DENUDATION OF METAMORPHIC CORE COMPLEXES AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TRANSITION ZONE, WEST CENTRAL ARIZONA - CONSTRAINTS FROM APATITE FISSION-TRACK THERMOCHRONOLOGY

Abstract

Apatite fission track thermochronologic results from transects across the Basin and Range and Transition Zone provinces in west central Arizona provide constraints on the denudational history and structural framework of the region. The major faults in the Transition Zone province have relative displacements of >1 km and that offset on them occurred mostly after 25 Ma. These data also indicate that most of the rocks now exposed in the Transition Zone of west central Arizona were not exposed until Miocene time. -from Authors