A Precambrian History of Cratonic North American Crust Beneath the Snake River Plain, Idaho
Shirley EK. 2013. A Precambrian History of Cratonic North American Crust Beneath the Snake River Plain, Idaho
Granulite xenoliths erupted in Neogene basalts, and a rare outcrop of Precambrian basement along the northern margin of the Snake River Plain (SRP), can be used as windows into the origin and stabilization of the lower crust of southern Idaho. Previous work to determine the nature of the lower crust beneath the Snake River Plain was conducted on a suite of xenoliths exposed in Southern Idaho at Square Mountain (SM), Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO), and the Spencer-Kilgore (SK) area (Leeman, 1979; Leeman et al., 1985; Matty, 1984; Wolf et al., 2005), as well as on a basement outcrop at House Mountain, near Mountain Home, ID (Alexander, 2006). This study uses U/Pb geochronology and Hf isotope geochemistry to determine the history of formation and stabilization of the lower crust of the SRP within the context of other surrounding Precambrian basement terranes of North America.
- Type
- Academic
- Authors
- Shirley, Emerald
- Date of Issue
- 2013-12
- Units
- CRMO
- Keywords
- Isotope ratios, Snake River Plain, Terranes, thesis, Xenoliths
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Volcanic Features and Processes