevier desert detachment? Comment. Geology, 24 (7) pp. 667-668, 1996. (Otton's reply follows on p. 668-9)
  • Coogan, J., and P. G. DeCelles. Extensional collapse along the Sevier Desert reflection, northern Sevier Desert basin, western United States. Geology, 24 (10) pp. 933-936, 1996. [argument for large extension from trying to reconstruct the Mesozoic fold-and-thrust belt]
    • Anders, M.H., N. Christie-Blick,and S. Wills. Extensional collapse along the Sevier Desert reflection, northern Sevier Desert basin, western United States: Comment. Geology, 26 (5) pp. 474-474, 1998. (Coogan and DeCelles reply on p. 475)
  • Stockli, D.F., Linn, J.K., Walker, J.D., and Dumitru, T.A., 2001, Miocene unroofing of the Canyon Range during extension along the Sevier Desert detachment, west central Utah: Tectonics, 20, p. 289–307, doi: 10.1029/2000TC001237, 2001.
  • Anders, M.H., Christie-Blick, N., Wills, S., and Krueger, S.W., 2001, Rock deformation studies in the Mineral Mountains and Sevier Desert of west-central Utah: Implications for upper crustal low-angle normal faulting: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, p. 895–907, doi: 10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<0895: RDSITM>2.0.CO;2. 7613(1995)023<0547:WFFOTC>2.3.CO;2. , 2001 [in essence, finds that structures at exposed detachment are inconsistent with materials found in wells penetrating reflector interpreted to be the detachment]
  • Wills, S, M. H. Anders, and N. Christie-Blick, Pattern of Mesozoic thrust surfaces and Tertiary normal faults in the Sevier Desert subsurface, west-central Utah. Am J Sci, 305 (1) pp. 42-100, 2005.
    
  • DeCelles, P. G., and J. Coogan. Regional structure and kinematic history of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, central Utah. Geol Soc Am Bull, 118 (7-8) pp. 841-864, 2006 [not so much the paper but the comment and reply that interest us here]
    • Christie-Blick, N. and M. Anders. Regional structure and kinematic history of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, central Utah: Discussion. Geol Soc Am Bull, 119 (3-4) pp. 506-507, 2007.
    • Coogan, J., and P. G. DeCelles. Regional structure and kinematic history of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, central Utah: Reply. Geol Soc Am Bull, 119 (3-4) pp. 508-512, 2007.

