Thesis (PhD) -- Stellenbosch Univesrsity, 1972. / The Darling batholith is characterised by large scale hybridisation, but mainly consists of the coarsely porphyritic Darling granite. This granite changes gradationally into a biotite-rich variety which occupies a roughly elliptical area with a major, northwesterly trending axis of 30 km. The biotite granite envelops a large irregular body of hybrid granodiorite. Small intrusions of younger granite occur within the batholith namely the Klipberg and Contreberg granites and possibly the biotite-rich Dassenberg granite. Dassen Island is underlain by fine-grained granite which could be related to either the younger or coarsely porphyritic granites. A prominent northwesterly trending mylonite zone can be traced through Darling to Swartberg, and ultimately to Trekoskraal in the Saldanha batholith, but is not continuous since it occasionally changes into gneissic granite and is also interrupted by the younger intrusives. Quantitative mapping included measurement of matrix grain size, average maximum phenocryst length, xenolith distribution density, quartz nodule distribution density and average size, lineation, dark mineral index and gneissosity. On Dassen Island the distribution of tourmaline nodules was , determined. The results are displayed as small scale contour maps which show strong correlation between the various parameters. The average values of matrix grain size, average phenocryst length and xenolith distribution density are respectively 2-5mm, 20-60mm and 0-1,5 per m² for the Darling granite, and 1-2 mm, 5-20 mm and 1-9 per m² for the hybrid granodiorite. It was found that the matrix grain size decreases with increase in hybridisation. The spotty distribution pattern of tourmaline nodules on Dassen Island indicates addition of boron by assimilation of metamorphites and a late stage liquid immiscibility process. The granites :.have normal mineralogy and the K-feldspar of the phenocrysts is maximum microcline (Δ = 0,9 - 1,0). The hybrid granodiorite contains much pinitised cordierite and locally garnet. The deeply pleochroic bioti te is probably of the 2M1 polytype and has a higher Fe:Mg ratio in the hybrid granodiorite than in the granite (2,8 - 3,0 vs. 2,2 - 2,3). The intimately associated chlorite seems to be of the Ia polytype. The cordierite is of the normal and low temperature type with average intensity index of 2,7 , distortion index of 0,3 and 2 a of 63°. The xenoliths are predominantly quartzitic metagraywackes, but lime-rich types holding sphene and diopside were occasionally encountered. Thirteen new chemical analyses and thirty-one previously published analyses are used to calculate average composite analyses of the various rock types. The results of calculations employing Barth standard cell values indicate that the hybrid granodiorite could have originated by reaction between granite magma and Malmesbury quartzitic metagraywacke and pe-lite with a little limestone. A "granite differentiation index" based on weight percentages of (Ti02 + MgO + FeO + Fe2O3) and (Si02 + Na2O + K2O) shows a linear relationship between the granites in probable order of age. The magmatic differentiation trend is separated from the hybridisation trend on a 6alk - 2(al - alk) - (100 - 2al) diagram. Mesonorms and their cordierite variants are used to effect comparison with the experimental granitic system of von Platen (1965). The Darling and Contreberg granites plot near the relevant cotectic surfaces. A pilot experimental study of melting behaviour indicates that the Contreberg granite is closer to a minimum melt composition than the Darling granite. Comparison of alkali values with a M Na2O - M K2O Schreinemakers diagram of Korzhinskii (1959), shows that the alkali ratio of the older analyses may be incorrect, and indicates that the dark minerals have a greater effect on plagioclase composition than the amount of K-feldspar. The classification of granites by means of Harpum diagrams is shown to have little relevance to the reconstruction of the ancient thermodynamical variants. The Darling granite is correlated with the Hoedjies Point granite of the Saldanha batholith and on geochronological evidence probably corresponds in age (500- 600 m.y.) with the Cape Peninsula granite. The younger granites of Darling are tentatively correlated with the Cape Columbine granite of the Saldanha batholith. The northeastern boundary of the Darling batholith is a major fault, the Colenso fault, which is considered to extend as far as Northwest Bay, Saldanha. It is proposed that the Darling batholith occupies a down-faulted block within a graben and that the hybrid granodiorite represents a remnant synform of the roof rocks intruded by the granite. The younger granites constitute only four percent by volume of the batholith and may represent anatectic melts from a nearby subjacent source.

