Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T13:12:33.648Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Age of the Rockland tephra, western USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

M.A. Lanphere ,
D.E. Champion ,
M.A. Clynne ,
J.B. Lowenstern ,
A.M Sarna-Wojcicki  and
J.L. Wooden
M.A. Lanphere*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
D.E. Champion
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
M.A. Clynne
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
J.B. Lowenstern
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
A.M Sarna-Wojcicki
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
J.L. Wooden
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:alder@usgs.gov(M.A. Lanphere).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The age of the Rockland tephra, which includes an ash-flow tuff south and west of Lassen Peak in northern California and a widespread ash-fall deposit that produced a distinct stratigraphic marker in western North America, is constrained to 565,000 to 610,000 yr by 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb dating. 40Ar/39Ar ages on plagioclase from pumice in the Rockland have a weighted mean age of 609,000 ± 7000 yr. Isotopic ages of spots on individual zircon crystals, analyzed by the SHRIMP-RG ion microprobe, range from ∼500,000 to ∼800,000 yr; a subpopulation representing crystal rims yielded a weighted-mean age of 573,000 ± 19,000 yr. Overall stratigraphic constraints on the age are provided by two volcanic units, including the underlying tephra of the Lava Creek Tuff erupted within Yellowstone National Park that has an age of 639,000 ± 2000 yr. The basaltic andesite of Hootman Ranch stratigraphically overlies the Rockland in the Lassen Peak area and has 40Ar/39Ar ages of 565,000 ± 29,000 and 565,000 ± 12,000 yr for plagioclase and groundmass, respectively. Identification of Rockland tephra in ODP core 1018 offshore of central California is an important stratigraphic age that also constrains the eruption age to between 580,000 and 600,000 yr.

