Authors
James B Chapman, Shane H Scoggin, Gilby Jepson, Jason W Ricketts, Allen J Schaen, Adam E Trzinski
Publication date
2024/4
Journal
Tectonics
Volume
43
Issue
4
Pages
e2023TC008032
Description
The Pinaleño Mountains of southeastern Arizona is the eastern‐most metamorphic core complex in the southern U.S. and northern Mexican Cordillera. This study investigates the thermal history and exhumation record of the Pinaleño core complex using mica 40Ar/39Ar, apatite and zircon (U‐Th)/He, and apatite fission‐track thermochronometers. The Pinaleño Mountains experienced two periods of rapid cooling during the Cenozoic. The first period, from ca. 27 to 21 Ma, records tectonic exhumation related to the development of the core complex and extensional shear zone. This period was followed by a relatively quiescent interval from 21 to 13.5 Ma that records little to no exhumation. The second period of rapid cooling, from 13.5 to 11 Ma, records tectonic exhumation related to high‐angle normal faulting, characteristic of the Basin and Range province. The exhumation timing of the Pinaleño core complex …