This study will establish the first detrital zircon reference dataset for Paleozoic and Mesozoic western margin of North America, from eastern Alaska to northern Sonora. The work will use and further define a new technique for detrital zircon geochronology. Zircon populations from the Paleozoic-Mesozoic Cordilleran miogeocline will be compared with those from outboard allochthonous terranes to determine the displacement and accretionary history of the latter. The results will provide an important tectonic framework for the analysis of the tectonic evolution of the western margin of North America.
