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Glen R. Himmelberg

Publications and source records attributed to Glen R. Himmelberg.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2015

Geologic Map of Baranof Island, southeastern Alaska

This map updates the geology of Baranof Island based on fieldwork, petrographic analyses, paleontologic ages, and isotopic ages. These new data provide constraints on depositional and metamorphic ages of lithostratigraphic rock units and the timing of structures that separate them. Kinematic analyses and thermobarometric calculations provide insights on the regional tectonic processes that affected the rocks on Baranof Island. The rocks on Baranof Island are components of a Paleozoic to Early Tertiary oceanic volcanic arc complex, including sedimentary and volcanic rocks that were deposited on and adjacent to the arc complex, deformed, and accreted. The arc complex consists of greenschist to amphibolite facies Paleozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks overlain by lower-grade Triassic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks and intruded by Jurassic calc-alkaline plutons. The Paleozoic rocks correlate well in age and lithology with rocks of the Sicker and Buttle Lake Groups of the Wrangellia terrane on Vancouver Island and differ from rocks of the Skolai Group that constitute basement to type-Wrangellia in the Wrangell Mountains. The Jurassic intrusive rocks are correlative with plutons that intrude the Wrangellia terrane on Vancouver Island but are lacking in the Wrangell Mountains. The rocks accreted beneath the arc complex are referred to as the Baranof Accretionary Complex in this report and are correlated with the Chugach Accretionary Complex of southern and southeastern Alaska and with the Pacific Rim Complex on Vancouver Island. Stratigraphic correlations between upper- and lower-plate rocks on Baranof Island and western Chichagof Island with rocks on Haida Gwaii and Vancouver Island, in addition to correlative ages of intrusive rocks and restorations of the Fairweather-Queen Charlotte, Chatham Strait, and Peril Strait Faults that define the Baranof-Chichagof block, suggest Baranof Island was near Vancouver Island at the time of initiation of arc magmatism in the Early Jurassic. Early Eocene plutons that intruded the accretionary complex outboard of the arc on Baranof Island are attributed to anatectic melting of trench sediments resulting from subduction of a spreading center. Oligocene intrusive rocks on Baranof Island correlate in age and composition with intrusive rocks in the Kano Plutonic Suite on Haida Gwaii, and similar magmatic sources are inferred.

Alaska↗
USGS2009

Geologic Map of the Atlin Quadrangle, Southeastern Alaska

This map presents the results of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologic bedrock mapping studies in the mostly glacier covered Atlin 1:250,000-scale quadrangle, northern southeastern Alaska. These studies are part of a long-term systematic effort by the USGS to provide bedrock geologic and mineral-resource information for all of southeastern Alaska, covering all of the Tongass National Forest (including Wilderness Areas) and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Some contributions to this effort are those concerned with southwesternmost part of the region, the Craig and Dixon Entrance quadrangles (Brew, 1994; 1996) and with the Wrangell-Petersburg area (Brew, 1997a-m; Brew and Grybeck, 1997; Brew and Koch, 1997). As shown on the index map (fig. 1), the study area is almost entirely in the northern Coast Mountains adjacent to British Columbia, Canada. No previous geologic map has been published for the area, although Brew and Ford (1985) included a small part of it in a preliminary compilation of the adjoining Juneau quadrangle; and Brew and others (1991a) showed the geology at 1:500,000 scale. Areas mapped nearby in British Columbia and the United States are also shown on figure 1. All of the map area is in the Coast Mountains Complex as defined by Brew and others (1995a). A comprehensive bibliography is available for this and adjacent areas (Brew, 1997n).

Scientific Investigations Map↗
USGS2005

Thermobarometric constraints on mid-Cretaceous to late Cretaceous metamorphic events in the western metamorphic belt of the Coast Mountains complex near Petersburg, southeastern Alaska

The western metamorphic belt is part of the Coast Mountains Complex of southeastern Alaska and western Canada. This complex formed as a result of mid-Cretaceous through middle Eocene crustal shortening between the previously amalgamated Wrangellia and Alexander terranes (Insular superterrane) and previously accreted terranes of the North American continental margin (Intermontane superterrane). The western metamorphic belt, which ranges from a few kilometers to several tens of kilometers in width, records a complex sequence of contact-metamorphic and regional metamorphic events, the most significant of which are designated M1R, M2C-R, and M3R. The M1R regional metamorphic event ranged in grade from subgreenschist to greenschist facies and was overprinted by the M2C-R and M3R metamorphic events. The M2C-R metamorphic event is recorded in discrete contact-metamorphic aureoles and regional metamorphic-mineral assemblages related to tonalite-granodiorite plutons of the Admiralty-Revillagigedo plutonic belt. The M3R metamorphic belt, which is adjacent to the M2C-R belt, is characterized by regional Barrovian isograds of garnet, staurolite, kyanite, and sillimanite. Using the THERMOCALC program, pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions for the M2C-R metamorphic event are estimated to be in the ranges 5.3-7.5 kbars and 525-640 deg.C and for the M3R metamorphic event in the ranges 9.4-12.6 kbars and 730-895 deg.C. The M2C-R metamorphic event occurred at approximately 90 Ma, but the timing of the M3R metamorphic event is poorly documented and uncertain. On the basis of an 40Ar/39Ar age on actinolitic amphibole and a Sm-Nd age on garnet core, the timing of metamorphism might be constrained between 90+/-1 and 80+/-9 Ma, although the Sm-Nd age of 80+/-9 m.y. possibly reflects postpeak growth. Thermobarometric data suggest that the two events occurred at different crustal levels and followed different P-T paths. No evidence exists that M2C-R metamorphic-mineral assemblages were overprinted by the M3R metamorphic event, as proposed by some workers. Juxtaposition of the two belts of rocks probably occurred along the Coast shear zone during uplift and exhumation of the Coast Mountains.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1995