Paleoelevation

• General overviews of techniques:
  • Kohn, M. (Editor), Paleoaltimetry: Geochemical and Thermodynamic Approaches, Rev. Minerol. Geochem., 66, 278 pp., 2007.[has contributions from most of the major players in this game]
  • Galewsky, J., Orographic precipitation isotopic ratios in stratified atmospheric flows: Implications for paleoelevation studies. Geology, 37 (9) pp. 791-794, 2009. [indicates that assumptions underlying most oxygen and hydrogen isotope paleoaltimetry are likely compromised in real-world situations, Specifically notes issues in Sierra Nevada]
  • Axelrod, D. I., Paleoelevation estimated from Tertiary floras, in Integrated Earth and Environmental Evolution of the Southwestern United States: The Clarence A. Hall, Jr. Volume, edited by W. G. Ernst and C. A. Nelson, pp. 70-79, Bellweather Publ., Columbia, Maryland, 1998. [A final blast from a pioneer in this with paleotological materials who preferred comparing flora at the genera scale to leaf physiognomy]
  • England, P., and P. Molnar, Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks, Geology, 18, 1173-1177, 1990. [Argued that rock uplift, as measured by P-T work or, more commonly, erosion rates inferred from fission-track studies, was not relevant to changes in mean surface elevation]
    • Hatfield, C. B., Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks: Comment, Geology, 19, 1051, 1991.
    • England, P., and P. Molnar, Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks: Reply, Geology, 19, 1051-1052, 1991.
    • Pinter, N., and E. A. Keller, Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks: Comment, Geology, 19, 1053, 1991.
    • England, P., and P. Molnar, Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks: Reply, Geology, 19, 1053-1054, 1991.
• Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau
  • Wolfe, J. A., C. E. Forest, and P. Molnar, Paleobotanical evidence of Eocene and Oligocene paleoaltitudes in midlatitude western North America, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 110, 664-678, 1998. [Finds bulk of western U.S. was higher in early Tertiary]
  • Gregory, K. M., and C. G. Chase, Tectonic significance of paleobotanically estimated climate and altitude of the late Eocene erosion surface, Colorado, Geology, 20, 581-585, 1992. [Challenge to long-held belief that Rockies rose in late Tertiary]
    • Gregory, K. M., and C. G. Chase. Tectonic and climatic significance of a Late Eocene low-relief, high-level geomorphic surface, Colorado. J Geophys Res-Sol Ea, 99 pp. 20141-20160, 1994 [Tries to reconcile paleoelvation of earlier paper with erosional history by developing an argument that late Cenozoic incision could be climatic]
  • Sahagian, D, Proussevitch AA, and W. D. Carlson WD, Timing of Colorado Plateau uplift: Initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations. Geology, 30 (9) pp. 807-810, 2002 [uses vesicle sizes in basalts to find that Colorado Plateau has been rising through mainly late Tertiary time]
    • Libarkin, J. C., and C. G. Chase, Timing of Colorado Plateau uplift: Initial constraints from vesicular basalt-derived paleoelevations: Comment, Geology, 31 (2), 191-192, 2003 (reply follows on 192) [quibbles with the functions drawn through paleoelevations]
  • Carroll A.R., A. C. Doebbert, A. L. Booth, C. P. Chamberlain, M. K. Rhodes-Carson, M. E. Smith, C. M. Johnson, and B. L. Beard, Capture of high-altitude precipitation by a low-altitude Eocene lake, Western US. Geology, 36 (10) pp. 791-794 , 2008 [infers change in oxygen isotopes of lake sediments reflects addition of high-altitude source and not change in local elevation]
    • Davis, S.J., B.A. Wiegand, A. Carroll, and C. P. Chamberlain, The effect of drainage reorganization on paleoaltimetry studies: An example from the Paleogene Laramide foreland. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 275 (3-4) pp. 258-268, 2008. [Illustrates complications in oxygen-isotope work from possible changes in drainage systems]
  • Davis, S. J, A. Mulch, A. Carroll, T. W. Horton, and C. P. Chamberlain, Paleogene landscape evolution of the central North American Cordillera: Developing topography and hydrology in the Laramide foreland. Geol Soc Am Bull, 121 (1-2) pp. 100-116, 2009. [Uses data in earlier paper to try and build a story of the evolution of the SW Wyoming-N Utah-NW Colorado region in early-middle Tertiary, inferring that isotopic changes and drainage integrations reflected a north-to-south increase in elevation over this time frame]
• Basin and Range
  • Wolfe, J. A., H. E. Schorn, C. E. Forest, and P. Molnar, Paleobotanical evidence for high altitudes in Nevada during the Miocene, Science, 276, 1672-1675, 1997. [Infers from leaf fossils that Nevada was higher prior to last episode of normal faulting]
  • Mulch, A, C. Teyssier, M. A. Cosca, O. Vanderhaeghe, and T. W. Vennemann, Reconstructing paleoelevation in eroded orogens. Geology, 32 (6) pp. 525-528, 2004. [boldly interprets hydrogen isotopes in muscovites in core complex for paleoelevation]
  • Horton, T.W., D. K. Sjostrom, M. J. Abruzzese, M. A. Poage, J. R. Waldbauer, M. Hren, J. Wooden, and C. P. Chamberlain, Spatial and temporal variation of Cenozoic surface elevation in the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada. Am J Sci, 304 pp. 862-888, 2004. [Mainly oxygen isotope work showing early Tertiary uplift followed by subsidence in Miocene]
• Sierra Nevada
  • Small, E. E., and R. S. Anderson, Geomorphically driven Late Cenozoic uplift in the Sierra Nevada, California, Science, 270, 277-280, 1995. [Argues that incision of canyons in Sierra is unrelated to changes in mean elevation]
  • House M.A., B. P. Wernicke, and K.A. Farley, Dating topography of the Sierra Nevada, California, using apatite (U-Th)/He ages. Nature, 396 (6706) pp. 66-69, 1998. [unusual in that it infers high Sierra in early Tertiary from inferred river canyons found with (U-Th)/He dates]
    • House M.A., B. P. Wernicke, and K.A. Farley, Paleo-geomorphology of the Sierra Nevada, California, from (U-Th)/He ages in apatite. Am J Sci., 301 (2) pp. 77-102, 2001 [adds a second profile lacking variations]
    • Clark M, G. Maheo, J. B. Saleeby, K. A. Farley, The non-equilibrium landscape of the southern Sierra Nevada, California. GSA Today, 15 (9) pp. 4-10, 2005. [adds data in Kern Canyon region and reinterprets House et al. for much lower ancient Sierra]
  • Jones, C. H., G. L. Farmer, and J. R. Unruh, Tectonics of Pliocene removal of lithosphere of the Sierra Nevada, California. Geol Soc America Bull., 116 (11-12) pp. 1408, 2004. [infers younger Sierran uplift from Eocene channel geometries and younger geologic constraints, specifically addressing House et al. interpretations]
  • Poage, M. A., and C. P. Chamberlain. Stable isotopic evidence for a Pre-Middle Miocene rain shadow in the western Basin and Range: Implications for the paleotopography of the Sierra Nevada. Tectonics, 21 (4), paper 1034, 2002. [Uses oxygen isotopes in minerals to estimate evolution of rain shadow, finds Sierran rainshadow unchanged over last ~15 Ma]
    • Mulch A., A. M. Sarna-Wojcicki, M. E. Perkins, and C.P. Chamberlain, A Miocene to Pleistocene climate and elevation record of the Sierra Nevada (California). P Natl Acad Sci USA, 105 (19) pp. 6819-6824, 2008. [using oxygen isotopes in volcanic glasses, infers unchanged rain shadow since at least Miocene]
  • Mulch, A., S. A. Graham, and C. P. Chamberlain, Hydrogen isotopes in Eocene river gravels and paleoelevation of the Sierra Nevada. Science, 313 (5783) pp. 87-89, 2006. [infers Eocene Sierra at or near modern elevations]
    • Cassel E.J., S. A. Graham, and C. P. Chamberlain, Cenozoic tectonic and topographic evolution of the northern Sierra Nevada, California, through stable isotope paleoaltimetry in volcanic glass. Geology, 37 (6) pp. 547-550, 2009. [adds Oligocene volcanic glass measurements to get similar story for rain shadow/high Sierra in Oligocene]
  • Crowley B., P. Koch, and E. Davis, Stable isotope constraints on the elevation history of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Geol Soc Am Bull, 120 (5-6) pp. 588-598, 2008 [similar story for high Sierra in Miocene from isotopes in horse teeth]
  • Hren M., M. Pagani, D. Erwin, and M. Brandon, Biomarker reconstruction of the early Eocene paleotopography and paleoclimate of the northern Sierra Nevada. Geology, 38 (1) pp. 7-10, 2010. [finds high Sierra in Eocene from hydrogen isotopes and biomarker in fossil leaves]
  • Molnar, P., Deuterium and oxygen isotopes, paleoelevations of the Sierra Nevada, and Cenozoic climate, Geological Society of America Bulletin B30001.1, first published on March 29, 2010, doi:10.1130/B30001.1, 2010 [in press] [argues that differences in atmospheric dynamics limit quantitative predictions of ancient elevation: Sierra could have been much lower and still yielded isotopic ratios seen]

