Continentalization of an intraoceanic arc as exemplified by
the Jurassic Bonanza arc of Vancouver Island, Canada
Dante Canil† and Rebecca A. Morris
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada
ABSTRACT
We present new U-Pb zircon ages, bulk
rock chemistry, and field observations for
volcanic and plutonic rocks of the Jurassic
Bonanza arc of Vancouver Island, Canada, a
proposed southern extension of the Talkeetna
arc crustal section in Alaska. Rather than
a synchronous and contiguous arc crustal
section, the new field and geochronological
data reveal three distinct periods in the arc
development, wherein the oldest, “prima”
(205–195 Ma), was built upon by the young-
est, “dopo” (<180 Ma), with both preserving
their volcanic and plutonic sections of the up-
per crust. In contrast, the middle “mezza” pe-
riod of arc construction (195–180 Ma) has no
volcanic expression and is represented almost
exclusively as plutons in the middle crust em-
placed below the brittle-ductile transition,
and exhumed mainly along the western and
southern coast of Vancouver Island. The new
data and structural interpretation refute ear-
lier models suggesting that the deeper, more
mafic rocks of the middle crust (West Coast
Complex) are either restite or the crystal cu-
mulates that form the more silicic plutonic
rocks (Island Plutonic Suite) in the upper
crust. Both the middle and upper plutonic
components are remarkably similar to av-
erage continental crust. The growth and de-
velopment of the Bonanza arc in an oceanic
realm—but on a thick, pre-existing marine
plateau—promoted a “continentalization” of
its bulk composition within ∼10 m.y., similar
to what is proposed to have occurred in Costa
Rica over the same timescale.
INTRODUCTION
The development of continents and continen-
tal crust is an important factor controlling the
Dante Canil https://orcid​.org​/0000-0002-1090​
-0921
†dcanil@uvic​.ca
GSA Bulletin; Month/Month 2023; 0; p. 1–13; https://doi.org/10.1130/B36716.1; 11 figures; 1 supplemental file.
published online 1 June 2023
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topography, sea level, and geochemical cycles
of many elements over Earth history (Condie,
1990; Taylor and McLennan, 1995; Rudnick
and Gao, 2004). The main contributor to mod-
ern growth of continental crust is the forma-
tion and evolution of volcanic arcs (Taylor and
McLennan, 1995; Jagoutz and Kelemen, 2015).
Although intraoceanic arcs are not continents
when formed, their accretion to continental
margins is essential for maintaining the over-
all net volume of continental crust (Clift and
Vannucchi, 2004). Arcs are fed basaltic magma
from the mantle, but chemical and physical pro-
cessing produces a more silicic andesitic crust
(Gill, 1981). The composition and structure of
intraoceanic arcs with depth are informative of
this process but are rarely exposed. In modern
arcs, seismic studies show much lateral and ver-
tical heterogeneity in composition and structure
both temporally and along strike (Calvert et al.,
2008). With the exception of the Aleutians, only
xenoliths are available from most modern arcs to
compare with seismology, with little to no expo-
sure of their plutonic roots (Gazel et al., 2015).
In contrast, examination of older arcs, exhumed
and exposed in cross section, is of value for
understanding the processes and products at
depth, including crustal rheology, structure,
age, and cooling history (Hacker et al., 2011).
Arc crustal sections also afford an opportunity
to study a myriad of processes involved in the
chemical development of vertically extensive
magma systems. Therein, melts segregate from
mafic magma supplied intermittently below, and
their mobility and reactive progress is dictated
by crystal fraction, water content, and defor-
mation in a mush with decreasing temperature
upwards (Cashman et al., 2017).
Though generally rare, exhumed crustal sec-
tions are important for comparison with mod-
ern arcs (Miller and Snoke, 2009; DeBari and
Greene, 2011; Jagoutz and Kelemen, 2015). The
Bonanza arc is an exhumed and segmented arc
crustal section exposed on Vancouver Island,
Canada, and has been inferred as the southern
equivalent of the Talkeetna arc (DeBari et al.,
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© 2023 Geological Society of America
1999; Clift et al., 2005). Both arc sections have
broadly similar age polarity (eastward young-
ing), but the two differ in detail, possibly due
to construction of the Bonanza arc on a pre-
existing oceanic plateau of considerable thick-
ness (DeBari et  al., 1999; Canil et  al., 2010,
2013; D’Souza et al., 2016). Thicknesses of the
two sections also differ from <25 km for the
Bonanza to >40 km for Talkeetna, although the
total extent of structural thinning and dismem-
berment has been difficult to quantify (Hacker
et al., 2008; Canil et al., 2010).
In this study, we re-examine the chronologi-
cal relationship of three components—volcanic
rocks, upper and deeper crustal plutonic rocks—
of the Bonanza arc on Vancouver Island (Fig. 1).
Previous interpretations of the Bonanza arc sec-
tion are queried with new geochronology and
field relationships, allowing us to see through the
extent of structural thinning and disassembly by
post-Jurassic tectonism on Vancouver Island. We
recognize three distinct periods in development
of the arc. The oldest and youngest preserve vol-
canic and plutonic sections of the upper crust,
but the intermediate preserves almost only the
middle crust with no volcanic expression. The
new data permit re-examination of the growth
and development of this segment of the arc and
reveal its unique emplacement as an intraoceanic
arc into a previously thickened marine plateau,
which resulted in “continentalization” of the arc
(Gazel et al., 2019).
REGIONAL GEOLOGY AND
BACKGROUND
The Bonanza arc is part of Wrangellia, an
accreted terrane in western North America
stretching from Alaska southward to the Can-
ada–United States border. On Vancouver Island,
Wrangellia consists of a stratigraphy of Devo-
nian island arc (Sicker Group), Permian carbon-
ate platform (Buttle Lake Formation), Triassic
Plateau (Karmutsen Formation), and limestone
(Quatsino Formation) (Fig. 1). The Bonanza arc
grew within this pre-Jurassic substrate that was
1
 Canil and Morris

