The Basin and Range province of western North America is a broad region of irregular topographic expression characterized by various styles of Cenozoic extension. Recent reprocessing and interpretation of a regional suite of industry seismic reflection profiles in southern Arizona, in the southern Basin and Range province of southwestern North America, have illuminated subsurface features related to Cenozoic crustal extension and show a detailed view of extensional processes in the southern Basin and Range. Seismic stratigraphic investigations on these profiles suggest a two-phase model for the evolution of the Catalina-Rincon metamorphic core complex, with an initial stage of isostatic core complex emplacement during detachment faulting that resulted in little topographic expression. This was followed, after a significant tectonic hiatus, by late-stage exhumation and flexural uplift of the metamorphic core complex controlled by younger high-angle faulting. Along-strike, upper-plate deformation in response to core complex emplacement was accommodated by the Santa Rita fault, south of the Catalina-Rincon metamorphic core complex. Finite-element models predicts early mechanical failure of the upper-plate of the detachment system to the south of the Catalina core complex. These models suggest that the Santa Rita fault is the result of a perturbation in the regional stress field caused by the Catalina detachment and the associated brittle failure of the upper plate from the extreme crustal extension associated with core-complex emplacement. These profiles, coupled with geologic and well control, indicate that the southwest-dipping Catalina detachment, the northwest-dipping Santa Rita fault, the east dipping Altar Valley fault, and the highly dissected Sierrita Mountains are all aspects of the same extensional event in the middle-Tertiary. These features all appear to merge into a broad zone of middle-crustal deformation and likely represent heterogeneous upper-crustal deformation in response to middle-to-lower crustal homogeneous deformation.

Cretaceous continental extension was accommodated by the development of the Paparoa Metamorphic Core Complex, resulting in the separation of New Zealand from Gondwana. High grade (Lower Plate) and low grade (Upper Plate) rocks are separated by the Ohika and Pike Detachment Faults. The two detachment faults have distinctly different histories, with greater exhumation along the Pike Detachment Fault. The onset of crustal extension is proposed to have commenced along the Pike Detachment Fault at 116.2 ± 5.9 Ma (Rb/Sr dating). Both geochemical and geochronological approaches are adopted for this thesis, through the in situ analysis of oxygen and hafnium isotope ratios, trace metals and U-Pb content. Chemical changes are tracked during the petrogenesis of the Buckland Granite, with mafic replenishment observed in the later stages of crystallisation. Crystallisation temperatures of the Buckland Granite are calculated using zircon saturation thermometry, with an average Ti-in-zircon temperature of 697℃ (upper-amphibolite facies). Inherited zircons in Lower Plate rocks show distinct age peaks at c. 1000, 600 and 300 Ma, illustrating the incorporation of heterogeneous local crust (Greenland Group and Karamea Batholith). Model ages (TDM) are calculated for inherited zircons of the Lower Plate rocks, which record the time at which magma bodies (zircon host rocks) were extracted from the mantle. Maximum and minimum model ages for the Buckland Granite average at 3410 Ma and 2969 Ma, with the maximum TDM value of 3410 Ma coinciding with the proposed major crustal formation event of the Gondwana supercontinent at c. 3.4-3.5 Ga. Two distinct U-Pb zircon age peaks are observed in the Buckland Granite at 102.4 ± 0.7 and 110.3 ± 0.9 Ma. The 110.3 ± 0.9 Ma age is interpreted as the crystallisation age of the pluton, while the 102.4 ± 0.7 is proposed to represent a younger thermal (magmatic?) event associated with the 101-102 Ma Stitts Tuff.