Ignimbrite Flareup and Extension-Magmatism relationships

• Armstrong , R. L., and P. Ward. Evolving geographic patterns of Cenozoic magmatism in the North American cordillera - The temporal and spatial association of magmatism and metamorphic core complexes. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96 (B8) pp. 13201-13224, 1991 [last major pre-NAVDAT summary of magmatic sweeps; also contends that magmatism is a precondition for core complexes]
• Best, M. G., and Christiansen, E. H., Limited extension during peak Tertiary volcanism, Great Basin of Nevada and Utah: Journal of Geophysical Research, 96, no. 8, p. 13,509-13,528, 1991. [Obviously an obvious difference with Armstrong and Ward. From more detailed study within overall region. Both part of a special issue on magmatism and tectonics]
• Axen, G. J., Taylor, W. J., and Bartley, J. M., Space-time patterns and tectonic controls of Tertiary extension and magmatism in the Great Basin of the Western United States: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 105 (1), p. 56-76, 1993 [infer extension preceded volcanism in southern Nevada]
• Sawyer, D. A., Fleck, R. J., Lanphere, M. A., Warren, R. G., Broxton, D. E., and Hudson, M. R., Episodic caldera volcanism in the Miocene southwestern Nevada volcanic field: Revised stratigraphic framework, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology, and implications for magmatism and extension: Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106 (10), p. 1304-1318, 1994 [infer that magmatism deflects deformation, noting absence of large basin-range faulting through SW Nevada volcanic field. This was arguably the end of the igmibrite flareup]
• Spencer, J. E., Richard, S. M., Reynolds, S. J., Miller, R. J., Shafiqullah, M., Gilbert, W. G., and Grubensky, M. J., 1995, Spatial and temporal relationships between mid-Tertiary magnetism and extension in southwestern Arizona: Journal of Geophysical Research, 100 (6), p. 10,321-10,351. [Rather iffier than stuff in Great Basin; seems broadly to overlap but in detail not to]

