Structural Analysis and Chronologic Constraints on Progressive Deformation within the Rincon Mountains, Arizona: Implications for Development of Metamorphic Core Complexes

The Catalina-Rincon metamorphic core complex (Tucson, Arizona, USA) is a type Cordilleran metamorphic core complex. This volume draws together decades of investigations into the geology of the Rincons, and presents results of multi-scale mapping and structural analysis of the Catalina detachment zone, a superbly exposed crustal-scale shear zone. A structural model for progressive incremental deformation synthesizes geological observations into a kinematic/mechanical framework. To this is added the first substantive application of multi-method geochronology and thermochronology, results of which place the evolution of the detachment zone (from mylonitization through cataclasis to exhumation) into a narrow time window, i.e., from ca. 26 to 17 Ma.