Sierra Nevada Batholith

Dodge F. C. W., Lockwood J. P., and Calk L. C. (1988) Fragments of the mantle and crust from beneath the Sierra Nevada batholith xenohths in a volcanic pipe near Big Creek, Cahfomia. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 100, 938-947. 

Ducea M. N. and Saleeby J. B. (1998) The age and origin of a thick mahc-ultramahc keel from beneath the Sierra Nevada batholith. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 133(1-2), 169-185. 

Coleman D. S., Glazner A. F., Miller J. S., Bradford K. J., Frost T. P., Joye J. L., and Bachl C. A. (1995) Exposure of a late cretaceous layered mafic-felsic magma system in the Central Sierra-Nevada batholith, California. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 120, 129-136. 

McNulty B. A., Tobisch O. T., Cruden A. R., and Gilder S. (2000) Multistage emplacement of the Mount Givens pluton, central Sierra Nevada batholith, California. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 112, 119-135. 

Pickett D. A. and Saleeby J. B. (1993) Thermobarometric constraints on the depth of exposure and conditions of plutonism and metamorphism at deep levels of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, Tehachapi Mountains, California. J. Geophys. Res. 98, 609 -629. 

Dodge F. D. W., Smith V. C., and Mays R. E. (1969) Biotites from granitic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada batholith, California. J. Petrol. 10, 250-271. 

Similar observations have been made in the younger crust of the Sierra Nevada batholith in the USA, where Ducea and Saleeby (1998) proposed that the very thin granite crust (30-40 km), underlain by peridotitic upper mantle, can be explained by the delamination of a thick eclogitic root. Boyd et al. (2004) support this view with evidence from a seismic tomographic study which shows the descent of a two layer slab comprising an eclogitic upper part and a peridotitic lower part, into the mantle. This may be the only place on Earth where dense material is currently being removed from the continental crust into the mantle. 

Piccoli P, Candela P (1994) Apatite in felsic rocks a model for the estimation of initial halogen concentrations in the Bishop Tuff (Long Valley) and Tuolumne Intrusive Suite (Sierra Nevada Batholith) magmas. Am J Sci 294 92-135... 

Ducea MN, Saleeby JB (1998) A case for delamination of the deep batholithic root beneath the Sierra Nevada, California. Int Geology Rev 133 78-93... 

Domenick M. A., Kistler R. W., Dodge F. W., and Tatsumoto M. (1983) Nd and Sr isotopic study of crustal and mantle inclusions from the Sierra Nevada and implications for batholith petrogenesis. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 94, 713-719. 

Intrusive rock includes any igneous rock that was formed below the earth s surface. Batholiths are the largest structures of intrusive type rock and are composed of near granite materials they are at the core of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

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