Subduction and exhumation of the Pelona-Orocopia-Rand schists, southern California

The Pelona, Orocopia, and Rand schists of southern California and southwestern Arizona are thought to have formed in either the same east-dipping subduction zone as the Franciscan complex or in a southwest-dipping subduction zone related to collision of an outboard continental fragment with North America. The principal justification for the collision model has been the observation that continental rocks overlying the schists locally show transport to the northeast. Field and petrographic studies now confirm that the northeast movement occurred during exhumation of the schist, not during subduction. Combined with regional geologic relations, this evidence makes the collision model unlikely.