Cretaceous continental extension was accommodated by the development of the Paparoa Metamorphic Core Complex, resulting in the separation of New Zealand from Gondwana. High grade (Lower Plate) and low grade (Upper Plate) rocks are separated by the Ohika and Pike Detachment Faults. The two detachment faults have distinctly different histories, with greater exhumation along the Pike Detachment Fault. The onset of crustal extension is proposed to have commenced along the Pike Detachment Fault at 116.2 ± 5.9 Ma (Rb/Sr dating). Both geochemical and geochronological approaches are adopted for this thesis, through the in situ analysis of oxygen and hafnium isotope ratios, trace metals and U-Pb content. Chemical changes are tracked during the petrogenesis of the Buckland Granite, with mafic replenishment observed in the later stages of crystallisation. Crystallisation temperatures of the Buckland Granite are calculated using zircon saturation thermometry, with an average Ti-in-zircon temperature of 697℃ (upper-amphibolite facies). Inherited zircons in Lower Plate rocks show distinct age peaks at c. 1000, 600 and 300 Ma, illustrating the incorporation of heterogeneous local crust (Greenland Group and Karamea Batholith). Model ages (TDM) are calculated for inherited zircons of the Lower Plate rocks, which record the time at which magma bodies (zircon host rocks) were extracted from the mantle. Maximum and minimum model ages for the Buckland Granite average at 3410 Ma and 2969 Ma, with the maximum TDM value of 3410 Ma coinciding with the proposed major crustal formation event of the Gondwana supercontinent at c. 3.4-3.5 Ga. Two distinct U-Pb zircon age peaks are observed in the Buckland Granite at 102.4 ± 0.7 and 110.3 ± 0.9 Ma. The 110.3 ± 0.9 Ma age is interpreted as the crystallisation age of the pluton, while the 102.4 ± 0.7 is proposed to represent a younger thermal (magmatic?) event associated with the 101-102 Ma Stitts Tuff.

Abstract Three dimensional finite strain and kinematic data from the Resolution Island Shear Zone, Fiordland, New Zealand record the progressive evolution of a lower crustal metamorphic core complex. The Resolution Island Shear Zone is a mid-Cretaceous (~114-90 Ma) extensional shear zone that juxtaposes high-pressure (P~17-19 kbar) garnet-granulite and eclogite facies orthogneiss from the lower crust against mid-crustal (P~6-8 kbar) orthogneiss and paragneiss along a low-angle upper amphibolite facies ductile normal fault. In the lower plate of the Resolution Island Shear Zone the high-pressure garnetgranulite and eclogite facies gneissic foliations (S1) are attenuated by granulite facies extensional shear zone foliations (S2). Retrograde metamorphism marked by the breakdown of omphacite and garnet to amphibole and feldspar in S2 foliation records the unloading of the lower plate during extension. Continued extension localized strain into weaker amphibole and feldspar-bearing lithologies. Upper amphibolite facies shear zones anastomose around rigid lenses that preserve the S1 and S2 fabric. Upper amphibolite facies shear zone fabrics (S3/L3) that envelop these pods display a regional-scale domeand- basin pattern. These shear zones coalesce and form the Resolution Island Shear Zone. Coeval with the formation of the Resolution Island Shear Zone, a conjugate, southwest dipping, and lesser magnitude shear zone termed the Wet Jacket Shear Zone developed in the upper plate of the Resolution Island Shear Zone. Three-dimensional strain analyses from S3/L3 fabric in the Resolution Island Shear Zone show prolate-shaped strain ellipsoids. Stretching axes (X) from measured finite strain ellipsoids trend northeast and southwest and are subparallel to L3 mineral stretching lineations. Shortening axes (Y, Z) are subhorizontal and subvertical, respectively, and rotate through the YZ plane of the finite strain ellipsoid. This pattern reflects the dome-and-basin geometry displayed by anastomosing S3 foliations and indicates the Resolution Island Shear Zone developed in the field of constriction. Threedimensional kinematic results indicate a coaxial-dominated rotation of stretching lineations toward the X-axis in both the XZ and XY planes of the finite strain ellipsoid. Results suggest that a lower crustal metamorphic core complex developed in a constrictional strain field with components of coaxial-dominated subvertical and subhorizontal shortening. Mid-Cretaceous (~114-90 Ma) extensional structures exposed in Fiordland, including the Resolution Island, Wet Jacket, Mount Irene and Doubtful Sound shear zones and the Paparoa metamorphic core complex allows the reconstruction of a crustal column that describes the geometry of mid-Cretaceous continental rifting of Gondwana. The overall symmetry of crustal-scale structures during continental extension suggests kinematic links between flow in the lower crust and the geometry and mode of continental extension. This result is consistent with numerical models of lithospheric rifting that predict the lower crust has a primary control on the style of continental extension.

