The Anvil aureole, an atypical mid-Cretaceous culmination in the northern Canadian Cordillera

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: Smith, J. M., Erdmer, P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1990
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Yukon; South Fork; Anvil; Faro
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e90-032; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e90-032

The mid-Cretaceous Anvil batholith, in south-central Yukon near Faro, intrudes Upper Proterozoic to upper Paleozoic strata of the Cordilleran outer miogeocline. From previous work, it was unclear whether biotite, andalusite–staurolite, and garnet isograds near the pluton resulted from pre-Devonian regional metamorphism and subsequent arching in a structural culmination or from mid-Cretaceous instrusion. The present study has documented biotite, andalusite, staurolite, garnet, and sillimanite isograds concentric to the pluton. Prophyroblast–matrix relationships indicate that peak metamorphism occurred during intrusion, which took place under approximately 3 kbar (300 MPa) pressure and heated country rock to temperatures of 600°–620 °C. The metamorphism is thus compatible with a deep, mid-Cretaceous event. Regional uplift of 10 km is implied by the metamorphic minerals. From cogenetic relationships between some phases of the Anvil batholith and the nearby South Fork volcanic rocks, regional uplift appears to have been completed in a few million years in the mid-Cretaceous. The uncharacteristic aureole suggests that mid-Cretaceous events in this region are atypical of the Cordillera and may reflect a unique tectonic history or position in the orogen.