Rethinking the emplacement and evolution of zoned plutons: Geochronologic evidence for incremental assembly of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, California

Abstract

New U-Pb geochronologic data indicate that the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, California, was assembled over a period of at least 10 m.y. between 95 and 85 Ma, and that the Half Dome Granodiorite intruded over a period approaching 4 m.y. Simple thermal considerations preclude the possibility that a magma chamber the size of the Half Dome pluton could have existed as a liquid at shallow crustal depths for that long. Rather, field evidence for sheeting along the margins of the suite, the range of ages, and the regular decrease of ages toward the center of the suite and within individual plutons suggest incremental assembly. Geochronologic evidence for incremental assembly is consistent with the failure of geophysical methods to detect large magma chambers with more than ∼20% melt, even in active volcanic areas. Because it is unlikely that the individual plutons composing the Tuolumne ever coexisted as liquid-rich magmas, the chemical evolution of the suite cannot be the result of simple fractionation and/or mixing between exposed units, but instead must reflect processes occurring during magma generation.