The Eastern Mono Basin Transtensional Zone: New Paleomagnetic and 40AR/39AR Data Bearing on the Timing and Extent of Vertical Axis Rotation Associated with Intercontinental Deformation

Deformation between the North American and Pacific plates is distributed across a wide zone of the western margin of the continent, where at least 25-30% of the plate boundary strain is accommodated via intraplate deformation. We hypothesize that during the early to mid-Miocene transtensional deformation was located east of the Sierra Nevada in the Mono Basin prior to stepping east into the Mina Deflection. Seventeen 40Ar/39Ar age determinations were obtained from sequences of lava flows that yield relatively stable plateau ages that indicate eruption in the late Miocene to early Pliocene. Paleomagnetic data were collected from the Miocene Jack Springs Tuff (JST) east of Huntoon Valley, and stratigraphically continuous sections of Mio-Pliocene basalt flows near Marietta, NV (MB), Pizona, CA (PB), Queens Valley, CA/NV (QVB), and in the Adobe Hills (AH). Nineteen sites from the JST yield clockwise discordant results, with respect to the reference location, from +20°±10° to +60°±11°. The results from the basalts yield discordant data with respect to the Miocene expected field direction (D=353°, I=58°, A95= 3°). Twelve of 13 sites from the MB yield a group mean direction D=027°, I=57°, a95=12.4° that is clockwise discordant with an inferred rotation (R) and flattening (F) of R=+33.9°+/-18.4° and F=1.3°+/-10.6°. Seventeen of 22 sites from four sections in the PB indicate that three sections are counter-clockwise discordant and one section plots on the expected field direction. Sixteen of 23 sites from five sections in the QVB indicate that three sections are counter-clockwise discordant and two sections are clockwise discordant. Thirty-four sites of the >100 sites collected in the Adobe Hills are clockwise discordant ranging from +15°±10° to +50°±10°. This study provides the first paleomagnetic data for this area, which supports the hypothesis of strain accommodated by vertical axis rotation in the Mono Basin and constrains the timing of intraplate reorganization.