Revised age of the Rockland tephra, northern California: Implications for climate and stratigraphic reconstructions in the western United States: Reply

Sarna-Wojcicki suggests that the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of 614 ± 8 ka for the Rockland tephra (Lanphere et al., 1999) is too old because of the presence of xenocrystic plagioclase. The Rockland tephra is indeed full of lithic debris that can be seen at any well-exposed outcrop of ash-flow or air-fall deposits. In order to minimize contamination, we selected pumice lumps known to be representative of the Rockland magma. Plagioclase in the pumice lumps forms a homogeneous population of weakly zoned phenocrysts. By contrast, plagioclase from the intermediate to silicic volcanic lithic fragments in the Rockland tephra typically displays complex zoning, variable resorption patterns and strong discontinuities. Such plagioclase would be readily recognizable if present in the Rockland magma. We saw no petrographic evidence that the Rockland magma was contaminated with xenocrystic plagioclase. The pumice lumps were carefully cleaned before mineral separations were made.