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TERTIARY TILTING AND DISMEMBERMENT OF THE LARAMIDE ARC AND RELATED HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS, SIERRITA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA

William J. A. Stavast^,*

Center for Mineral Resources, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077

Robert F. Butler^**

Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077

Eric Seedorff and Mark D. Barton

Center for Mineral Resources, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077

Charles A. Ferguson

Arizona Geological Survey, 416 West Congress Street, Suite 100, Tucson, Arizona 85701

Corresponding author: e-mail: bill{at}stavast.us

Multiple lines of evidence, including new and published geologic mapping and paleomagnetic and geobarometric determinations, demonstrate that the rocks and large porphyry copper systems of the Sierrita Mountains in southern Arizona were dismembered and tilted 50° to 60° to the south by Tertiary normal faulting. Repetition of geologic features and geobarometry indicate that the area is segmented into at least three major structural blocks, and the present surface corresponds to oblique sections through the Laramide plutonic-hydrothermal complex, ranging in paleodepth from ~1 to ~12 km.

These results add to an evolving view of a north-south extensional domain at high angles to much extension in the southern Basin and Range, contrast with earlier interpretations that the Laramide systems are largely upright and dismembered by thrust faults, highlight the necessity of restoring Tertiary rotations before interpreting Laramide structural and hydrothermal features, and add to the broader understanding of pluton emplacement and evolution of porphyry copper systems.

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