The growth of continents at their margins is an important process encompassing a variety of poorly understood mechanisms. Although well-studied, there remain major unresolved questions about the tectonic evolution of the Sierra Nevada in California that resulted in accretion of arc material and various terranes to the North American continent. Prior work has outlined a number of alternatives for aspects of the Mesozoic activity in this area including the cause and timing of metamorphism and igneous intrusion. This project is a collaborative, integrated study of deformation and metamorphism in the central part the Foothills Terrane, a key are containing a number of through-going faults separating significantly different assemblages of rock. Results are expected to resolve differences in conclusions drawn for the Foothills Terrane to the north and south and to provide the basis for an integrated model for the construction and deformation of arcs in this tectonic setting.
