THE CENTRAL SIERRA NEVADA MAPPING PROGRAM

Jim Moore

In the early 1950's, a major effort was initiated to map a 1°-wide (110 km) swath across the central Sierra Nevada. The program launched by Paul Bateman concentrated on detailed mapping of individual granitic plutons and determination of their compositions and radiometric ages, as well as careful work on the metamorphic rocks. The initial swath was broadened to a width of 195 km when Jim Moore began mapping a contiguous strip to the south. The primary geologists involved in the work were Paul Bateman, Frank Dodge, Ed Du Bray, King Huber, Ron Kistler, Konrad Krauskopf, Jack Lockwood, Jim Moore, Warren Nokleberg, Dallas Peck, Dean Rinehart, Don Ross, Tom Sisson and, Clyde Warhaftig. The final mapped region, extending from Yosemite to Mount Whitney and including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, has become a landmark study of a major granitic batholith. Two spinoffs of the work based on geochemical studies were the general compositional change across the batholith, defined by the Quartz Diorite Line, and the parentage of the granitic masses, as defined by location of the initial strontium isotope ratio line. The published geologic maps have stimulated and guided a host of specialized studies that actively continue.

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