Structure of Conjugate Rifted Margins of the Northern Gulf of California

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

0001248 Stock The northern Gulf of California straddles the transition from oceanic to continental deformation along the Pacific-North American plate boundary, and has accommodated at least 300 km of relative motion since Miocene time, but has not yet produced true oceanic crust in between. This has led to controversy about how early stages of such large-scale oblique rifting occurs. This project builds on prior work that indicates that detailed volcanic history of two areas on either shore of the Gulf are matching portions of a single caldera complex, implying that material underlying the gulf is entirely new rather than being highly extended remnants of thinned continental crust. This work will rigorously test this important hypothesis. Results should increase understanding of early stages of oblique rifting of the Gulf of California, and this should be broadly applicable to similar tectonic situations.