Geochronology and tectonic implications of magmatism and metamorphism, southern Kootenay Arc and neighbouring regions, southeastern British Columbia. Part I: Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous
K–Ar dates and U–Pb zircon dates define three periods of igneous activity in the southern Kootenay Arc: (1) emplacement of late-synkinematic to post-kinematic granodioritic plutons in mid-Jurassic time (170–165 Ma) accompanying amphibolite-facies regional metamorphism; (2) emplacement of post-kinematic granitic plutons in mid-Cretaceous time (~100 Ma); and (3) emplacement of small bodies of syenite in Eocene time (~50 Ma) in the western part of the area. Micas from mid-Jurassic plutons that yield the oldest K–Ar dates (158–166 Ma) also yield plateau-shaped 40Ar/39Ar age spectra. Age spectra for biotites younger than these but older than 125 Ma reflect thermal overprinting.In southeastern British Columbia, the Kootenay Arc marks the transition from the North American rocks of the Cordilleran miogeocline to the tectonic collage of allochthonous terranes that have been accreted to it.Deformation, metamorphism, and plutonism recorded in rocks of the southern Kootenay Arc commenced in mid-Jurassic time as a co...