Low-grade, M1 metamorphism of the Douglas Island Volcanics, western metamorphic belt near Juneau, Alaska

The western metamorphic belt is part of the Coast plutonic-metamorphic complex of western Canada and southeastern Alaska that developed during collision of the Alexander terrane and Gravina assemblage on the west against the Yukon Prong and Stikine terranes to the east. Deformation, metamorphism, and plutonism range from about 120 to 50 Ma. Subgreenschist to lower greenschist facies metabasalts exposed along the west end of the western metamorphic belt near Juneau, Alaska, record the earliest metamorphic event (M 1 ). The protolith of the M 1 , low-grade metamorphic mineral assemblages is mostly arc-affinity basaltic rocks of the Douglas Island Volcanics. The most common metamorphic mineral assemblages are chlorite-epidote-actinolite with or without pumpellyite and stilpnomelane. There is no systematic distribution of metamorphic mineral assemblages in the study area, and all assemblages are in the pumpellyite-actinolite facies near the transition to the lower greenschist facies. Different low variance assemblages can be attributed to minor differences in pressure ( P ), temperature ( T ), or X CO2 . Mineral chemistry and phase equilibria suggest that thermal peak metamorphism of pumpellyite-bearing assemblages occurred at about 325 °C and 2 to 4.8 kbar.

Alaska↗
USGS1977

Geology of the gabbroic complex along the northern border of the Josephine Peridotite, Vulcan Peak area, southwestern Oregon

The terrane bordering the alpine-type Josephine Peridotite on the north in the Vulcan Peak area, southwestern Oregon, is composed of intrusive hornblende gabbro (Middle Jurassic) and scattered remnants of clinopyroxene-bearing ultramafic rocks and amphibolite. The amphibolite, which preliminary analyses suggest is of andesitic composition, has undergone regional metamorphism to the amphibolite facies and three episodes of plastic folding. The ultramafic rocks overlie the amphibolite with a possible magmatic sedimentary contact, although the contact is not entirely clear and a fault cannot be ruled out. The ultramafic rocks are partially recrystallized owing to the gabbro intrusion and later partially serpentinized; they have undergone two episodes of plastic folding, the second of which correlates with the third in the amphibolite. The intrusion of the gabbro began as early as the second folding episode in the amphibolite and probably continued at least intermittently throughout the third episode of folding and possibly later. After the high-temperature deformation, the Josephine Peridotite was thrust northward over the gabbroic complex along an east-striking south-dipping thrust fault, after which both of these terranes were thrust westward over the Upper Jurassic Dothan Formation along a major north-striking east-dipping thrust fault. The nature of the ultramaflc rocks, their association with an extensive gabbro terrane, and the proximity of a large alpine-type peridotite suggest that the gabbroic and ultramafic complexes are part of an ophiolite sequence. However, if the ultramaflc rocks are cumulates and were deposited on the amphibolite terrane, then the gabbroic complex is somewhat different from the ideal ophiolite model.

Oregon↗
USGS1973

Petrology of the Vulcan Peak alpine-type peridotite, southwestern Oregon

The alpine-type peridotite in the area of Vulcan Peak, Oregon, is part of the larger Josephine ultramafic complex in the Klamath Mountains geologic province. Partially serpentinized, foliated harzburgite with 15 to 30 percent orthopyroxene makes up approximately 90 percent of the body. The remaining 10 percent is dunite that occurs in the harzburgite as concordant and discordant layers and as irregular bodies. In general, the peridotite at Vulcan Peak is similar in structure, texture, mineralogy, and chemistry to the peridotite at Burro Mountain, California. Structures, textures, and compositions of coexisting phases are consistent with high-temperature (1,000° to 1,200°C) deformation and recrystallization in the upper mantle, and tectonic emplacement into its present crustal position. Evidence to indicate whether the peridotite originated as a refractory residue during partial fusion processes that produced mafic melt or by crystallization from an ultramafic or picritic magma remains inconclusive; poikilitic clinopyroxene enclosing olivine in some dunites, and certain chromitite textures, may represent relict igneous features suggesting a magmatic stage in the history of the peridotite.

Oregon↗