TILT AND ROTATION OF THE FOOTWALL OF A MAJOR NORMAL-FAULT SYSTEM - PALEOMAGNETISM OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS, DEATH-VALLEY EXTENDED TERRANE, CALIFORNIA

Paleomagnetic data have been obtained from Miocene intrusions, includi ng crosscutting mafic and felsic dikes, and Proterozoic crystalline ro cks to evaluate deformation during Miocene and younger extension and u nroofing of the Black Mountains, Death Valley, California. Synrift int rusions contain a well-defined and, at the site level, well-grouped ma gnetization, interpreted to be of dual polarity, the in situ direction of which is discordant in declination and inclination with an expecte d late Cenozoic reference direction. The oldest of these intrusions (1 1.6 +/- 0.2 Ma) gives a magnetite-dominated remanent magnetization of high coercivity and high laboratory unblocking temperatures (about 550 to 580-degrees-C) that is interpreted to predate unroofing from midcr ustal depths. In situ site mean directions of this magnetization are d irected toward the west and west-northwest with moderate to shallow po sitive (down) and negative (up) inclinations. The variation in directi on of magnetization, particularly inclination, with site locality arou nd the turtleback structures along the western flank of the Black Moun tains, is interpreted to result from folding of the intrusion after re manence acquisition. Younger intrusions (less-than-or-equal-to 8.7 Ma) generally give magnetizations with inclinations similar to expected M iocene values. Two populations of in situ site means are identified: o ne with southwest dectination and negative inclination; the other with northward declination and positive inclination. A preferred interpret ation for footwall deformation involves, from oldest to youngest: (1) southwest-side down tilting of the entire range block of some 20-degre es to 40-degrees to possibly 70-degrees and, at least locally, folding of the crystalline rocks, on a trend parallel to the Death Valley tur tlebacks, between 11.6 and 8.7 Ma; (2) progressive east-to-west footwa ll unroofing between 8.7 and ca. 6.5 Ma; and (3) clockwise rotation (5 0-degrees to 80-degrees) of much of the Black Mountains after the core detached from stable terrane to the west. We interpret late rotation of the Black Mountains as oroflexure related to right-lateral shear al ong the Death Valley fault zone.