Keywords

40Ar/39Ar agesU–Pb SHRIMP agesRockland tephraLava Creek TuffBasaltic andesite of Hootman Ranch
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , July 2004 , pp. 94 - 104
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adam, D.P., Rieck, H.J., McGann, M., Schiller, K., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., (1994). Lithologic description of sediment cores from Buck Lake, Klamath County.. Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-12.Google Scholar
Alloway, B.V., Westgate, J.A., Sandhu, A.S., Bright, B.C., (1992). Isothermal plateau fission-track age and revised distribution of the widespread mid-Pleistocene Rockland tephra in west-central United States. Geophysical Research Letters 19, 569 572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreasen, D.H., Flower, M., Harvey, M., Chang, S., Ravelo, A.C., (2000). Data report: late Pleistocene oxygen and carbon isotopic records from sites 1011, 1012, and 1018. Proceedings ODP Scientific Results 167, 141 144.Google Scholar
Bassinot, F.C., Labeyrie, L.D., Vincent, E., Quidelleur, X., Shackleton, N.J., Lancelot, Y., (1994). The astronomical history of climate and the age of the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetid reversal. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 126, 91 108.Google Scholar
Brown, S.J., Fletcher, I.R., (1999). SHRIMP U–Pb dating of the preeruption growth history of zircons from the 340 ka Whakamaru Ignimbrite, New Zealand: evidence for >250 k.y. magma residence times. Geology 27, 1035 1038.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullen, T.D., Clynne, M.A., (1990). Trace element and isotope constraints and magmatic evolution at Lassen volcanic center. Journal of Geophysical Research 95, 19,671 19,691.Google Scholar
Champion, D.E., Lanphere, M.A., Anderson, S.R., (1996). Further verification and 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Big Lost Reversed Polarity Subchron from drill core subsurface samples of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho. EOS 77, F165.Google Scholar
Champion, D.E., Lanphere, M.A., Kuntz, M.A., (1988). Evidence for a new geomagnetic reversal from lava flows in Idaho: discussion of short polarity reversals in the Brunhes and late Matuyama polarity chrons. Journal of Geophysical Research 93, 11,667 11,680.Google Scholar
Clynne, M.A., (1984). Stratigraphy and major element geochemistry of the Lassen volcanic center, California.. U.S. Geologic Survey Open-File Report 84-224.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, G.B., (1989). The GLM continuous laser system for 40Ar/39Ar dating: description and performance characteristics. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1890, 89 96.Google Scholar
Dalrymple, G.B., Alexander, E.C. Jr., Lanphere, M.A., Kraker, G.P., (1981). Irradiation of samples for 40Ar/39Ar dating using the Geological Survey TRIGA reactor. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1176.Google Scholar
Duffield, W.A., Dalrymple, G.B., (1990). The Taylor Creek rhyolite of New Mexico: a rapidly emplaced field of lava domes and flows. Bulletin of Volcanology 52, 475 487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helley, E.J., Harwood, D.S., Barker, J.A., Griffin, E.A., (1981). Geologic map of the Battle Creek fault zone and adjacent parts of the northern Sacramento Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map, MF-1298.Google Scholar
Ikeda, A., Koizumi, I., (2000). Data report: diatom flora of the Northern California Margin since 3 Ma. Proceedings ODP Scientific Results 167, 119 125.Google Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., (2000). Comparison of conventional K–Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating of young Mafic volcanic rocks. Quaternary Research 53, 294 301.Google Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., Champion, D.E., Christiansen, R.L., Izett, G.A., Obradovich, J.D., (2002). Revised ages for tuffs of the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field: assignment of the Huckelberry Ridge Tuff to a new geomagnetic polarity event. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 559 568.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., Champion, D.E., Clynne, M.A., Muffler, L.J.P., (1999). Revised age of the Rockland tephra, northern California: implications for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions in the western United States. Geology 27, 135 138.Google Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., Champion, D.E., Clynne, M.A., Muffler, L.J.P., (2000). Revised age of the Rockland tephra, northern California: implications for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions in the western United States: comment and reply. Geology 28, 287.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., Dalrymple, G.B., (2000). First-principles calibrations of 38Ar tracers: implications for the ages of 40Ar/39Ar fluence monitors. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1621.Google Scholar
Ludwig, K.R., (2000). SQUID 1.00—a user's manual.. Berkeley Geochronology Center Special Publication, 2.Google Scholar
Ludwig, K.R., (2001). Users manual for Isoplot/Ex version 2.49.. Berkeley Geochronology Center Special Publication, 1a.Google Scholar
Lyle, M.W., (2001). Building a common stratigraphy for continents and oceans: progress along the California Margin for ODP Leg 167.. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 33, A-81.Google Scholar
Lyle, M.W., Koizumi, I., Delaney, M.L., Barron, J.A., (2000). Sedimentary record of the California current system, middle Miocene to Holocene: a synthesis of Leg 167 results. ODP Scientific Results 167, 341 376.Google Scholar
Mahon, K.J., (1996). The new “York” regression: application of an improved statistical method to geochemistry. International Geological Review 38, 293 303.Google Scholar
Meyer, C.E., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Hillhouse, J.W., Woodward, M.J., Slate, J.L., Sorg, D.H., (1991). Fission-track age (400,000 yr) of the Rockland tephra based on inclusion of zircon grains lacking fossil fission tracks. Quaternary Research 35, 367 382.Google Scholar
Reid, M.R., Coath, C.D., (2000). In situ U–Pb ages from the Bishop Tuff: no evidence for crustal residence times. Geology 28, 443 446.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, M.R., Coath, C.D., Harrison, T.M., McKeegan, K.D., (1997). Prolonged residence times for the youngest rhyolites associated with Long Valley Caldera. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 150, 27 39.Google Scholar
Rieck, H.J., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Meyer, C.E., Adam, D.P., (1992). Magnetostratigraphy and tephrochronology of an upper Pliocene to Holocene record in lake sediments at Tulelake, northern California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 104, 409 428.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, J.G., Reynolds, R.L., Adam, D.P., Drexler, J., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Whitney, G.C., (1996). Record of middle Pleistocene climate change from Buck Lake, Cascade Range, southern Oregon—evidence from sediment magnetics, trace-element geochemistry, and pollen. Geological Society of America Bulletin 108, 1328 1341.Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., (1971). Correlation of late Cenozoic deposits in the central coast ranges of California.. University of California., Berkeley. Ph.D. thesis, .Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., (1976). Correlation of late Cenozoic tuffs in the central coast ranges of California by means of trace- and minor-element chemistry. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 972.Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., (2000). Revised age of the Rockland tephra, northern California: implications for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions in the western United States: comment and reply. Geology 28, 286.Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Davis, J.O., (1991). Quaternary tephrochronology, Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America.. Quaternary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous U.S. K-2, 93-116.Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Meyer, C.E., Bowman, H.R., Hall, N.T., Russell, P.C., Woodward, M.J., Slate, J.L., (1985). Correlation of the Rockland ash bed, a 400,000-year-old stratigraphic marker in northern California and western Nevada, and implications for middle Pleistocene paleography of central California. Quaternary Research 23, 236 257.Google Scholar
Schärer, U., (1984). The effect of initial 230Th disequilibrium on young U–Pb ages: the Makula case, Himalaya. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 67, 191 204.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., (1973). Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-year and 239: oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 106 year scale. Quaternary Research 3, 39 55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thierstein, H.R., Geitzenauer, K.R., Molfino, B., Shackleton, N.J., (1977). Global synchroneity of late Quaternary coccolith datum levels: validation by oxygen isotopes. Geology 5, 400 404.Google Scholar
Wendt, L., Carl, C., (1985). U/Pb dating of discordant 0.1 Ma old secondary U minerals. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 73, 278 284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, I.S., Buck, I.S., Cartwright, I., (1996). An extended episode of early Mesoproterozoic metamorphic fluid flow in the Reynolds Range, central Australia. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 14, 29 47.Google Scholar
Wilson, T.A., (1961). The geology near Mineral, California.. University of California, Berkeley. M.S. thesis.Google Scholar
Zeck, H.P., Williams, I.S., (2002). Inherited and magmatic zircon from Neogene Hoyazo cordierite dacite, SE Spain—anatectic source rock provenance and magmatitic evolution. Journal of Petrology 43, 1089 1104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar