Sierra Nevada

In the transition from WWII to the Cold War in the late 1940s and early 1950s, United States Geological Survey (USGS) mappers, equipped with detailed next-generation 15-minute topographic quadrangle maps and aerial photographs (Moore, 2001), began systematic geologic mapping of the Sierra. These efforts began in the mineral-rich Bishop Tungsten district and the Sierra Crest and progressed westward across the Central Sierra Nevada, initially in traverse of the batholith between 36°45’N and 38°00’N. This Central Sierra Nevada corridor contains large swaths of Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks.

As USGS mappers Paul C. Bateman, James G. Moore, Donald C. Ross, Franklin C.W. Dodge, and others began to recognize the broad patterns in mineralogy, texture, and relative age and the extent of various plutonic units, iconic Sierra Nevada granitoid names were formalized: Lamarck, Dinkey Creek, Round Valley Peak, Mount Givens, Inconsolable, and Tinemaha Granodiorites; Tungsten Hills and Wheeler Crest Quartz Monzonite. Survey scientists recognized from their petrologic mapping and petrography (thin sections, modal analyses) the need for a reference collection of the major plutonic units that would capture the range of compositions, textures, and ages of the major intrusive belts across the batholith. This collection was largely assembled over a 30-year period from 1953 to 1983 (Bateman et al. 1984) from fresh, large, representative samples collected during mapping; several were obtained from portions of cores obtained during the geothermal borehole study that Arthur Lachenbruch oversaw starting in 1963 (Lachenbruch,1968). Samples from the collection were analyzed as a suite from 1955 onward with Larsen and others (1958) lead-Alpha zircon study of eight samples being the inaugural publication that names any of the samples.

The sample set was used repeatedly thereafter in dozens of geochronological, mineralogical, and geochemical (including major, minor and trace elements, redox, and isotopes), and experimental melting studies. Later studies re-used the rocks for K-Ar, Rb-Sr, fission track, U-Pb and zircon age determinations from the 1960s to 1980s. Franklin C.W. Dodge, who finished his PhD on Yosemite rocks in 1963, spent much of his career shepherding the suite to use in additional collaborative studies such as deciphering prominent zoning of major (e.g., Si, K), trace (Rb, Sr, Rare Earth Elements), and isotopic (Sr, Nd, O) variations in the plutons across the batholith. Dodge was pivotal in helping the suite serve for first-ever assessments of patterns of batholith-scale studies of igneous mineral compositions, including plagioclase and alkali feldspars, biotite, hornblende, chlorite, titanite, apatite, epidote, allanite, accessory phases and other minerals in the Sierra. The suite supported some of the first experimental studies of crystallization behaviour of cordilleran granitoids. Because these efforts were most intense between the mid 1960s and 70s, spanning the plate tectonic revolution, the data generated from these samples was a continual source of new ideas related to Cordilleran magmatism. At least 30 studies contributed original measurements on samples from the suite.

Studies Directly Naming Samples in the Sierra Nevada Reference Collection, listed chronologically:

1. Larsen, E. S., Jr., Gottfried, D., Jaffe, H. W., and Waring, C. L., 1958, Lead-alpha ages of the Mesozoic batholiths of western North America: U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, p. 35-62.
2. Bateman, P. C., 1961, Granitic formations in the east-central Sierra Nevada near Bishop, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 72, no. 10, p. 1521-1537.
3. Bateman, P. C., Clark, L. D., Huber, N. K., Moore, J. G., and Rinehart, C. D., 1963, The Sierra Nevada Batholith; a synthesis of recent work across the central part: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, p. D1-D46.
4. Hurley, P. M., Bateman, P. C., Fairbairn, H. W., and Pinson, W. H., Jr., 1965, Investigation of initial Sr87/Sr86 ratios in the Sierra Nevada plutonic province: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 76, no. 2, p. 165-174.
5. Kistler, R. W., Bateman, P. C., and Brannock, W. W., 1965, Isotopic ages of minerals from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada and Inyo Mountains, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 76, no. 2, p. 155-164.
6. Kistler, R. W., and Dodge, F. C. W., 1966, Potassium-argon ages of coexisting minerals from pyroxene-bearing granitic rocks in the Sierra Nevada, California: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 71, no. 8, p. 2157-2161.
7. Lachenbruch, A. H., 1968, Preliminary geothermal model of the Sierra Nevada: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 73, no. 22, p. 6977-6989.
8. Dodge, F. C. W., and Moore, J. G., 1968, Occurrence and composition of biotites from the Cartridge Pass Pluton of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, p. B6-B10.
9. Dodge, F. C. W., and Naeser, C. W., 1968, Fission-track ages of apatites from granitic rocks of the Sierra Nevada Batholith: Transactions - American Geophysical Union, v. 49, no. 1, p. 348.
10. Dodge, F. C. W., Papike, J. J., and Mays, R. E., 1968, Hornblendes from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Journal of Petrology, v. 9, no. 3, p. 378-410.
11. Piwinskii, A. J., 1968, Experimental studies of igneous rock series, central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Journal of Geology, v. 76, no. 5, p. 548-570.
12. Piwinskii, A. J., 1968, Studies of batholithic feldspars; Sierra Nevada, California: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 17, no. 3, p. 204-223.
13. Wollenberg, H. A., and Smith, A. R., 1968, Radiogeologic studies in the central part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 73, no. 4, p. 1481-1495.
14. Dodge, F. C. W., Smith, V. C., and Mays, R. E., 1969, Biotites from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Journal of Petrology, v. 10, no. 2, p. 250-271.
15. Naeser, C. W., and Dodge, F. C. W., 1969, Fission-track ages of accessory minerals from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 80, no. 11, p. 2201-2210.
16. Bateman, P. C., and Dodge, F. C. W., 1970, Variations of major chemical constituents across the central Sierra Nevada Batholith: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 81, no. 2, p. 409-420.
17. Dodge, F. C. W., Fabbi, B. P., and Ross, D. C., 1970, Potassium and rubidium in granitic rocks of Central California: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, p. D108-D115.
18. Naeser, C. W., Engels, J. C., and Dodge, F. C. W., 1970, Fission track annealing and age determination of epidote minerals: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 75, no. 8, p. 1579-1584.
19. Naeser, C. W., Kistler, R. W., and Dodge, F. C. W., 1971, Ages of coexisting minerals from heat-flow borehole sites, central Sierra Nevada Batholith: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 76, no. 26, p. 6462-6463.
20. Dodge, F. C. W., 1972, Variation of Ferrous-Ferric Ratios in the Central Sierra Nevada Batholith, U.S.A: Report of the ... Session - International Geological Congress, v. 24, no. 10, p. 12-19.
21. Dodge, F. C. W., and Mays, R. E., 1972, Rare-earth element fractionation in accessory minerals, central Sierra Nevada Batholith: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, v. 0800-D, p. 165-168.
22. Dodge, F. C. W., 1973, Chlorites from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society, v. 39, no. 301, p. 58-64.
23. Dodge, F. C. W., and Bateman, P. C., 1977, The Sierra Nevada Batholith, California, U.S.A. and spatially related mineral deposits: Buletin Persatuan Geologi Malaysia = Bulletin Geological Society of Malaysia, no. 9, p. 17-29.
24. Dodge, F. C. W., Millard, H. T., Jr., and Elsheimer, H. N., 1981, Distribution of elements of Sierra Nevada batholith: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, p. 163.
25. Stern, T. W., Bateman, P. C., Morgan, B. A., Newell, M. F., and Peck, D. L., 1981, Isotopic U-Pb ages of zircon from the granitoids of the central Sierra Nevada, California: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 17 pp.
26. Dodge, F. C. W., Millard, H. T., Jr., and Elsheimer, H. N., 1982, Compositional variations and abundances of selected elements in granitoid rocks and constituent minerals, central Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, p. 24.
27. Bateman, P. C., Dodge, F. C. W., and Bruggman, P. E., 1984, Major oxide analyses, CIPW norms, modes, and bulk specific gravities of plutonic rocks from the Mariposa 1 degrees by 2 degrees sheet, central Sierra Nevada, California: Open-File Report - U. S. Geological Survey, p. 59.
28. Bateman, P. C., 1990, Magnetic susceptibilities of samples of plutonic rocks in the Mariposa 1 degrees X 2 degrees quadrangle, California, U. S. Geological Survey.
29. Bateman, P. C., Dodge, F. C. W., and Kistler, R. W., 1991, Magnetic susceptibility and relation to initial 87Sr/86Sr for granitoids of the central Sierra Nevada, California: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 96, no. B12, p. 19,555–19,568.
30. Bateman, P. C., 1992, Plutonism in the central part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1483, 182 pp.