Figure 1. Geologic map shows Vancouver Island, stripped of most pre- and post-Jurassic units to highlight the Bonanza arc and underly-
ing Triassic Parson Bay and Quatsino formations of Wrangellia. Also shown are the Pacific Rim and Crescent terranes, which accreted
post Wrangellia, and the overlying Nanaimo Group and Carmanah sedimentary rocks. Undivided units include the Devonian Sicker arc,
Triassic Karmutsen Formation, Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, and the Eocene Clayoquot Plutonic Suite. Symbols show previously published
and new U-Pb zircon ages from this study for plutons and volcanic rocks of the arc, divided into three age groups. Also shown are various
regions referred to in the text (Nootka, Alberni, Holberg, Port Renfrew, Saanich, and Victoria). Major regional faults include: Holberg fault
(HF), San Juan fault (SJF), and Leech River fault (LRF). Insets show regions in this study, with maps given in Figure 2. Data sources for
U-Pb zircon ages are: Isachsen (1987); Parrish and McNicoll (1992); DeBari et al. (1999); Breitsprecher et al. (2004); Nixon et al. (2011a–e);
Canil et al. (2013); and this study.

at least 10 km thick, depending on the assumed
volume of cumulate rocks that are the fraction-
ated complement to the erupted Triassic Karmut-
sen basalts (Greene et al., 2009).
We studied both the incipient part of the
Bonanza arc in central Vancouver Island and
other parts of the arc accessed in the south
(Figs. 2A and 2B). The incipient Bonanza arc
began at ca. 205 Ma as mostly subaqueous tuff,
volcaniclastics, and intermittent lava flows that
are best exposed on northern Vancouver Island
(Nixon and Orr, 2007) and terminated with
more evolved plutonic and volcanic rocks at ca.
165 Ma (Figs. 3A and 3B). The Nd and Sr iso-
topes of plutons indicate juvenile sources, and
U-Pb dating shows no inheritance of old zircon
(D’Souza et  al., 2016). Similarly, the correla-
tive Talkeetna arc in Alaska shows an age range
of 206–165 Ma (Fig. 3C), although ages for its
volcanic section are mainly based on detrital zir-
cons in volcaniclastics and sandstones (Amato
et al., 2007). Plutons of the Talkeetna arc also
have juvenile Nd and Sr isotopic compositions
(Rioux et al., 2007), and inherited zircon occurs
only in intrusions that are post-accretionary to
Wrangellia (Amato et  al., 2007; Rioux et  al.,
2007; Kelemen et  al., 2014). Both the Talk-
eetna and Bonanza arcs experienced structural
thinning. The Talkeetna is thicker (∼40 km)
and preserves a significant ultramafic cumulate
section that extends into the mantle (Hacker
et al., 2008; Rioux et al., 2010; Kelemen et al.,
2014), whereas the Bonanza has a thinner pseu-
dostratigraphy complicated by post-Jurassic
faulting.
Traditionally, the Bonanza arc has been
divided into three units: Bonanza Volcanics, the
Island Plutonic Suite (also known as Island Intru-
sions), and the West Coast Complex (Muller,
1977; Isachsen, 1987; Nixon and Orr, 2007).
These three units have been broadly interpreted
to represent the upper and mid–lower crust of a
formerly contiguous arc section that was dismem-
bered by post-Jurassic faulting (Isachsen, 1987;
DeBari et al., 1999; Canil et al., 2013). The sum
of Bonanza Volcanics, the Island Plutonic Suite,
and West Coast Complex units, weighted by
thickness estimates from geobarometry and field
geology, is similar to bulk continental crust (Canil
et al., 2010). Intriguingly, the geochronology of
the arc shows a bimodality of ages (Fig. 3A) that
is further pronounced when examined geographi-
cally (Fig. 1). Both the oldest and youngest parts
of the arc are 205–195 Ma and 180–165 Ma,
respectively, and preserve plutonic and volcanic
sections in some locations that are built atop one
another. In contrast, the middle-aged part of the

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 Bonanza intraoceanic arc

Figure 2. (A) Map shows the geology of the Quinsam region. (B) Geology of Saanich Peninsula and Port Renfrew region. U-Pb sample loca-
tions from this study (Table S1 [see text footnote 1]) and previous work are shown. Faults include: San Juan fault (SJF), Leech River fault
(LRF), Survey Mountain fault (SMF), Elk Lake fault (ELF), and Saanich fault (SF).

