Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 12 September 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5332, pp. 1642 - 1645
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5332.1642
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Measurements of the Cretaceous Paleolatitude of Vancouver Island: Consistent with the Baja-British Columbia Hypothesis

Peter D. Ward, * José M. Hurtado, Joseph L. Kirschvink, Kenneth L. Verosub

A previously unsampled outcrop of gently dipping or flat-lying Upper Cretaceous sedimentary strata in the Vancouver Island region, which contains unaltered aragonitic mollusk fossils, yielded a stable remanent magnetization that is biostratigraphically consistent with Cretaceous magnetochrons 33R, 33N, and 32R. These results, characterized by shallow inclinations, indicate an Upper Cretaceous paleolatitude of about 25 ± 3 degrees north, which is equivalent to that of modern-day Baja California. These findings are consistent with the Baja-British Columbia hypothesis, which puts the Insular Superterrane well south of the Oregon-California border in the Late Cretaceous.

P. D. Ward, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
J. M. Hurtado, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
J. L. Kirschvink, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
K. L. Verosub, Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Volutoderminae (Gastropoda: Volutidae) of Coniacian Through Maastrichtian Age from the North American Pacific Slope.
L. R. Saul and R. L. Squires (2008)
Journal of Paleontology 82, 213-237
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Murrelets and molasse in the eastern San Juan Islands.
C. Blake and D. Engebretson (2007)
Field Guides 9, 137-142
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tectonic evolution of the San Juan Islands thrust system, Washington.
E.H. Brown, B.A. Housen, and E.R. Schermer (2007)
Field Guides 9, 143-177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Metamorphic Origin of Ore-Forming Fluids for Orogenic Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein Systems in the North American Cordillera: Constraints from a Reconnaissance Study of {delta}15N, {delta}D, and {delta}18O.
Y. Jia, Y. Jia, R. Kerrich, and R. Goldfarb (2003)
Economic Geology 98, 109-123
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Cretaceous paleogeography of Wrangellia: Paleomagnetism of the MacColl Ridge Formation, southern Alaska, revisited.
J. A. Stamatakos, J. M. Trop, and K. D. Ridgway (2001)
Geology 29, 947-950
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Compaction-corrected paleomagnetic paleolatitudes for Late Cretaceous rudists along the Cretaceous California margin: Evidence for less than 1500 km of post-Late Cretaceous offset for Baja British Columbia.
K.P. Kodama and P. D. Ward (2001)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 113, 1171-1178
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
New Evidence for Cretaceous Strike-Slip Faulting in the United States Cordillera and Implications for Terrane-Displacement, Deformation Patterns, and Plutonism.
S. J. Wyld and J. E. Wright (2001)
Am J Sci 301, 150-181
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)