Sierra Nevada Structure

• Older, thick Sierran papers
  • Lawson, A. C., 1936, The Sierra Nevada in the light of isostasy: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 47, p. 1691-1712, 1936. [First attempt to infer crustal structure of Sierra in the past on geologic and isostatic bounds]
    • Byerly, P., Comments on "The Sierra Nevada in the light of isostasy," by A. C. Lawson: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 48 (suppl), p. 2025-2031, 1938 (?). [seismological justification for a thick crust from observations of a delay to Tinemaha from coastal California earthquakes]
  • Oliver, H. W., M.F. Kane, and L.C. Pakiser, Gravity anomalies in the central Sierra Nevada, California, J Geophys Res, 66 (12) pp. 4265-4271, 1961. [presents first high density gravity survey in Sierra, confirming older seismic models from 1940s and 1950s with a thick crustal root]
  • Eaton, J. P., Crustal structure in northern and central California from seismic evidence: Bull. Calif. Div. Mines Geol.:, 190, p. 419-426, 1966. [analysis of 1962 long distance refraction profiles along the Sierran axis that confirmed and refined older thick crust interpretation]
  • Carder, D. S., Qamar, A., and McEvilly, T. V., Trans-California seismic profile—Pahute Mesa to San Francisco Bay: Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., v. 60, p. 1829-1846, 1970 [east-west profile across the Sierra has arrivals from east too early for a thick crustal root]
    • Carder, D. S., Trans-California seismic profile, Death Valley to Monterey Bay: Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., v. 63, p. 571-586, 1973 [replaces a thick Sierran crustal root with low velocity upper mantle]
  • Oliver, H. W., 1977, Gravity and magnetic investigation of the Sierra Nevada batholith, California: Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 88, p. 445-461. [use gravity to confirm thick Sierran crust and reject Carder-type thin crust models]
  • Pakiser, L. C., and Brune, J. N., Seismic models of the root of the Sierra Nevada: Science, v. 210, p. 1088-1094, 1980. [Introduces travel times observed from an earthquake near Truckee that seem to require a thick crust. Actually a response to Carder's models of a thin Sierran crust, suggesting an east-dipping high-velocity "waveguide" could explain the Carder observations (unfortunately, high-velocity "waveguides" tend to disperse energy and are an unlikely solution).]
  • Bolt, B. A., and Gutdeutsch, R., Reinterpretation by ray tracing of a transverse refraction profile through the California Sierra Nevada, part I: Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 72, p. 889-900, 1982. [A response to both Pakiser and Brune (1980) and Carder papers, curiously seems to find that the Carder model works better but argue that something like Pakiser and Brune want is more likely. There was never a part II]
  • Chase, C. G., and T. C. Wallace, Uplift of the Sierra Nevada of California, Geology, 14, 730-733, 1986. [An interesting proposal for how a very thick Mesozoic root could have produced a late Cenozoic uplift through flexure].
    • Chase, C. G., and Wallace, T. C., Flexural isostasy and uplift of the Sierra Nevada of California: J. Geophys. Res., 93, p. 2795-2802, 1988. [expands upon the idea of Chase and Wallace 1986 by better modeling flexural stresses]
    • Kennelly, P. J., and Chase, C. G., Flexure and isostatic residual gravity of the Sierra Nevada: J. Geophys. Res., 94 (B2), p. 1759-1764, 1989. [attempts to justify "overcompensated" Sierra with gravity analysis; unfortunately, the near-surface anomalies make this interpretation highly non-unique]
  • Savage, M. K., Li, L., Eaton, J. P., Jones, C. H., and Brune, J. N., Earthquake refraction profiles of the root of the Sierra Nevada: Tectonics, 13, no. 4, p. 803-817, 1994. [attempt to reconcile observations of Pakiser and Brune by adding a large number of other earthquake observations. These have never been fully explained for Sierran structure]
• Mavko, B. B., and Thompson, G. A., Crustal and upper mantle structure of the northern and central Sierra Nevada: J. Geophys. Res., v. 88, p. 5874-5892, 1983. [from teleseismic delay time variations in the northern Sierra, infers thinning mantle lithosphere from north to south responsible for part of the elevation of the Sierra]
• General application of gravity anomalies
  • Simpson, R. W., and R. C. Jachens, Gravity methods in regional studies, Mem. Geol. Soc. Am., 172, Geol. Soc. Am., 35-44, 1989. [provides a general background for how to interpret gravity anomalies]
  • Jachens, R. C., R. W. Simpson, R. J. Blakely, and R. W. Saltus, Isostatic residual gravity and crustal geology of the United States, Mem. Geol. Soc. Am., 172, Geol. Soc. Am., 405-424, 1989. [contains the explanation of trouble with common interpretations of the isostatic gravity anomaly]
• Saltus, R. W., and A. H. Lachenbruch, Thermal evolution of the Sierra Nevada: Tectonic implications of new heat flow data, Tectonics, 10, (2), 325-344, 1991. [correlations of surface density and heat flow indicate that surface variations should extend to greater depth; also adds to heat flow measurements in Sierra]
  • Oliver, H. W., Moore, J. G., and Sikora, R. F., 1993, Internal structure of the Sierra Nevada batholith based on specific gravity and gravity measurements: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 20, no. 20, p. 2179-2182. [more brute force, generation of synthetic isostatic residual gravity maps for surface densities extrapolated to different depths concludes surface variations extend to ~10 km depth, but deeper to east and shallower to west]
• Jones, C. H., Is extension in Death Valley accomodated by thinning of the mantle lithosphere beneath the Sierra Nevada, California?, Tectonics, 6, 449-473, 1987. [Contains an overview of the work done that led to the interpretation of a thick root]
• Jones, C. H., H. Kanamori, and S. W. Roecker, Missing roots and mantle "drips": Regional P_n and teleseismic arrival times in the southern Sierra Nevada and vicinity, California, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 4567-4601, 1994. [Gravity and refraction portions suggest a thin crust under High Sierra]
• Saleeby, J. B., Progress in tectonic and petrogenetic studies in an exposed cross-section of young (~100 Ma) continental crust, southern Sierra Nevada, California, in Exposed Cross-Sections of the Continental Crust, NATO Advanced Studies Institute, Series C, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, vol. 317, edited by M. H. Salisbury, pp. 137-158, D. Reidel Publishing Co., Norwell, Mass., 1990. [Surface geologic constraints on the variations with depth in the batholith, though interpreted in framework of older geophysical interpretations of the Sierra]
• Ducea, M. N., and J. B. Saleeby, Buoyancy sources for a large, unrooted mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, California: Evidence from xenolith thermobarometry, J. Geophys. Res., 101, (B4), 8229-8244, 1996. [First of several papers reconstructing the batholith's deeper parts from xenoliths]
  • Ducea, M. N., and J. B. Saleeby, The age and origin of a thick mafic-ultramafic keel from beneath the Sierra Nevada batholith, Contrib. Minerol. Petrol., 133, 169-185, 1998.
• Fliedner, M. M., Ruppert, S., and SSCD Working Group, Three-dimensional crustal structure of the southern Sierra Nevada from seismic fan profiles and gravity modeling: Geology, v. 24, p. 367-370, 1996. ["Modern" refraction profile across and along Sierra shows a thin crust; convinced those unconvinced by Jones et al. 1994]
  • Ruppert, S., Fliedner, M. M., and Zandt, G., 1998, Thin crust and active upper mantle beneath Southern Sierra Nevada: Tectonophysics, v. 286, no. 1-4, p. 237-252. [Fuller presentation of the main refraction profiles from 1993 experiment]
  • Fliedner MM, Klemperer SL, Christensen NI, Three-dimensional seismic model of the Sierra Nevada arc, California, and its implications for crustal and upper mantle composition. J Geophys Res, 105 (B5) pp. 10899-10921, 2000. [Relies on fan shots to fill in gaps; not clear these are not contaminated by near-profile velocities]
• Wernicke, B., R. Clayton, M. Ducea, C. H. Jones, S. Park, S. Ruppert, J. Saleeby, J. K. Snow, L. Squires, M. Fliedner, G. Jiracek, R. Keller, S. Klemperer, J. Luetgert, P. Malin, K. Miller, W. Mooney, H. Oliver, and R. Phinney, Origin of high mountains in the continents: The southern Sierra Nevada, Science, 271, 190-193, 1996. [Highlights of the 1993 SSCD project's results, including speculation that the Sierra could be lowering in elevation]
• Jones, C. H., and Phinney, R. A., 1998, Seismic structure of the lithosphere from teleseismic converted arrivals observed at small arrays in the southern Sierra Nevada and vicinity, California: Journal of Geophysical Research, 103 (B5), p. 10,065-10,090., 1998 [confirms thin crust under crest, thickening to west using receiver functions from 1993 experiment]