arc (195–180 Ma) has no volcanic equivalent
and is represented by plutonic rocks mostly of
the West Coast Complex (Figs. 1 and 3), which
show evidence of emplacement or deformation at
temperatures above the brittle-ductile transition
(Isachsen, 1987; Canil et al., 2013). The older,
middle, and younger parts of the arc are here-
after referred to as the prima, mezza, and dopo
Bonanza arcs, respectively. The apparent absence
of volcanic rocks in the mezza Bonanza arc, the
occurrence of ultramafic cumulate rocks in this
subdivision (Larocque and Canil, 2010), and an
overall pseudostratigraphy complicated by fault-
ing led us to revisit the relationship between these
three components and whether or how they rep-
resent one continuous arc section.
FIELD RELATIONS
Quinsam
We recognize a prima Bonanza arc (205–
195 Ma; Nixon and Orr, 2007) mostly exposed
throughout northern Vancouver Island (Fig. 1)
and at our study site in the Quinsam plateau of
central Vancouver Island. At Quinsam, limestone
of the Triassic Quatsino Formation is overlain by
a 400-m-thick section of the Parson Bay Forma-
tion that dips 30°N to 40°N and outcrops spo-
radically for a strike length of ∼20 km (Fig. 2A).
A quarry in the Quinsam region exposes units
of the Parson Bay Formation consisting of vari-
colored purple, dark gray, light green, and gray
marl; shale and siltstone; and light gray and
green tuff layers that vary from 2 cm to 20 cm
in thickness. Tuff layers (2–5 cm thick) at the
base and top of the section (DC1602, 1603)
were sampled for age dating (Figs. 2A, 4A, and
4B; Table S11). The quarry section is overlain
to the north by massive green to gray andesitic
1Supplemental Material. Figure S1: U-Pb
concordia for zircons. Figure S2: Whole rock
sample locations. Figure S3: Restoration of 25 km
sinistral offset on San Juan fault. Table S1: U-Pb
zircon ages of samples. Table S2: Major and trace
element compositions of samples and plutonic unit
averages. Please visit https://doi​.org​/10​.1130​/GSAB​
.S.22251082 to access the supplemental material, and
contact editing@geosociety​.org with any questions.

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flows and flow breccias. A medium-grained
quartz monzonite pluton (DC1605) intrudes this
sequence and produces a < 500-m-wide meta-
morphic aureole defined by hornfels and cordi-
erite porphyroblasts in the more siliceous units
of the adjacent Parson Bay Formation (Fig. 2A).
The quart monzonite (DC1605) was sampled for
age dating (Fig. 2A, Table S1).
Saanich Peninsula
The mezza and dopo sections of the Bonanza
arc are exposed throughout Vancouver Island,
whereas the dopo is prevalent only along the
western and southern coasts (Fig. 1). Both are
in contact and well exposed on Saanich Pen-
insula in southern Vancouver Island (Fig. 2B).
The coast on southernmost Vancouver Island in
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Canil and Morris
A boudinaged leucosome (DC1606) near Arbutus
Figure 3. Compilation pro-
vides U-Pb zircon ages for the
rocks of the Bonanza arc on
Vancouver Island and the Tal-
B contact with diorite gneiss to the south (Figs. 2B,
keetna arc in Alaska. See Fig-
ure  1 for data sources for the
Bonanza arc. (A) Bonanza arc
plutonic rocks, divided by rock
type (QDIOR—quartz diorite,
GR—granite, GD—granodio-
rite, TON—tonalite). (B) Vol-
canic rocks of the Bonanza arc,
Vancouver Island. (C) Plutonic
rocks, volcanic sandstones, and
C
volcaniclastics of the Talkeetna
arc in Alaska (Amato et  al.,
2007; Rioux et  al., 2007, 2010;
Hacker et al., 2011). (D) Detri-
tal zircons in sandstones of the
basal Nanaimo Group uncon-
formably overlie Wrangellia on
Vancouver Island (Coutts et al.,
2020; Huang et al., 2019). Note
D traceable along the east coast of Saanich Pen-
the paucity of ages between
190 Ma and 176 Ma for volca-
nic rocks in the Bonanza arc.
Victoria exposes mostly granodiorite and quartz
diorite crosscut by late hornblende-plagioclase
phyric mafic dikes. At Holland Point, comin-
gling of mafic and felsic magmas is notably evi-
dent as intrusive “pillowed structures” (Wiebe,
1993; Snyder et al., 1997) of melanodiorite in
leucodiorite and granodiorite (Figs. 4C and 4D).
A granodiorite (RM19-24) was sampled for
age dating (Fig. 2B, Table S1). These units are
crosscut by meter-wide hornblende-plagioclase
phyric mafic dikes that strike NW.
Further north and underlying southern Saa-
nich Peninsula is massive and gneissic diorite
with leucocratic phases that both crosscut and/
or are boudinaged in the same plane of the
gneissosity (Figs. 4E and 4F). Strain is hetero-
geneously partitioned in the diorite, and it can
change from massive to gneissose over a scale
of meters to kilometers (Canil et al., 2013). A
Cove was sampled for age dating (Fig. 2B; Table
S1). The gneissosity mostly strikes northwest
and dips northeast, though some chaotic orien-
tations occur on a local scale. The diorite gneiss
is traceable northwards to a faulted contact with
volcanic units.
The Kwatsech locality exposes massive pla-
gioclase- and Fe-Ti oxide–phyric amygdaloidal
andesite flows that are 1–3 m thick in faulted
4G, and 4H). Glomeroporphyritic plagioclase,
phenocrysts of opaque minerals, and clinopy-
roxene pseudomorphed by carbonate occur in a
groundmass of mostly plagioclase. Amygdules
are concentrically filled with quartz, carbonate,
epidote, and chlorite. Weak layering is displayed
in some volcaniclastic units composed of sand-
sized subangular plagioclase crystals and lithic
fragments of hornblende-phyric andesite and
tuff. The layered units are steeply dipping but dif-
ficult to distinguish from one another (Fig. 4G)
and generally strike N–S, parallel with the orien-
tation of their faulted contact with diorite gneiss
to the south (Fig. 2B). Subvolcanic plagioclase-
phyric dikes that intrude the volcanic rocks and
host rounded mafic xenoliths were sampled for
age dating (DC1503; Figs. 2B and 4H; Table S1).
The volcanic units exposed at Kwatsech are
insula. To the north, at D’Arcy Beach, the units
strike southeast and dip near vertical with evi-
dence of some stretching fabrics and boudinage
of volcanic bombs, lapilli, and clasts, as well
as minor folds and focused strain (mylonitiza-
tion) in places (Figs. 5A–5C). Further north, at
Sayward Beach, the volcanic rocks transition
to green pillowed and massive basalts, some
of which are in contact with rare volcaniclastic
units hosting cobble-sized felsic plutonic rocks
(Fig. 5D) or interdigitate with meter-thick units
of massive micritic limestone that are crosscut
by mafic dikes. Thin, decimeter-sized patches of
skarn (garnet, clinopyroxene, and sulfides) are
developed along the contacts of the limestone
and the mafic lavas.
The volcanic rocks at Kwatsech, D’Arcy, and
Sayward are traceable to similar units exposed
on the western side of Saanich Peninsula. Along
the eastern coast of Saanich Inlet at McKenzie
Bight (Fig. 2B), polymict flow breccias, volca-
niclastics, lapilli tuff, and andesite with crystal
clots of plagioclase-clinopyroxene + Fe-Ti
oxide are exposed (Figs. 5E and 5F). Thin inter-
bedded limestone showing skarn of garnet and
diopside is sporadic and poorly exposed. This
near-vertical sequence of rocks strikes north-
west and is traceable to a quarry on the western
shore of Saanich Inlet. A sample of lapilli tuff at
 Bonanza intraoceanic arc

