Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Tectonic and magmatic transitions in the Western Great Basin, USA

Nature volume 333, pages 349–353 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

The isotope and trace-element geochemistry of late Cenozoic basalts from the Western Great Basin of California and Nevada demonstrates contributions from two distinct mantle source regions. High concentrations of large-ion lithophile relative to high-field strength elements (50 < Ba/Nb < 250) are often taken to reflect a contribution from contemporaneous subduction processes. But in this area they are associated with a marked change in 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd across a major lithospheric boundary, which is normal to the orientation of the palaeo-subduction zone and implies that these samples derived their isotope and trace element signatures from the mantle lithosphere. The second component is similar to that seen in ocean island basalts, and is attributed to asthenospheric source regions within the convecting upper mantle. Significantly, the onset of asthenosphere dominated magmatism migrated northwards during the Plio-Pleistocene about 2–3 Myr behind the trailing edge of the subducted slab. During this period it is proposed that asthenospheric diapirs rose from the level of the subducted slab into the zone of melt generation, implying ascent rates of between 5 and 8 cm per annum.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Pearce, J. A. & Norry, M. J. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 69, 33–47 (1979).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wood, D. A. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 50, 11–30 (1980).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Gill, J. B. Orogenic Andesites and Plate Tectonics (Springer, Berlin, 1981).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Pearce, J. A. in Orogenic Andesites and Related Rocks (ed. Thorpe, R. S.) 525–548 (Wiley, Chichester, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Fitton, J. G. & Dunlop, H. M. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 72, 23–38 (1985).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pearce, J. A. in Continental Basalts and Mantle Xenoliths (eds Hawkesworth, C. J. & Norry, M. J.) 230–249 (Shiva, Orpington, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Green, T. H. J. Volcan. geotherm. Res. 10, 405–422 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Morris, J. D. & Hart, S. R. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 47, 2015–2030 (1983).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Van Kooten, G. K. J. Petrol. 21, 651–684 (1980).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Van Kooten, G. K. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 76, 378–385 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Atwater, T. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 81, 3513–3536 (1970).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Menzies, M. A., Leeman, W. P. & Hawkesworth, C. J. Nature 303, 205–209 (1983).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Thompson, R. N. et al. in Continental Basalts and Mantle Xenoliths (eds Hawkesworth, C. J. & Norry, M. J.) 158–185 (Shiva, Orpington, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Ellam, R. M. & Hawkesworth, C. J. Contr. Miner. Petrol. (in the press).

  15. Erlank, A. J. et al. in Mantle Metasomatism (eds Menzies, M. A. & Hawkesworth, C. J.) 221–311 (Academic, London, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Salters, V. F. M. & Shimizu, N. Nature (in the press).

  17. Cox, K. G. in Continental Basalts and Mantle Xenoliths (eds Hawkesworth, C. J. & Norry, M. J.) 139–157 (Shiva, Orpington, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Hawkesworth, C. J. et al. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. Spec. Publ. 13, 341–354 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. DePaolo, D. J. & Farmer, G. L. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A310, 743–753 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Oldow, J. S. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 95, 174–185 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Hedge, C. E. & Noble, D. C. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 82, 3503–3510 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Leeman, W. P. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 93, 487–503 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Atwater, T. & Molnar, P. in Conf. on Tectonic Problems of the San Andreas Fault System, Proc. Stanford Univ. Publ. Geol. Sci. 13, 136–148 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Spera, F. J. in Mantle Metasomatism (eds Menzies, M. A. & Hawkesworth, C. J.) 1–20 (Academic, London, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Leeman, W. P. & Rogers, J. J. W. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 25, 1–24 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ribe, N. M. & Smooke, M. D. J. geophys. Res. 92, 6437–6443 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Rabinowicz, M., Ceuleneer, G. & Nicolas, A. J. geophys. Res. 92, 3475–3486 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ringwood, A. E. J. Geol. 90, 611–643 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Nixon, P. H. & Boyd, F. R. in Lesotho Kimberlites (ed. Nixon, P. H.) 48–56 (Lesotho National Development Corp., Maseru, 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  30. Maaloe, S. & Aoki, K. Contr. Miner. Petrol. 63, 161–173 (1979).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Jordan, T. H. Nature 274, 544–548 (1978).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Hawkesworth, C. J. et al. Nature (submitted).

  33. Hawkesworth, C. J. et al. Nature 322, 356–359 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Fitton, J. G., James, D., Kempton, P. D. & Ormerod, D. S. J. Petrology (in the press).

  35. Luedke, R. G. & Smith, R. L. US Geol. Surv. Misc. Invest. Ser. Map 1-1091-C (1981).

  36. Larsen, N. W. thesis, Univ. Brigham Young (1979).

  37. Menzies, M. A. et al. Nature 325, 44–47 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Kistler, R. W. & Peterman, Z. E. US Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 1071, 17 (1978).

  39. Bennett, V. C. & DePaolo, D. J. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 99, 674–685 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Minster, J. B., Jordan, T. H., Molnar, P. & Haines, E. Geophys. J. R. astr. Soc. 36, 541–576 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. Kempton, P. D., Dungan, M. A. & Blanchard, D. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 215, 347–370 (1987).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Snyder, W. S., Dickinson, W. R. & Silberman, M. L. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 32, 91–106 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    David S. Ormerod, Christopher J. Hawkesworth & Nicholas W. Rogers

  2. Department of Geology, Rice University, PO Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77001, USA

    William P. Leeman

  3. Department of Geology, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, Egham, TW20 OEX, UK

    Martin A. Menzies

Authors
  1. David S. Ormerod
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher J. Hawkesworth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicholas W. Rogers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. William P. Leeman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Martin A. Menzies
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ormerod, D., Hawkesworth, C., Rogers, N. et al. Tectonic and magmatic transitions in the Western Great Basin, USA. Nature 333, 349–353 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333349a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/333349a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing