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William P. Irwin

Publications and source records attributed to William P. Irwin.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1984

Implications of paleomagnetism for the tectonic history of the Eastern Klamath and related terranes in California and Oregon

Paleomagnetic study of Permian to Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary strata of the Eastern Klamath terrane has shown the remanent magnetism of these rocks to be prefolding and primary. The Permian and Triassic rocks are both indicated to have rotated 100° clockwise, while the Jurassic strata have rotated 60° clockwise. The respective amounts of rotation for Permian and Jurassic strata are similar along two widely-spaced transects of the arcuate Eastern Klamath terrane, which indicates rigid-block rotation rather than oroclinal bending. These results suggest that the Permian and Triassic strata began to rotate during Late Triassic or Early Jurassic time, possibly in response to the beginning of accretion of the Eastern Klamath terrane to the continental margin. Measurements on superjacent Cretaceous strata indicate that the rotation of the Eastern Klamath terrane as well as other parts of the Klamath Mountains province was virtually compete by Early Cretaceous time. The virtual cessation of rotation probably marked the completion of the accretion of the Eastern Klamath terrane to North America. Neither these nor other data currently available show evidence for any significant latitudinal displacement of the Klamath Mountains terranes.

Pacific Section S.E.P.M.↗
USGS1983

Conodonts of the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt, Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon

Conodonts were extracted from 32 samples of limestone and 5 samples of chert obtained from the Western Paleozoic and Triassic belt of the Klamath Mountains province. Triassic conodonts were found in 17 samples, and late Paleozoic conodonts in 7 samples. Conodonts of the remaining 13 samples cannot be dated more closely than early or middle Paleozoic through Triassic. The late Paleozoic conodonts are restricted to the North Fork and Hayfork terranes. The Hayfork terrane also contains Early, Middle, and Late Triassic conodonts; mostly Neogondolella. Conodonts from samples of the Rattlesnake Creek terrane and the northern undivided part of the belt are all Late Triassic and are generally Epigondolella. The conodont data support the concept that many of the limestone bodies are olistoliths or tectonic blocks in melange. Color alteration of the conodonts indicates that the rocks of the Western Paleozoic and Triassic belt have been heated to temperatures between 300 degrees and 500 degrees C during regional tectonism.

California, Oregon↗
USGS1982

Paleomagnetic study of some Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the Klamath Mountains province, California

Paleomagnetic investigation of Cretaceous outliers and Tertiary sedimentary strata of the Klamath Mountains province, and of onlapping Cretaceous strata, has shown the rocks to be largely remagnetized. Samples studied are from the Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous Great Valley sequence, Upper Cretaceous Hornbrook Formation, Eocene Montgomery Creek Formation, and Oligocene(?) Weaverville Formation. Cretaceous samples that survived the remagnetization have a mean remanence direction that is very close to the expected direction of the Cretaceous magnetic field at the locality of the Klamath Mountains. Data from both primary and remagnetized samples suggest the possibility of 11.5° ± 15.8° of post-Cretaceous clockwise rotation of the Klamath Mountains province. None of the data from either the primary or remagnetized samples shows evidence of the large amounts (∼ 70°) of clockwise rotation that other workers have measured for the lower Tertiary of the Oregon Coast Range. Our data indicate that the Oregon Coast Range and Klamath Mountains province did not behave as a single rigid block during the early Tertiary. They also suggest that any post-Oligocene rotation of the Klamath Mountains province is less than the approximately 30° post-Oligocene rotation recently proposed for a combined Oregon Coast Range–Klamath Mountains–Cascade Range block.

California↗
USGS1982

Map showing sampled radiolarian localities in the western Paleozoic and Triassic belt, Klamath Mountains, California

The western Paleozoic and Triassic belt, the largest of several major subdivisions of the Klamath Mountains geologic province, extends 300 km northward from the south end of the province in California to the north end of the province in Oregon (see inset map). The rocks of the belt are mainly sedimentary and volcanic, including tuff, cherty tuff, chert, argillite, limestone, and volcanic flows and breccia. They are of oceanic and island arc facies and are highly disarranged tectonically. The southern part of the belt is subdivided into three tectonostratigraphic terranes --- the North Fork, Hayfork, and Rattlesnake Creek terranes. The central and northern parts of the belt are undevided.

California, Oregon↗
USGS1978

Global distribution of carbon dioxide discharges, and major zones of seismicity

Carbon dioxide discharges of the circum-Pacific belt are in a seismically active zone and in part stem from contact metamorphism. Carbon dioxide discharges in Europe and Asia Minor, also in an area of high seismic activity, are in part from regional metamorphism and are in areas of very high heat flow.