McKenzie Bight (DC1504) was sampled for age

dating (Fig. 2B; Table S1).
Further north, much of Saanich Peninsula
is underlain by massive granodiorite, which
often contains enclaves of melanocratic diorite
(Fig. 5G). At the northernmost tip at Armstrong
Point, phaneritic granodiorite has apophyses
of aphanitic dikes that crosscut massive green
flows of aphyric basaltic andesite and strongly
porphyritic andesite (Fig.  5H). The latter are
A B
unconformably overlain by sedimentary rocks
of the Cretaceous Nanaimo Group (Fig.  2B).
The granodiorite pluton that intrudes the volca-
nic rocks was sampled for age dating (DCARM;
Fig. 2B, Table S1).

METHODS

U-Pb Dating Techniques

Samples weighing between 2 kg and 5 kg

C D were collected and underwent standard mineral
separation procedures to obtain zircons. The
U-Pb ages were determined using the chemi-
cal abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ioniza-
tion mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) method
at the University of British Columbia (Mundil
et al., 2004; Mattinson, 2005; Scoates and Fried-
man, 2008). Zircons were handpicked in alco-
hol. Clear crack- and inclusion-free grains were
selected and then annealed in quartz glass cru-
cibles. Annealed grains underwent dissolution in
E F ultrapure HF and HNO3 in Teflon (PFA) screw-
top beakers. Isotopic ratios were measured on a
single collector VG 54R thermal ionization mass
spectrometer with an analogue Daly photomul-
tiplier. Analytical blanks were 0.1 pg for U and
up to 1.2 pg for Pb. Uranium fractionation was
determined directly on individual runs using
the EARTHTIME ET535 mixed 233–235U-205Pb
isotopic tracer, and Pb isotopic ratios were cor-
rected for fractionation of 0.25% ± 0.04%/amu
based on replicate analyses of NBS-982 refer-
G H ence material and the values recommended
by Thirlwall (2000). Data reduction followed
Figure 4. Outcrop photos of various locations described in the text are shown. (A) Small Schmitz and Schoene (2007), and standard
quarry in the Quinsam region exposes a sequence of thinly bedded marl, siltstone, and tuff in concordia diagrams, regression intercepts, and
the Parson Bay Formation. Red circle shows location of sample DC1603. Scale bar is 1 m. (B) weighted averages of ages were calculated with
Sequence exposes tuffs 400 m north of the quarry in panel A. Red circle shows location of sam- Isoplot (Ludwig, 2003). The locations of both
ple DC1602. Clipboard for scale is 30 cm long. (C) Intrusive relations at Holland Point in Vic- new and previous age dates are shown in Fig-
toria between various phases of melanodiorite (m/dior), diorite (dior), and granodiorite (gd) ures 1 and 2.
of the West Coast Complex. The latter was sampled for geochronology (RM19-24). Notebook
for scale is 18 cm long. (D) Pillowed structures developed in melanodiorite and granodiorite Whole Rock Analyses
at Holland Point were interpreted as magma mingling (e.g., Wiebe, 1993). Scale bar is 20 cm.
(E) Gneissosity defined by stretched and transposed melano and leucodiorite phases in dioritic Weathered surfaces of rock samples were
gneiss at Arbutus Cove. Scale bar is 20 cm. (F) Schlieren of melanodiorite in leucodiorite (leuc) removed with a diamond saw, and remaining
from Victoria. Foot for scale is 25 cm long. (G) Steeply dipping andesite and volcaniclastic pieces were crushed in a steel jaw crusher and
units at Kwatsech, with contacts between the flows outlined in one flow by white dashed lines. finely powdered in an agate ball mill. Major and
Scale bar is 1 m long. (H) Xenoliths (xeno) of mafic volcanic rock entrained in hypabyssal trace element abundances on the rock powders
andesite dikes at Kwatsech. Sample DC1503 was taken here. Keys for scale are 5 cm long. were determined at Activation Laboratories

