Paleogeographic and tectonic setting of axial and western metamorphic framework rocks of the southern Sierra Nevada, California

In 1978, we postulated that much of the southern Sierra prebatholithic metamorphic framework consisted of lower Mesozoic siliciclastic, carbonate, and pelitic strata with variable arc volcanic admixtures (Kings sequence). Recent syntheses, however, have attempted to minimize the importance of early Mesozoic strata in the region and to extend large length scale coherent Paleozoic terranes into the framework as the predominant protoliths. Neither lithologic correlations nor structural analysis can substantiate such a view, however, and the proposed configuration of the Paleozoic terranes is in conflict with the petrochemical zonation pattern of the Cretaceous batholith.