Lu-Hf garnet geochronology of the Salmon River Suture Zone, West-Central Idaho

The Salmon River Suture Zone (SRSZ) in west-central Idaho records the accretion of island arc terranes to North America. It is modified by the Western Idaho Shear Zone (WISZ), a high strain zone within the SRSZ, which defines the present-day boundary between old continental North America and the accreted oceanic assemblages. Timing of the onset of deformation on the WISZ is not well established, primarily due to a poorly constrained metamorphic history. Existing garnet geochronologic studies of units within the SRSZ, using the Sm-Nd isotope system, have provided a framework towards a progressive accretion of arc-derived rocks to North America [1,2]. In this study, we report on the application of the Lu-Hf isotope system to provide ages of garnet growth within the suture zone. This system has the advantage of being insensitive to light rare earth element (LREE)-rich inclusions in garnet, which can complicate Sm-Nd geochronology. Samples were taken from several locations from both along and perpendicular to the suture zone. We report results on two of these samples, within and east of the WISZ. First, a garnet bearing leucocratic layer in a gneissic meta-sedimentary screen near Cascade, Idaho, yields a garnet age of 98 ± 2.0 Ma (2SD). The screen occurs completely within the orthogneisses of the WISZ, and displays similar fabrics and kinematics. Second, a biotite quartzo-feldspathic garnet gneiss from Elk City, Idaho, yields an age 100 ± 2.9 Ma (2SD). This location is ~35 km east of the WISZ, on a sub-parallel deformation zone that was active at the same time. Both samples were single-stage garnet fractions consisting of inclusion-free to inclusion-bearing fragments and whole rock pairs. These ages provide two important implications for the Mesozoic evolution of the western edge of North America. First, transpressional deformation in the WISZ occurred simultaneously with deformation on parallel structures in central Idaho, indicating that a wide zone of deformation occurred on North America (and was intruded and thus obscured by the younger Idaho batholith). Second, deformation on these structures occurred during a limited time interval in the mid-Cretaceous, with peak metamorphism at ~100 Ma. [1] Getty et al., 1993, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol, v. 115, p. 45-57. [2] McKay et al., 2011, GSA Abstr w Prog., 2011 Rocky Mountain-Cordilleran section meeting, Paper No. 26-2.