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 Canil and Morris

Ltd. (Ancaster, Ontario, Canada) by inductively

A B
coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy
(ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma–
mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Results for ref-
erence materials were within 3% of the certi-
fied values for all elements. Duplicate samples
showed reproducibility of <2%. The whole
rock chemical and U-Pb ages from this study
were combined with those from previous work
(Isachsen, 1987; Andrew et  al., 1991; DeBari
et al., 1999; Breitsprecher and Mortensen, 2004;
Fecova, 2009; Paulson, 2010; Larocque and
Canil, 2010; Nixon et al., 2011a, 2011b, 2011c,
2011d, 2011e; Canil et al., 2013; D’Souza et al.,
2016; Morris and Canil, 2022).

RESULTS

Geochronology

Zircons recovered from all samples are inter-

preted as igneous in origin (Table S1). The U-Pb
concordia for zircon populations of each sample
C D are given in the Supplemental Material. Four
to six zircon fractions were measured, and in
most cases they were shown to be concordant.
Slightly older xenocrystic or antecrystic zir-
cons were identified in five samples, and two
samples had younger zircon that was excluded
due to inferred Pb loss (Fig. 6). Despite these
issues, the uncertainties in interpreted ages do
not affect the assignment of samples to differ-
ent stages in the arc. In all but two cases, zir-
con fractions have significant mutual overlap of
206Pb/238U dates (Fig. 6). We used the weighted
E F
average of overlapping 206Pb/238U dates for final
age assignments.
Ages in tuffs at the bottom (DC1603) and top
(DC1602) of the Quinsam section (Figs. 4A and
4B) are interpreted as 205.26 ± 0.15 Ma and
197.77 ± 0.22 Ma, respectively. Age assign-
ment for sample DC1603 excluded a single
xenocrystic zircon with a marginally older age
of 206 Ma, whereas DC1602 has three older
zircon xeno/antecrysts that would shift its age
to ca. 199 Ma. Irrespective of the xenocryst
G H presence, these ages show that the Quinsam
section brackets the Triassic–Jurassic bound-
Figure 5. Outcrop photos of various regions or locations described in text on the eastern and ary over a stratigraphic thickness of ∼400 m.
western coasts of Saanich Peninsula are shown. (A) Stretched and deformed epidotized lapilli Similar siltstone, marl, and tuff sequences are
(lap) in andesitic tuff at D’Arcy Beach. White features are barnacles. Scale bar is 5 cm. (B) recognized elsewhere in Wrangellia to the north
Layering in crystal lapilli tuff in places shows minor folds (arrow) at D’Arcy Beach. Pen for on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii (Nixon
scale is 15 cm long. (C) Layer of felsic lapilli (lap) tuff ptygmatically folded and boudined in et al., 2006; Ferri et al., 2008) and represent the
weaker tuff matrix at D’Arcy Beach. Scale bar is 10 cm long. (D) Mafic lava in contact with incipient prima Bonanza arc (Nixon and Orr,
matrix-supported pebble conglomerate at Sayward Beach contains clasts of granitoids and 2007), which is built on a pre-existing plateau
mafic volcanic (volc) rocks. Pen for scale is 15 cm long. (E and F) Samples of ash, crystal, and of Triassic marine limestone (Quatsino Forma-
lapilli tuff sampled in volcanic rocks exposed at McKenzie Bight (sample DC1504). Razor tion; Fig. 2A). Units of the prima Bonanza at
blade for scale is 3 cm long. (G) Enclaves of melanodiorite hosted in granodiorite (gd) of the Quinsam are crosscut by a granodiorite pluton
Island Plutonic Suite (Island View Beach). Cup for scale is 15 cm tall. (H) Granodiorite dike (DC1605) that shows no inheritance and has an
in foreground intrudes mafic andesite flows (volc) at Armstrong Point. Scale bar is 1 m long. inferred age of 172.93 ± 0.13 Ma (Fig. 6).

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 Bonanza intraoceanic arc

(Fig. 2B). The 176–174 Ma volcanic rocks are

crosscut further north at Armstrong Point by a
slightly younger granodiorite pluton (DCARM)
with an age of 173.53 ± 0.09 Ma that contains
no inherited zircons (Fig. 6). Similar U-Pb zir-
con ages are recognized in plutons to the west
in the Port Renfrew region, the Alberni corridor,
Nootka Sound, and north to Quinsam and most
of northeastern Vancouver Island (Fig. 1).