Rocks west of the Coast Mountains batholith in central southeastern Alaska include the Alexander terrane, Gravina belt, Taku terrane, and newly defined Ruth assemblage. Geologic, geochronologic and thermobarometric studies of these rocks in the Petersburg region provide new constraints on the accretionary history of the Alexander terrane and structural evolution of the Coast Mountains batholith. Paleozoic and Upper Triassic strata of the Alexander terrane were deformed within the Duncan Canal shear zone. Dextral shear in this zone during Early or Middle Jurassic time is inferred to reflect deformation along the eastern margin of the Alexander terrane and record the juxtaposition of the Alexander terrane with the North American margin. Deposition of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Gravina belt occurred within a transtensional back-arc to intra-arc basin that evolved during the northward translation of the Alexander terrane. The Ruth assemblage and Taku terrane were structurally emplaced over the Gravina belt and Alexander terrane along the Sumdum-Fanshaw fault system during mid-Cretaceous time. West-vergent thrusting of the Ruth assemblage was accompanied by metamorphic P,T conditions of 6.8 kb, < 450°C in the Gravina belt and 6.9 to > 7.4 kb, > 550°C in the Ruth assemblage. The age of deformation is constrained by syntectonic and post tectonic intrusive bodies that yield U-Pb lower intercept apparent ages of 92.3 ± 3 Ma and 91.3 ± 6.3 Ma, respectively. Late Devonian-Mississippian orthogneiss and felsic metavolcanic rocks in the Ruth assemblage suggest correlation of the assemblage with continental margin rocks of the Yukon-Tanana and Nisling terranes east of the Coast Mountains batholith. Thus the mid-Cretaceous Sumdum-Fanshow fault system marks the fundamental boundary between the Alexander terrane and inboard fragments. This deformation records the final structural accretion of the Alexander, Wrangellia, and Peninsular terranes to the western margin of North America. The mid-Cretaceous thrust system is truncated to the east by the LeConte Bay shear zone: a complex zone of Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary fabrics that occur within and west of the Coast Mountains batholith. This zone has apparently accommodated both west-side-up and east-side-up displacement during the collapse of the overthickened crust developed during mid-Cretaceous time.

Mémoire ( M.Sc.T.)--Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1991. / Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thèse (M.Sc.T.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2006. / Bibliogr.: f. 174-181. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. / Bibliography : leaves 48-50. / M.S.

In the BATHOLITHSonland seismic project, a refraction - wide-angle reflection survey was shot in 2009 across the Coast Mountains and Interior Plateau of central British Columbia. Part of the seismic profile crossed the Nechako Basin, a Jurassic-Cretaceous basin with potential for hydrocarbons within sedimentary rocks that underlie widespread volcanics. Along this 205-km-long line segment, eight explosive shots averaging 750 kg were fired and recorded on 980 seismometers. Forward and inverse modelling of the traveltime data were conducted with two independent methods: ray-tracing based modelling of first and secondary arrivals, and a higher resolution wavefront-based first-arrival seismic tomography. Gravity modelling was utilized as a means of evaluating the density structure corresponding to the final velocity model. Material with velocities less than 5.0 km/s is interpreted as sedimentary rocks of the Nechako Basin, while velocities from 5.0-6.0 km/s may correspond to interlayered sediments and volcanics. The greatest thickness of sedimentary rocks in the basin is found in the central 110 km of the profile. Two sub-basins were identified in this region, with widths of 20-50 km and maximum sedimentary depths of 2.5 km and 3.3 km. Such features are well-defined in the velocity model, since resolution tests indicate that features with widths greater than ~13 km are reliable. Beneath the sedimentary rocks, seismic velocities increase more slowly with depth – from 6.0 km/s just below the basin to 6.3 km/s at ~17 km depth, and then to 6.8-7.0 km/s at the base of the crust. The Moho is interpreted at a depth of 33.5-35 km along the profile, and mantle velocities are high at 8.05-8.10 km/s.