Late Cenozoic volcanic rocks of the southern Sierra Nevada, California: I. Geology and petrology: summary.

The unique and varied composition and small volume of the basalt in the San Joaquin-Kings volcanic field - the thick unfaulted granitic crust penetrated by the basalt magmas and the exceptionally cool crust and upper mantle beneath the field - all contrast markedly with the volcanic setting E of the Sierra Nevada. The ultrapotassic basalt on the margins of the field may have been fed from the outer parts of the melting zone where the smallest degree of partial melting occurred.-T.R.