Geochemistry

The new ages along Saanich Peninsula can be

viewed in the context of the bulk geochemistry
for samples from these areas for comparison
with previous work (Table S2). Rocks grouped as
“Bonanza Volcanics” are mostly dikes and flows
that intrude or erupted onto limestone at Cor-
dova Bay or were intruded by the Island Plutonic
Suite at Armstrong Point. The volcanic rocks are
basalt, basaltic andesite, and andesite and show
similar patterns of high field strength element
(HFSE) depletion and positive Sr anomalies on
primitive mantle-normalized plots (Fig.  7A).
Incompatible element concentrations in these
rocks correlate weakly with MgO, which sug-
gests that some effect of differentiation is present.
With the exception of one andesite (DCSAY1),
most of the rocks are more depleted than the aver-
age of plutonic components of the Bonanza arc
represented by either the West Coast Complex or
the Island Plutonic Suite.
Unlike the volcanic rocks and dikes on Saa-
nich Peninsula, the granodiorites belong to the
Island Plutonic Suite and form a tight cluster
of coherent trace element patterns, all of which
show strong depletion in Nb and Ti and enrich-
Figure 6. Plot summarizes 206Pb/238U dates for all zircon fractions in each sample from this ment in Sr (Fig. 7B). These rocks are notably
study. Error bars are 2σ. Interpreted ages (gray numbers) are the weighted means of over- similar to much of the Island Plutonic Suite
lapping results for the dates on three or more fractions. Sample locations are shown in Fig- from throughout the Bonanza arc on Vancouver
ures 1 or 2, and data are provided in Table S1 (see text footnote 1). The 206Pb/238U–207Pb/235U Island. They are also remarkably similar to aver-
concordia diagrams and mean square weighted deviations for each sample are given in the age continental crust in terms of incompatible
Supplemental Material (see text footnote 1). trace elements but slightly more enriched in SiO2
and lower in MgO (Table S2).
In Victoria, the massive granodiorite at Less than 300 m north of the dioritic gneiss at The West Coast Complex rocks from Saan-
Holland Point (RM19-24) records an age of Arbutus Cove, the volcanic rocks and hypabyssal ich Peninsula in this study were combined with
193.49 ± 0.15 Ma, discounting two slightly intrusion (DC1503) exposed at Kwatsech show a those from previous work (DeBari et al., 1999;
older antecrystic zircons with ages slightly much younger zircon population with no inheri- D’Souza et al., 2016). These rocks are mainly
greater than 194 Ma (Fig.  2B). This sample tance that produced an age of 174.20 ± 0.16 Ma. gabbro and diorite and more depleted in the
is older than the dioritic gneiss sampled at To the west, volcanic tuff at McKenzie Bight incompatible elements Nb, Zr, Hf, Th, and U
Arbutus Cove (DC1606), which has an age (DC1504) is similar in age at 176.53 ± 0.26 Ma, than the average in the Bonanza arc and have a
of 188.86 ± 0.26 Ma based on three zircons, if an older inherited xenocrystic age and a notable positive Sr anomaly (Fig. 7C). The leu-
excluding a single zircon at 182.5 Ma on the younger age interpreted as Pb loss are omit- cosomes in the rock are trondhjemitic, with vari-
basis of Pb loss (Fig. 2B). These ages are cor- ted from the weighted average (Fig. 6). Given able incompatible element concentrations and
relative with similar diorite and granodiorite in the similar geology and rock assemblage, we patterns, one of which shows positive Zr and Hf
the West Coast Complex on Saanich Peninsula, correlate the units at Kwatsech and McKenzie enrichment and the other the opposite (Fig. 7D).
and further NW in the Port Renfrew, Alberni Bight. These volcanic rocks are separated from A trondhjemite leucosome (91-41b) within the
corridor, and Nootka Sound regions (Figs.  1 older diorite of the West Coast Complex by the Bonanza arc from DeBari et al. (1999) is also
and 2; DeBari et al., 1999; Fecova, 2009; Canil Elk Lake fault that can be traced southeast from shown for comparison. None of the leucosomes
et al., 2013). McKenzie Bight across Elk Lake to Kwatsech in the West Coast Complex match the general