Neogene Plate Boundary Changes

• Atwater, T., Implications of plate tectonics for the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of western North America, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 81, 3513-3536, 1970. [Classic early interpretation of WUS in terms of plate tectonics].
  • Stock, J., and P. Molnar, Uncertainties and implications of the Late Cretaceous and Tertiary position of North America relative to the Farallon, Kula, and Pacific plates, Tectonics, 7, 1339-1384, 1988. [How to do plate reconstructions with uncertainties]
  • Atwater, T. M., Plate tectonic history of the northeast Pacific and western North America, The Geology of North America, vol. N, Geological Society of America, 21-72, 1989. [overview of methods and chief results to late 1980s].
  • Atwater, T. and J. Stock. Pacific North America plate tectonics of the Neogene southwestern United States: An update. Int Geol Rev, 40 (5) pp. 375-402, 1998. [updated reconstruction using improved reconstructions all along the plate circuit]
• Dickinson, W. R., and Snyder, W. S., 1979, Geometry of subducted slabs related to San Andreas transform: J. Geol., 87, p. 609-627, 1979. [clearly showed how a ridge encountering a trench does not lead to any subducted ridge, but instead a hole opens in the trailing edge of the slab]
  • Thorkelson, D. J. and R. P. Taylor, Cordilleran slab windows. Geology, 17 (9) pp. 833-836 , 1989 [mainly focused on northern slab window/slab gap in British Columbia and Pacific Northwest]
• Fox KF, Fleck RJ, Curtis GH, and Meyer CE, Implications of the northwestwardly younger age of the volcanic-rocks of west-central California, Geol Soc Am Bull, 96 (5) pp. 647-654, 1985. [connects the slab window more explicitly to volcanic evolution in coastal California]
  • Dickinson, W. R., Tectonic implications of Cenozoic volcanism in coastal California, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109 (8), 936-954, 1997. [In essence, an update of Fox et al.]
• Wilson DS, McCrory PA, Stanley RG, Implications of volcanism in coastal California for the Neogene deformation history of western North America. Tectonics, 24 (3), doi: 10.1029/2003TC001621, art. TC3008, 2005 [attempts to use volcanic history at coast to infer intraplate deformation to east]
• Pallares C, Maury RC, Bellon H, Royer J, Calmus T, Aguillon-Robles A, Cotten J, Benoit M, Michaud F, Bourgois J, Slab-tearing following ridge-trench collision: Evidence from Miocene volcanism in Baja California, Mexico. J Volcanol Geoth Res, 161 (1-2) pp. 95-117, 2007. [Attempts to examine the process of creating a slab gap through volcanic rocks in Baja California]

Columbia River Basalts/Snake River Plain/Yellowstone

Arguments about a plume model for Yellowstone and the Columbia River Flood Basalts/Steens basalts are also more forcefully presented in contributions to the Mantle Plumes website. Note that while these are not peer reviewed, the contributors frequently have publications in the literature to back up their arguments. Related material, some directly addressing this topic, can be found in GSA Special Paper 388, Plate, Plumes, and Paradigms and GSA Special Paper 430, Plate, Plumes and Planetary Processes (free versions of most of the papers can be found on the mantleplumes website along with discussions that can be both enlightening and confusing)

