Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic rocks at Quesnel Lake form part of the Quesnel tarrane, which was emplaced against the Omineca Belt, part of the North American (paleo-)continental margin, in the late Early Jurassic. Hard magnetizations, which may or may not be primary, were identified in volcanic wackes. but theoy are poorly grouped. However, removed magnitzations of intermediate unblocking temperatures (200--500¿C) an coercivities (30--50 mT) are systemically directed northeast and downward (D=35¿, I=57¿, a95=9¿, 5 sites, 22 specimens, paleopole 62¿N, 15¿W, dm=13¿, dp=10¿) with respect to present horizontal. We interpret this to be an overprint, acquired after Middle to Late Jurassic folding, as a result of mid-Cretaceous plutonism during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron. The paleopole is compatible with Early or mid-Cretaceous paleopoles from other terranes in the southern California Cordillera, but does not agree with observations from post-Jurassic cratonic rocks. This disagreement indicates that in the mid-Crataceous these terranes, along with at least part of the Omineca Belt to which they were attached, formed a quasi-rigid super-terrane which was situated about 2000 km farther south than its present position relative to the craton. |