La lithosphère continentale peut s’étirer selon trois modes (rift large, rift étroit et Core Complex). En Asie de l’Est, une extension continentale a eu lieu de la fin du Mésozoïque au Cénozoïque et ne semble correspondre à aucun des trois modes actuellement définis. Cette période est caractérisée par un amincissement lithosphérique exceptionnel (>100 km), la présence de MCC, de bassins sédimentaires et une importante activité magmatique. Basé sur une approche multi-échelles, ce travail vise à mieux comprendre les mécanismes à l’origine de cette déformation lithosphérique (jamais abordés) ainsi que du moteur de l’extension (encore vivement discuté). Pluridisciplinaire, cette étude apporte de nouvelles contraintes à partir de l’analyse de la déformation finie (ductile ou fragile), du magnétisme des roches (ASM, paléomagnétisme), de la géochronologie (U/Pb sur zircon et 40Ar/39Ar sur monograins) et de la gravimétrie. Différents objets reconnus, révélant des quantités d’extension différentes (MCC vs. pluton cisaillé), montrent que la croûte continentale se déforme de manière très localisée, par la mise en place de larges dômes extensifs séparant des domaines de « radeaux » ou « boudins » présentant une déformation faible à nulle. Par comparaison des données crustales et mantelliques (tomographie sismique, géochimie) disponibles, cette étude met en évidence que l’amincissement lithosphérique reconnu pour le Mésozoïque est principalement lié à un important flux thermique du manteau, l’extension n’ayant qu’un rôle limité dans cet amincissement (<20%). En outre, eu égard au gradient géothermique exceptionnellement élevé de la région, à la fin du Mésozoïque, il semble très probable que des MCC puissent s’être développés sans épaississement préalable de la croûte. L’analyse comparée des directions d’étirement dans la croûte et dans le manteau met en évidence le rôle majeur de la subduction des panneaux plongeants le long de la marge est-asiatique. Un modèle géodynamique a été proposé montrant le rôle du retrait successif des panneaux plongeants couplé à un phénomène d’érosion thermique de la lithosphère. / Continental lithosphere can be stretched according to three modes (wide rift, narrow rift, Core Complex). In East Asia, a continental extension occurred during the Late Mesozoic to Cenozoic times and seems to do not correspond to any of three modes currently defined. This period is characterised by an exceptional lithospheric thinning (> 100 km) with the presence of MCC, sedimentary basins and a huge magmatic activity. Based on a multi-scale approach, this work aims to better understand the mechanisms of this lithospheric deformation (never addressed) and the engine of the extension (yet highly debated). This study provides new multidisciplinary constraints from the analysis of finite strain (ductile or brittle), rock magnetism (AMS, palaeomagnetism), geochronology (U/Pb on zircon and 40Ar/39Ar on single crystals) and gravity. Different objects have been recognised, revealing different amounts of extension (MCC vs. sheared pluton), and show that the continental crust is locally highly deformed, with emplacements of large MCCs between "rafts" or "boudins" domains which are weakly strained to unstrained. By comparison of available crustal and mantle data (seismic tomography, geochemistry), this study shows that the lithospheric thinning recognised for the Mesozoic is mainly related to a major mantle heat flux, the extension plays a limited role in this thinning (<20%). In addition, given the exceptional high geothermal gradient in the region at the end of the Mesozoic, it seems very likely that MCC may have developed without pre-thickened crust. Comparative analysis of stretching directions within the crust and mantle highlights that the subduction of the (palaeo) Pacific plate along the East Asian margin may play an initial and major role during Late Mesozoic extensional event. A geodynamic model has been proposed to show the role of the successive retreat of subducting slabs coupled to a thermal erosion of the lithosphere.