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A rocks (Fecova et al., 2008; Larocque and Canil,
B normalized plots of major and
C Coast Complex (sample 91-
D ficient magmatic overpressure (Bachmann et al.,
trace element pattern of the Island Plutonic Suite
anywhere in the Bonanza arc (Fig. 7D).
DISCUSSION
Relations of the Prima, Mezza, and Dopo
Bonanza Arcs
The geology of the Bonanza arc on Van-
couver Island preserves volcanic and plutonic
components from an arc active between 205 Ma
and 165 Ma (Fig. 3). In light of new data from
this study, the arc is divisible into three age
divisions—prima, mezza, and dopo—that can
be assigned to various unit names in the arc
(Fig. 8). What was previously named “Bonanza
Volcanics” can fall into any age, from 205 Ma
to as young as 165 Ma, but with a paucity of
mezza ages (Figs. 1 and 3B). Intrusive rocks of
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Canil and Morris
Figure 7. Primitive mantle-
trace element data for samples
on Saanich Peninsula from this
study and previous studies are
shown (Table S2 [see text foot-
note 1]). (A) Volcanic rocks and
dikes of the Bonanza arc, (B)
Island Plutonic Suite (IPS), (C)
West Coast Complex (WCC),
(D) leucosomes in the West
41b from DeBari et  al., 1999).
Primitive mantle values were
adopted from McDonough and
Sun (1995). The average for the
Island Plutonic Suite and West
Coast Complex are from Table
S2. Continental crust average
(CC AV) is from Gazel et  al.
(2015).
the Island Plutonic Suite belong exclusively to
the dopo arc, whereas those of the West Coast
Complex belong to the mezza arc. Parts of the
prima, mezza, and dopo can be structurally jux-
taposed by post-Jurassic faulting in several loca-
tions, for example, in the north along the Hol-
berg fault, or in the south on Saanich Peninsula
(Figs. 1, 2B, and 8). Nevertheless, the intrusion
of plutons with ca. 174 Ma ages into volcanic
rocks with ages >197 Ma, as observed at Quin-
sam (Fig. 2A), or into mezza plutons at Alberni
corridor and Port Renfrew (Fig. 1), requires that
the dopo Bonanza was clearly intrusive to and
built upon both the prima and mezza phases
(Fig. 8). For this reason, the age divisions still
represent a single arc that was continually active
for ∼40 m.y.
The mezza component of the arc is unique in
that it conspicuously lacks a volcanic equivalent
and a propensity to host ultramafic cumulate
2010). Both the dopo and prima components
show no penetrative deformation, whereas pen-
etrative and ductile deformation is prevalent in
the mezza arc. The mezza arc has been inter-
preted as middle crust (Isachsen, 1987; DeBari
et al., 1999; Canil et al., 2010, 2013), and this is
supported by hornblende barometry that shows
crystallization mostly at 200–500 MPa in the
mezza Bonanza, which is consistently higher
than that of the Island Plutonic Suite (Fig. 8).
Plutons of mezza are exposed mostly along the
western region of the island, whereas both dopo
and prima are exposed throughout the island.
The fact that the mezza arc mostly represents
middle crust with no volcanic complement is
curious. One possibility is that the state of the
tectonic stress of the arc had little or no extension
in the time period from 195 Ma to 180 Ma and
was not favorable for volcanic eruption (Loucks,
2021). We have no record of strain states to
evaluate this idea. Given the emplacement of
the mezza arc (and West Coast Complex) in the
mid-crust, the most likely reasons why it has no
volcanic equivalent concern the rheology of arc
crust with depth. Large compilations of pluton
ages and depths show that not all plutons had an
eruptible melt, and at >250 MPa, crustal viscos-
ity inhibits most eruptions due to a lack of suf-
2007; Huber et  al., 2019). Eruptions of melts
from a crustal magma system require certain
conditions be met in terms of an eruptible melt
fraction, which may be dictated by melt supply,
stress state, water content, and cooling history.
These can all vary at depth and over time in a
transcrustal arc system (Cashman et al., 2017).
Is the Mezza Arc Restite?
Arc magmatism begins with basaltic input
from the mantle, which evolves to an Si-rich
andesitic crust through a myriad of differentia-
tion processes (Gill, 1981; Jagoutz and Schmidt,
2012). Melting, assimilation, storage, and
hybridization (MASH) zones in the deeper crust
are proposed sites where the processes to create
more evolved crust ensue (Hildreth and Moor-
bath, 1988; Walker et al., 2015). The melting of
pre-existing crust in such zones is one model that
produces evolved I-type silicic plutons in many
arcs (Collins et al., 2020).
One premise in the Bonanza arc and others is
that crustal melting of lower crustal amphibolite
can produce the felsic magmas in the upper crust
(Isachsen, 1987; DeBari et  al., 1999; Collins
et al., 2020). Migmatitic structures in the West
Coast Complex have been invoked as evidence
of crustal melting. Felsic melts arrested in the
 Bonanza intraoceanic arc