• Pierce, K. L. and L. A. Morgan. Is the track of the Yellowstone hotspot driven by a deep mantle plume? Review of volcanism, faulting, and uplift in light of new data. J Volcanol Geoth Res., 188 (1-3) pp. 1-25, 2009. [A recent review concluding that this volcanism originates in a mantle plume]
• Christiansen, R., G. R. Foulger, and J. R. Evans, Upper-mantle origin of the Yellowstone hotspot. Geol Soc Am Bull, 114 (10) pp. 1245-1256, 2002. [reviews tectonic arguments against Yellowstone-Snake River Plain volcanism being a plume with an interpretation of existing seismic tomography to argue against a plume origin]
  • Christiansen, R. L., and R. S. Yeats, Post-Laramide geology of the U.S. Cordilleran region, in The Geology of North America, vol.G-3, Geol. Soc. Am., 261-406, 1992. [esp. pp. 378-383; contrary view of hotspot origin to Yellowstone and Columbia Plateau]
  • Jordan BT, Grunder AL, Duncan RA, Deino AL, Geochronology of age-progressive volcanism of the Oregon High Lava Plains: Implications for the plume interpretation of Yellowstone. J Geophys Res, 109 (B10) pp. B10202, 2004. [although confirming the relationship highlighted in above papers, these authors interpret east-to-west younging of volcanism as edge of mantle plumehead]
• Geist, D., and M. Richards, Origin of the Columbia Plateau and Snake River plain: Deflection of the Yellowstone plume, Geology, 21, 789-792, 1993. [Older paper seeking to reconcile multiple source regions for flood basalts relative to later Yellowstone trend by bending a plume around the subducting Juan de Fuca slab]
• Hooper, P.R., G. B. Binger, and K. R. Lees, Ages of the Steens and Columbia River flood basalts and their relationship to extension-related calc-alkalic volcanism in eastern Oregon, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 114, 43-50, 2002. [puts Steens basalt prior to main Columbia River basalts]
  • Brueseke M.E., M. T. Heizler, W. K. Hart, and S. A. Mertzman, Distribution and geochronology of Oregon Plateau (USA) flood basalt volcanism: The Steens Basalt revisited. J Volcanol Geoth Res, 161 (3) pp. 187-214, 2007. [Shows Steens basalts actually erupted over a longer time interval and probably from multiple vents, so overlap in time with Columbia River Basalt]
• Wolff, J.A., F.C. Ramos, G.L. Hart, J.D. Patterson, and A.D. Brandon, Columbia River flood basalts from a centralized crustal magmatic system. Nat Geosci, 1 (3) pp. 177-180, 2008. [argues geochemical variations in these basalts consistent with evolution of a single magma system]
• Tikoff B, B. Benford, and S. Giorgis, Lithospheric control on the initiation of the Yellowstone hotspot: Chronic reactivation of lithospheric scars. Int Geol Rev, 50 (3) pp. 305-324, 2008 [emphasizes role of Western Idaho Shear Zone and, to a lesser degree, Northern Nevada Rift in localizing beginning of Yellowstone volcanic trend]
  • Shervais, J. W. and B.B. Hanan. Lithospheric topography, tilted plumes, and the track of the Snake River-Yellowstone hot spot. Tectonics, 27 (5) art. TC5004 , 2008. [Explores interference of older lithospheric structure with an emerging plume to generate Columbia Plateau-Snake River Plains volcanism]
• Zoback M.L., E.H.McKee, R. J. Blakely,and G.A.Thompson, The Northern Nevada Rift - Regional tectonomagmatic relations and Middle Miocene stress direction. Geol Soc Am Bull, vol. 106 pp. 371-382, 1994. [Describes long dike-like structure coeval with Columbia River basalt]
• Carlson, R. W., and W. K. Hart, Crustal Genesis on the Oregon Plateau, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 6191-6206, 1987. [Back-arc origin for Columbia River basalts]
  • Smith, A.D. Back-arc convection model for Columbia River Basalt genesis. Tectonophysics, 207 (3-4) pp. 269-285, 1992. [Variation on Carlson and Hart's model
• Yuan, H. Y., and K. Dueker. Teleseismic P-wave tomogram of the Yellowstone plume. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32 (7) art.. L07304, 2005 [body-wave tomography from PASSCAL portable experiments showing a low-velocity body extending under Yellowstone to NW to ~500 km depth but not deeper]
  • Fee, D., and K.Dueker. Mantle transition zone topography and structure beneath the Yellowstone hotspot. Geophys. Res. Lett. (2004) vol. 31 (18) art. L18603, 2004. [Use P-to-S conversions from 410- and 660-km discontinuities to show no plume directly under Yellowstone, though one through 410 to NW possible, no plume seen transiting the 660]
• Waite, GP, R. B, Smith, and R.M. Allen, V-P and V-S structure of the Yellowstone hot spot from teleseismic tomography: Evidence for an upper mantle plume. J Geophys Res., 111 (B4) art. B04303, 2006 [another tomographic model of Yellowstone portable experiment studies concluding a plume is imaged to the base of the transition zone]
• Schutt, D. and K. G. Dueker. Temperature of the plume layer beneath the Yellowstone hotspot. Geology, 36 (8) pp. 623-626, 2008. [Finds low velocities under Yellowstone at ~80 km depth are at least 55-80°C hotter than normal mid-ocean ridge mantle]