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1975

Geologic map showing springs rich in carbon dioxide or or chloride in California

Carbon dioxide- and chloride-rich springs occur in all geologic provinces in California, but are most abundant in the Coast Ranges and the Great Valley. The carbon-dioxide-rich springs issue mainly from Franciscan terrane; they also are rich in boron and are of the metamorphic type (White, 1957). Based on isotopic data, either the carbon dioxide or the water, or both, may be of metamorphic origin. Because of high magnesium values, the water of many of the carbon-dioxide-rich springs is thought to have passed through serpentinite. The chloride-rich waters are most common in rocks of the Great Valley sequence. Nearly all are more dilute than present-day sea water. The similarity in isotopic compositions of the metamorphic carbon-dioxide-rich water and the chloride-rich water may indicate a similar extent of water-rock interaction.

California↗
USGS1975

Paleotectonic investigations of the Pennsylvanian System in the United States, Part I: Introduction and regional analyses of the Pennsylvanian System

The Pennsylvanian is the fourth geologic system to be analyzed and synthesized by geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey in the form of a paleotectonic study covering the conterminous United States. Earlier investigations were of the Jurassic, Triassic, and Permian Systems. Results were published as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigation Maps I-175, I-300, and I-450 and in Professional Paper 515. The objective of these investigations is to provide in graphic form the factual basis for recognition of tectonic events of each system on a countrywide scale. The maps in this publication depict rock thickness, generalized lithology, ancient geography, and other regional relations of the Pennsylvanian System. Method of preparation of the maps, the stratigraphic limits of the map units, and various stratigraphic and structural features and their probable tectonic significance are discussed. Pennsylvanian data were largely compiled between 1961 and 196 by 16 geologists, including the late Harold R. Wanless, who covered the five eastern regions and contributed to several of the special studies. The areas of responsibility of the cooperating geologists are indicated in figure 1. Work in Kansas was done by Gary F. Stewart, of the Kansas Geological Survey. Results of this investigation are presented in three units. Part I comprises an introduction and 17 chapters, each describing and discussing one of the regions in which the conterminous United States was divided for purposes of study and mapping. Part II is a synthesis of Pennsylvanian history to accompany interpretive maps of the five divisions of the Pennsylvanian System treated in this publication; it also includes a series of chapters on depositional environments, climatic conditions, and economic products of the system. The final section of part II is devoted to an index of localities and sources used in construction of the principal maps of this publication. Part III consists of the plates on which are presented the major maps and sections.

Professional Paper↗
USGS1968

Isotopic age of the Nevadan Orogeny and older Plutonic and metamorphic events in the Klamath Mountains, California

Several metamorphic and plutonic events have been recognized in the Klamath Mountains utilizing potassium-argon and rubidium-strontium mineral and whole-rock ages. The oldest known metamorphic event in the region produced the Abrams Mica Schist and the co-extensive Salmon Hornblende Schist. Strontium evolution diagrams indicate that the age of primary metamorphism of the Abrams Mica Schist is approximately 380 m.y. (Devonian). The Stuart Fork Formation of Davis and Lipman (1962), the schists of Condrey Mountain, and related schists were produced during a Middle and Late Jurassic metamorphic event. Granitic plutonic rocks are divided into four groups that are different in age and somewhat different in chemical characteristics. The oldest pluton, the Pit River stock, has a minimum age of 246 m.y. (Permian) and is grouped with the Castle Crags pluton. The other three plutonic groups are Middle and Late Jurassic and are characterized by the following ranges in isotopic age: 165 to 167 m.y., 145 to 155 m.y., and 127 to 140 m.y. The principal lode gold deposits in the California part of the Klamath Mountains seem to be related to the youngest group of plutons. If the Nevadan orogeny in this area is restricted to a Middle and Late Jurassic deformational, metamorphic, and plutonic event, the orogeny includes the emplacement of plutons of the three younger groups and the metamorphic development of the Stuart Fork Formation, schists of Condrey Mountain, and related schists.

California↗
USGS1957

Franciscan group in Coast Ranges and its equivalents in Sacramento Valley, California

The Franciscan group is an assemblage of detrital and chemical sedimentary and volcanic rocks that crops out discontinuously in a structurally complex, northwesterly trending belt along the Coast Ranges of Cahfornia. On the east, along the west side of the Sacramento Valley, a thick section of detrital sedimentary rocks has been subdivided into the Knoxville, Paskenta, and Horsetown forma tions of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous age, and several units of early Late Cretaceous age. The Sacramento Valley section represents deposition during most of the time from Late Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. The Franciscan group is widely held to be restricted to Late Jurassic age, the Knoxville formation to be an upper shaly phase of the Franciscan group, and the two to be overlain unconformably by detrital strata of Cretaceous age. Sparse paleontologic evidence indicates this view to be incorrect. Rather, the Franciscan group seems mainly to have been deposited contemporaneously with the Knoxville, Paskenta, Horsetown, and lower Upper Cretaceous strata, as fossils ranging from Late Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous in age have been found in the Franciscan group. The Franciscan group and strata of the Sacramento Valley section therefore may represent two fades of the same stratigraphic section.

California↗