Reconstructing the structural evolution of metamorphic core complexes is critical to understanding how large-magnitude extension is accommodated in the middle to upper crust. This dissertation focuses on the Miocene geometric and kinematic evolution of the Buckskin-Rawhide metamorphic core complex in west-central Arizona, addressing controversial topics including the geometric development of mid-crustal shear zones, the formation of detachment fault corrugations, and the transition from detachment faulting to more distributed deformation. Detailed microstructural data from mylonites in the lower plate of the Buckskin-Rawhide detachment fault indicate that early Miocene mylonitization was characterized by consistent top-NE-directed shear and ~450-500°C deformation temperatures that varied by [less-than or equal to]50°C across a distance of ~35 km in the extension direction. The relatively uniform deformation conditions and strain recorded in mylonitized ~22-21 Ma granitoids are incompatible with models in which the lower plate shear zone represents the down-dip continuation of a detachment fault. Instead, lower plate mylonites initiated as a subhorizontal shear zone that was captured and rapidly exhumed by a moderately to gently dipping detachment fault system. Structural data and geologic mapping demonstrate that the prominent NE-trending Buckskin-Rawhide detachment fault corrugations are folds produced by extension-perpendicular (NW-SE) shortening during core complex extension. Dominant NE-directed slip on the detachment fault was progressively overprinted by NW- and SE-directed slip associated with corrugation folding. Orientation patterns of upper plate bedding across the corrugations are compatible with folding about a NE-trending axis. Extension-perpendicular shortening in the lower plate is recorded by synmylonitic constriction and folding. Upright m-scale and km-scale lower plate folds parallel the detachment fault corrugations and developed primarily by postmylonitic flexural slip that was coeval with detachment faulting. The total amount of NW-SE shortening across the lower plate is ~10%, but the amount of NW-SE shortening recorded by the younger detachment fault is only ~1%. The relatively late-stage development of corrugations in the Buckskin-Rawhide metamorphic core complex suggests that extension-perpendicular shortening was primarily driven by a reduction of vertical stresses through crustal thinning and tectonic denudation. Brittle fault data document the transition from large-magnitude, NE-directed extension to distributed E-W extension and right-lateral faulting. Following exhumation to brittle conditions, lower plate mylonites were extended up to ~20-30% by NE-dipping, syndetachment normal faults. Towards the end of detachment faulting, the extension direction rotated clockwise, and some portions of the Buckskin detachment fault record a transition from dominant top-NE slip to ENE- and E-directed slip. After detachment faulting ceased, E-W extension was accommodated primarily by steeply NE-dipping, right-lateral and oblique right-lateral-normal faults. The cumulative amount of right-lateral shear across the core complex is probably 7-9 km, which is the amount needed to restore the topographic trend of lower plate corrugations into alignment with the dominant extension direction. Postdetachment right-lateral/transtensional faulting across the Buckskin-Rawhide metamorphic core complex reflects the increasing influence of the Pacific-North American transform plate boundary towards the end of the middle Miocene. / text

Mid-Tertiary metamorphic core complexes in the Basin and Range province of the western North American Cordillera are characterized by large-magnitude extensional deformation. Numerous models have been proposed for the kinematic evolution of these metamorphic core complexes. Such models generally invoke footwall isotatic rebound due to tectonic denudation, and the presence of a weak middle crust capable of flow at mid-crustal levels. In popular models of Cordilleran-style metamorphic core-complex development, initial extension occurs along a breakaway fault, which subsequently is deformed into a synform and abandoned in response to isostatic rebound, with new faults breaking forward in the dominant transport direction. In southeast Arizona, the Catalina and Pinaleño Mountains core complexes have been pointed to as type examples of this model. In this study, the “traditional” core-complex model is tested through analysis of field relations and geochronological age constraints, and by interpretation of seismic reflection profiles along a transect incorporating these core complexes. Elements of these linked core-complex systems, from southwest to northeast, include the Tucson Basin, the Santa Catalina-Rincon Mountains, the San Pedro trough, the Galiuro Mountains, the Sulphur Springs Valley, the Pinaleño Mountains, and the Safford Basin. A new digital compilation of geological data, across highly extended terranes, in conjunction with reprocessing and interpretation of a suite of industry 2-D seismic reflection profiles spanning nearly sub-parallel to regional extension, illuminate subsurface structural features related to Cenozoic crustal extension and provide new constraints on evolution of core complexes in southeast Arizona. The main objective is to develop a new kinematic model for mid-Tertiary extension and core complex evolution in southeast Arizona that incorporates new geological and geophysical observations. Geological and seismological data indicate that viable alternative models explain observations at least as well as previous core-complex models. In contrast to the “traditional” model often employed for these structures, our models suggest that the southwest- and northeast-dipping normal-fault systems on the flanks of the Galiuro Mountains extend to mid-crustal depths beneath the San Pedro trough and Sulphur-Springs Valley, respectively. In our interpretations and models, these oppositely vergent fault systems are not the breakaway faults for the Catalina and Pinaleño detachment systems.