Late Tertiary erosion (focus on Colorado Plateau)

• England, P. C., and P. Molnar. Surface uplift, uplift of rocks, and exhumation of rocks. Geology,18 (12) pp. 1173-1177, 1990.
• Christiansen, R. L., and R. S. Yeats, Post-Laramide geology of the U.S. Cordilleran region, in The Geology of North America, vol.G-3, Geol. Soc. Am., 261-406, 1992. [pp. 350-357 summarize traditional evidence for uplift/erosion]
• Epis, R. C., and Chapin, C. E., 1975, Geomorphic and tectonic implications of the post-Laramide, Late Eocene erosion surface in the Southern Rocky Mountains, in Curtis, B. F., ed., Cenozoic History of the Southern Rocky Mountains: Geol. Soc. Am. Mem.: 144, p. 45-74, 1975. [classic interpretation of erosional history in the Southern Rocky Mountains]
• Dumitru, T. A., I. R. Duddy, and P. F. Green, Mesozoic-Cenozoic burial, uplift, and erosion history of the west-central Colorado Plateau, Geology, 22, 499-502, 1994. [Fission track interpretation of cooling events in Colorado Plateau]
• Steidtmann, J. R., and L. T. Middleton, Fault chronology and uplift history of the southern Wind River Range, Wyoming; implications for Laramide and post-Laramide deformation in the Rocky Mountain foreland, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 103, 472-485, 1991. [One of several older fission-track papers on the Rocky Mtns.]
• Roy M., S. A. Kelley, F. Pazzaglia, S. Cather, and M. House, Middle Tertiary buoyancy modification and its relationship to rock exhumation, cooling, and subsequent extension at the eastern margin of the Colorado Plateau. Geology, 32 (10) pp. 925-928, 2004. [summarizes work largely led by Kelley on erosion in New Mexico in middle Tertiary inferred from fission tracks]
• Holm, R. F., Cenozoic paleogeography of the central Mogollon Rim-southern Colorado Plateau region, Arizona, revealed by Tertiary gravel deposits, Oligocene to Pleistocene lava flows, and incised streams, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 113 (11), 1467-1485, 2001.
• Elston, D. P., and R. A. Young, Cretaceous-Eocene (Laramide) landscape development and Oligocene-Pliocene drainage reorganization of transition zone and Colorado Plateau, Arizona, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 12,389-12,406, 1991. [A rather different view, suggesting erosion is much older than usually thought, showing some of the perils in interpreting erosion]
  • Young, R. A.. The Laramide-Paleogene History of the Western Grand Canyon Region: Setting the Stage. Colorado River: Origin and Evolution, pp. 7-15, 2001. [updates and recaps arguments Elston and Young made]
• R.M. Flowers, B.P. Wernicke, and K.A. Farley, Unroofing, incision, and uplift history of the southwestern Colorado Plateau from apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry,Geological Society of America Bulletin, 120, p. 571-587, 2008 [concurs with idea of a lot of erosion in western Grand Canyon in late K to early T and generally more erosion on southern Plateau margin]
  • Hill, C. A., and W. D. Ranney. A proposed Laramide proto-Grand Canyon. Geomorphology, 102 (3-4) pp. 482-495, 2008. [more complex evolution for Colorado River presumes some lag gravels tell of southward flowing streams in middle Tertiary; infer internal drainage evolution for much of Cz (which makes one wonder, how do sediments escape an internal draiange basin?)]
• Polyak V., C. Hill, and Y.Asmerom, Age and evolution of the Grand Canyon revealed by U-Pb dating of water table-type speleothems. Science, 319 (5868) pp. 1377-1380, 2008. [try to date canyon from drops in water table recorded by cave features, suggests canyon cutting by ~20 Ma]
  • Pearthree P, Spencer JE, Faulds JE, and P. House, Comment on "Age and Evolution of the Grand Canyon Revealed by U-Pb Dating of Water Table-Type Speleothems". Science, 321 (5896) pp. 1634c-1634c, 2008. [similar to Pederson comment in reinterpreting older water-level drop ages]
  • Pederson, J, Young R, Lucchitta I, Beard LS, Billingsley G, Comment on "age and evolution of the Grand Canyon revealed by U-Pb dating of water table-type speleothems". Science, 321 (5896) pp. 1634b, 2008 [corrects some errors on timing at Grand Wash Cliffs, reminds reader of Muddy Creek problem, suggests two points suggesting older canyon are related to other phenomena]
  • Polyak, V., C. Hill, and Y.Asmerom Response to comments on the "age and evolution of the Grand Canyon revealed by U-Pb dating of water table-type speleothems". Science, 321 (5896) pp. 1634d, 2008 [defend need for pre-6 Ma incision, arguing sites nearer river are too old for simple post-6Ma incision]
• Pelletier, J. D., Numerical modeling of the late Cenozoic geomorphic evolution of Grand Canyon, Arizona. Geological Society Of America Bulletin, 122, (3-4) pp. 595-608, 2010. [Considers models like traditional 6Ma canyon cutting and 17 Ma older canyon and can more or less make modern canyon either way]
• Riebe CS, J. W. Kirchner, D. E. Granger, and R. C. Finkel, Erosional equilibrium and disequilibrium in the Sierra Nevada, inferred from cosmogenic Al-26 and Be-10 in alluvial sediment. Geology, 28 (9) pp. 803-806, 2000. [Cosmogenically derived erosion rates showing low rates on all slopes away from recent disequilibrium landscapes (knickpoints, fault scarps) and much higher rates where affected by such disequilibrium features]
• Kirchner J. W., R. C. Finkel, C. S. Riebe, D. E. Granger, J. L. Clayton, J. G. King, and W. F. Megahan, Mountain erosion over 10 yr, 10 k.y., and 10 m.y. time scales, Geology, 29 (7): 591 - 594, 2001. [modern measurements of river transport imply lower erosion rates than inferred from cosmogenic or low-T thermometry studies]

