Rock Magnetic and Paleointensity Study of Eastern California's ~83 Ma Golden Bear and Coso Dikes

Extraordinary intermediate-composition (Kspar +/- quartz andesite porphyry) dikes are coincident with the end of Sierra Nevada magmatism and crop out on both the east and the west sides of Owens Valley, but offset dextrally by >60 km. If this offset represents ancient (possibly Cretaceous) strike-slip partitioning of Pacific-North America plate boundary strain, then at least one of the south- and east-sited Coso dikes might be expected to be paleomagnetically "identical" to its presumed paleo-contiguous, north- and west-sited Golden Bear partner. Accompanying a directional study by Pluhar and colleagues at CSU-Fresno, we are characterizing magnetic mineralogy, fabric, and thermal lability of Coso dikes and the Golden Bear dike. We are also applying the pTRM difference multi-specimen paleointensity technique to these samples, testing for across-Owens Valley correlation.