Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic terrane interactions in north-central British Columbia
Five clearly defined terranes, comprising from northeast to southwest, Ancestral North America, Slide Mountain, Quesnellia, Cache Creek, and Stikinia, are the dominant tectonic elements of north-central British Columbia. Stratigraphic, sedimentological, plutonic, metamorphic, and structural data show that the Slide Mountain Terrane evolved as a subduction, accretion, and island-arc complex during Permian time. Sedimentological data hint at the demise of the Slide Mountain and Cache Creek oceanic environments in the Permian or Early Triassic and Late Triassic, respectively. Subduction led to the development of volcanic–plutonic island arcs on Stikinia, Quesnellia, and locally on the Cache Creek Terrane in Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic time. Marked inter- and intra-terrane contraction in the Middle Jurassic resulted in the south westward thrusting of the Cache Creek Terrane onto Stikinia, the subsequent development of the Bowser Basin on Stikinia, and possible coeval culmination of the emplacement of Que...