Detailed analysis of the geology of western North America in relation to the motion of plates in the eastern Pacific Ocean show four iterations of a basic subduction cycle:
1. Rapid subduction (>10 cm/year) and arc compression for approximately 30 m.y. best exposed
today by porphyry copper deposits.
2. Formation of granitic batholiths over a few million years in a trans-tensional regime topped by
major silicic volcanic provinces.
3. Pulling apart of the subducted plate, relieving trench normal compression, opening of the Basin
and Range.
4. Onset of major strike-slip motion.
Explained in detail in the following papers:
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Plate Tectonics