The principal investigator, in collaboration with David Kimbrough and Barry Hanan at San Diego State University, will continue his study of the northern Coast Range ophiolite in California. Field relations, uranium-lead and argon-argon dating techniques, petrology, and geochemistry will be used in the Elder Creek area to constrain the origin and time of intrusion of several different magma series, the relationships between each magma series and between plutonic and extrusive suites, and the tectonic history of this ophiolite in relation to other adjacent units. The same techniques will be employed in the Stonyford area to understand its age, origin, and tectonic history. The research will shed new light on the geologic history of this complex plate boundary.