In the Basin and Range province of southwestern North America, Oligocene and Miocene normal faults are superimposed upon the Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary magmatic arc. This study examines tilted fault blocks containing dismembered pieces of porphyry systems, including pieces below and peripheral to ore bodies, that are exposed at the modern surface. Features in the magmatic-hydrothermal porphyry systems are used to place constraints on the style of extension in Arizona, and reconstructions of extension are used to examine the deep and peripheral portions of porphyry systems to provide a more complete understanding of porphyry systems as a whole. The Eagle Pass, Tea Cup, and Sheep Mountain porphyry systems of Arizona are examined in this study. In all the study areas, previous interpretations of the style of extension involved strongly listric normal faults. However, similar amounts of tilting observed in hanging wall and footwall rocks, as well as structure contour maps of fault planes, require that down dip curvature on faults was minimal (<1°/km. Instead, extension is shown here to have occurred as sets of nearly planar, "domino-style" normal faults were superimposed upon one another, including in the Pinaleño metamorphic core complex. Reconstructions of Tertiary extension reveal that sodic (-calcic) alteration is occurs 2-4 km peripheral to, and greisen alteration is found structurally below and overlapping with, potassic alteration. In addition, a preliminary reconstruction of extension across the Laramide magmatic arc reveals that the geometry, as revealed by known porphyry systems, is of similar scale to that of other magmatic arcs. These results help further the debate surrounding competing models of continental extension, and combine with previous work to provide a more complete understanding of the geometries of Arizona porphyry systems at the district and arc scale.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare genetic disease that causes retinal degradation, obesity, kidney dysfunction, polydactyly, and other cilium-related disorders. To date, more than 20 BBS genes, whose mutants cause BBS phenotypes, have been identified, and eight of those (BBS1-2, 4-5, 7-9, and 18) are known to form the BBSome complex. Recent studies have revealed that the BBSome is closely involved in the trafficking of signaling proteins in the primary cilium. Mutations in BBS genes are highly pathogenic because trafficking in the primary cilium is not fully functional when BBS mutations impair assembly of the BBSome. However, the functional links between onset of BBS and BBSome assembly are not well understood. To address this gap in knowledge, we examined the structure of a BBSome assembly intermediate, the BBSome core complex (BBS2, 7, and 9). We employed a combination of chemical crosslinking coupled with mass spectrometry (XL-MS) and electron microscopy (EM) to determine the structure. We applied this structural information to BBS mutations in the core complex to understand how these mutations might cause the disease. These results provide the first structural model of the BBSome core complex and give insight into the molecular basis of Bardet-Biedl syndrome. We have also investigated the mechanism of assembly of the two mTOR kinase complexes (mTORC1 and 2). mTOR is a master regulator of cell metabolism, growth and proliferation. As such, mTOR is a high-value drug target. We investigated the mechanism of assembly of these mTOR complexes and found that the cytosolic chaperonin CCT contributes to mTOR signaling by assisting in the folding of mLST8 and Raptor, components of mTORC1 and mTORC2. To understand the function of CCT in mTOR complex assembly at the molecular level, we have isolated the mLST8-CCT complex and performed a structural analysis using chemical cross-linking couple with mass spectrometry (XL-MS) and cryogenic EM. We found that mLST8 binds CCT deep in its folding cavity, making specific contacts with the CCTα and γ subunits and forming a near-native β-propeller conformation. This information can be used to develop new therapeutics that regulate mTOR activity by controlling mTOR complex assembly.

The Paparoa Metamorphic Core Complex developed in the Mid-Cretaceous due to continental extension conditioning the crust for the eventual breakup of the Gondwana Pacific Margin, which separated Australia and New Zealand. It has two detachment systems: the top-NE-displacing Ohika Detachment at the northern end of the complex and the top-SW-displacing Pike Detachment at the southern end of the complex. The structure is rather unusual for core complexes worldwide, which are commonly characterised by a single detachment system. Few suggestions for the kinematics of the core complex development have been made so far. In this study structural-, micrographic- and fission track analyses were applied to investigate the bivergent character and to constrain the kinematics of the core complex. The new results combined with reinterpretations of previous workers’ observations reveal a detailed sequence of the core complex exhumation and the subsequent development. Knowledge about the influence and the timing of the two respective detachments is critical for understanding the structural evolution of the core complex. The syntectonic Buckland Granite plays a key role in the determination of the importance of the two detachment systems. Structural evidence shows that the Pike Detachment is responsible for most of the exhumation, while the Ohika Detachment is a mere complexity. In contrast to earlier opinions the southwestern normal fault system predates the northeastern one. The Buckland Pluton records the ceasing pervasive influence of the Pike Detachment, while activity on the Ohika Detachment had effect on the surface about ~8 Ma later. Most fission track ages are not related to the core complex stage, but reflect the younger late Cretaceous history. They show post core complex burial and renewed exhumation in two phases, which are regionally linked to the development of the adjacent Paparoa Basin and the Paparoa Coal Measures to the southwest and to the inception of seafloor spreading in the Tasman Sea in a larger context.