Neotectonics/Geodesy

• Wernicke, BP, Davis J, Niemi NA, Luffi P, Bisnath S, Active megadetachment beneath the western United States. J Geophys Res, 113 (B11) pp. 26, 2008 [a very speculative paper that, though, highlights an interesting intersection of geodesy and tectonics]
• Flesch L.M., W. E. Holt, A. J. Haines, L. Wen, and B. M. Shen-Tu, The dynamics of western North America: stress magnitudes and the relative role of gravitational potential energy, plate interaction at the boundary and basal tractions. Geophys J Int, 169 (3) pp. 866-896, 2007. [Attempt to fit geodetic strain rates by varying relative contributions of body forces (GPE), boundary tractions, and basal shear inferred from a convection model]
  • Klein E, L.M. Flesch , W. E. Holt, and A. J. Haines, Evidence of long-term weakness on seismogenic faults in western North America from dynamic modeling. J Geophys Res, 114 art. B03402, 2009 [attempt to repeat Flesch et al. calculations solely within the crust]
  • Flesch, L. M., W. E. Holt, A. J. Haines, and B. M. Shen-Tu. Dynamics of the Pacific-North American plate boundary in the western United States. Science (2000) vol. 287 (5454) pp. 834-836, 2000 [Combines plate edge forces and a simple attempt at GPE to predict overall stresses; derives viscosity variations from strain/stress ratio].
• Humphreys, E. D. and D. D. Coblentz. North American dynamics and western U.S. tectonics. Reviews of Geophysics, 45 (3) art. RG3001, 2007. [Similar in some respects to papers above, this one is more strongly focused on forces side of the calculations]
• Comparisons over time: geodesy, seismology, geology
  • Gourmelen, N. and F. Amelung. Postseismic mantle relaxation in the Central Nevada Seismic Belt. Science, 310 (5753) pp. 1473-1476, 2005 [Correct GPS for post-seismic relaxation to remove contraction from Basin and Range GPS]
  • Friedrich, A. M., J. Lee, B. P. Wernicke, and K. Sieh, Geologic context of geodetic data across a Basin and Range normal fault, Crescent Valley, Nevada. Tectonics, 23 (2) pp. TC2015, 2004. [Compares contraction between BARGEN sites with trenching across normal fault in same area]
  • Friedrich A.M., B. P. Wernicke, N. A. Niemi, R. A. Bennett, and J. L. Davis, Comparison of geodetic and geologic data from the Wasatch region, Utah, and implications for the spectral character of Earth deformation at periods of 10 to 10 million years. Journal Of Geophysical Research, 108 (B4) art. 2199, 2003. [analyses multiple datasets across Wasatch Fault to consider time-scale dependence of slip/strain rates]
  • Bird, P., Long-term fault slip rates, distributed deformation rates, and forecast of seismicity in the western United States from joint fitting of community geologic, geodetic, and stress direction data sets. Journal Of Geophysical Research, 114 (B11) art. B11403, 2009 [somewhat different goal: unified kinematic model of western U.S., which among other things is basis for arguing that permanent deformation off major faults is responsible for ~1/3 of geodetic strain and models assuming elastic blocks separated by a few faults cannot be correct]
  • Allmendinger, R.W., J. P. Loveless, M.E. Pritchard, and B. Meade, From decades to epochs: Spanning the gap between geodesy and structural geology of active mountain belts. Journal of Structural Geology, 31 (11) pp. 1409-1422, 2009 [opposite end of the spectrum in some sense, but compares a continuum approach with a model of finite blocks separated by faults; unlike Bird, above, think these are both equivalent]

GEOL5690 home | C. H. Jones | CIRES | Dept. of Geological Sciences | Univ. of Colorado at Boulder

Last modified at April 27, 2010 3:03 PM