Contrasting tectono-stratigraphy and structure in the Coast Belt near Chilko Lake, British Columbia: unrelated terranes or an arc/back-arc transect?

Stratigraphy and structural styles vary greatly in two areas of the Coast Belt near Chilko Lake (Chilcotin Ranges in the east and Coast Mountains in the west). No definite continuity between the two belts has been established in the pre-mid-Cretaceous geology, but this area may be a long-lived, episodic magmatic arc and nearby arc-related basin. The stratigraphic contrasts may reflect inherent differences between an arc and related basinal sequence. Triassic volcanic-arc sequences are part of the Stikine (western belt) and Cadwallader (eastern belt) terranes, which may be part of the same arc. Lower Cretaceous sequences in the west and east may represent a volcanic arc and back-arc basin. The Taylor Creek Group (Albian) is the first definitive link between the two belts and represents an arc and intra-arc or back-arc basin. The structural evolution of the two belts also differs significantly. The differences were most likely caused by the Late Cretaceous change from nearly orthogonal subduction to a dextral-oblique convergent margin. -from Authors