A B C D well exemplified by the Elk Lake fault, which

is traceable from Arbutus Cove through Elk
Lake to the northwest (Fig. 2B). The Elk Lake
fault is situated between the Saanich and Survey
Mountain faults, both of which are Eocene-aged
thrusts of the Cowichan Fold and Thrust belt that
were caused by collision of the Eocene Crescent
terrane to the south (Fig. 1; England and Calon,
1991; Johnston and Acton, 2003). The sense of
shear of the Elk Lake fault is not obvious. If it is
of the same relation and geometry as the Saan-
ich and Survey Mountain faults to the north and
south, respectively (England and Calon, 1991),
then the Elk Lake fault dips north and is either a
thrust fault displacing dopo over mezza, or a low-
angle normal fault bringing the deeper middle
crust against the younger arc (Fig. 8). An alterna-
tive is that the Elk Lake fault is a south-dipping
thrust that brings older middle crust of the mezza
Figure 8. Schematic diagram shows the age assignment of the prima, mezza, and dopo arcs
arc over shallower and younger dopo.
in relation to previously used unit divisions (Island Plutonic Suite [IPS] and West Coast
The Saanich and Survey Mountain faults
Complex [WCC]) of the Bonanza arc, and some stratigraphic and structural relationships
that bound the Elk Lake fault are interpreted
exposed at various parts of Vancouver Island. Far right shows a histogram of pressures (P)
to be older than the San Juan fault (England
estimated from hornblende barometry applied to 45 felsic plutonic samples from the dopo
and Calon, 1991). We predict that the Elk Lake
and mezza arcs using published data from Canil et al. (2010) and the method of Médard and
fault would be similarly offset by the San Juan
Le Pennec (2022). Pressures for these same samples are ∼50 MPa higher using the Mutch
fault, which extends west to the Port Renfrew
et al. (2016) hornblende barometer.
region (Fig.  2B). Indeed, the mezza units on
Saanich Peninsula south of the Elk Lake fault
rocks as dikes in various states of deformation ine–plagioclase–hornblende cumulates. While are remarkably petrologically similar to diorite
(Fig.  4) show several attributes of diatexites, such rocks can contain substantial amphibole bodies in Port Renfrew, with ages >188 Ma,
which are the restites and frozen liquids from (Larocque and Canil, 2010), the melting of this gneissic fabrics, and the hosting of ultramafic
hydrous partial melting in the middle or lower phase to create more felsic magma is very much cumulates. Restoration of ∼25 km of sinistral
crust of an arc, and are presumed as parental to thermally limited (Jagoutz and Klein, 2018). movement on the San Juan fault establishes a
the plutonic upper crustal components (DeBari Field evidence for substantial crustal melting is continuous structural contact between the mezza
et al., 1999). In this model, the Island Plutonic equivocal in other mid-crustal sections of conti- and dopo arcs that extends from Victoria to Port
Suite or dopo arc, being on average more fel- nental arcs, which also show a lack of dehydra- Renfrew (Fig. 2B; see Fig. S1). We extend this
sic and enriched in incompatible elements than tion melting of amphibole to produce tonalities same mezza–dopo relationship further north-
the West Coast Complex, can be interpreted as (Otamendi et al., 2012) and attests to the thermal west to the Alberni corridor, Nootka Sound,
the product of hydrous partial melting of mafic limitations of the process (Jagoutz and Klein, and Brooks Peninsula regions, where diorite has
rocks in the middle or lower crust (Figs. 7B and 2018; Walker et al., 2015). In addition, the vol- mezza arc ages (195–180 Ma) and hosts ultra-
7C). Our results show, however, that the ages of ume of restite that would need to produce the mafic cumulates (Isachsen, 1987; Smyth, 1997;
leucocratic phases in the West Coast Complex, volume of the Island Plutonic Suite by crustal DeBari et al., 1999; Fecova et al., 2008; Figs. 1
whether diatexitic and deformed or not, are the melting (∼3–6 km thick, Fig. 8) is not observed and 2B). In this way, faults similar to the Elk
same ages as their host diorites (Canil et  al., in the Bonanza arc, nor in any arc section known Lake fault may continue northwest along most
2013; this study) and consistently older than to date (Jagoutz and Klein, 2018). One caveat is of the western side of Vancouver Island and
any plutons of the Island Plutonic Suite or dopo that some of these melting processes could have represent the structural surface for the extrusion
arc (Fig. 3). Thus, a restite-melt relationship for occurred in the lower crust, but such bonafide and exposure of middle crust of the Bonanza
the middle and upper crust of the Bonanza arc examples have not yet been recognized in the arc. The age of this surface is poorly defined,
is untenable based on geochronologic evidence. Bonanza arc and may have been lost from the but using constraints on fault ages reported in
For the same reason, the Island Plutonic Suite base of the arc section (Canil et al., 2010). England and Calon (1991), it is likely Eocene.
cannot be derived from simple crystal fraction- The confinement of this surface of extrusion of
ation of ultramafic cumulates in the West Coast Emplacement of Mid-Crust of the Mezza Arc middle crust to the western coast of Vancouver
Complex, as has been suggested (Larocque and Island is also notable.
Canil, 2010; Canil et al., 2010). The lack of a volcanic equivalent and several The final cooling history and age of uplift of
Overall, we find a lack of field, geochrono- chemical and petrographic features of the mezza the Bonanza arc and the extrusion and exposure
logic, and petrologic evidence for the production arc along the southern and western coasts of Van- of the mezza component can be deduced from
of more silicic magmas by fluid-absent melting couver Island suggest it represents a middle crust geochronology and post-Jurassic sedimenta-
of mafic precursors in the middle or lower crust that was structurally exhumed against other shal- tion. The differences in 40Ar/39Ar hornblende
of the Bonanza arc. Most of the middle crust lower units of the prima and dopo arcs. In Saan- ages and U-Pb zircon ages for dopo plutons
unit is gabbro, hornblende diorite, and oliv- ich Peninsula, the locus for such exhumation is in northern Vancouver Island are all within

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 Canil and Morris

Figure 9. Cross section of the mezza and dopo arcs exposed along Saanich Peninsula is shown, which correlates to line A–A′ in Figure 2B.
Also shown are pressures (MPa) from hornblende barometry of three samples employing published data from Canil et al. (2010) obtained
using the method of Médard and Le Pennec (2022). The interpretation of dip and vergence of thrust faults is adapted from structural infor-
mation in England and Calon (1991). mbsl—meters below sea level.

<5 m.y. (Nixon et  al., 2011a, 2011b, 2011c,
2011d, 2011e), which confirms its emplacement
in the upper section of the arc followed by rapid
cooling rates of ∼10–20 K/m.y. (Hacker et al.,
2011). The Bonanza arc is unconformably over-
lain by the Cretaceous Nanaimo Group sedimen-
tary rocks along the eastern length of Vancouver
Island (Fig. 9). The bimodal spectrum of ages
in detrital zircons of the basal Nanaimo Group
remarkably reflects that of the various Bonanza
arc components (Fig. 3). Detrital zircons with
ages of 197–175 Ma are only recognized in the
basal units of the Nanaimo Group (Fig.  3D)
and suggest that the mezza and prima units
were exhumed and exposed sometime between
180 Ma and 155 Ma, which is the mean deposi-
tional age constrained by detrital zircon geochro-
nology (Huang et al., 2019; Coutts et al., 2020).
A similar period of exhumation for the dopo arc
component is further constrained by 40Ar/39Ar
ages of 161–147 Ma for alunite from the 174 Ma
Hushamu Pluton in northern Vancouver Island
(Nixon et  al., 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2011d,
2011e), assuming a closure temperature of
∼300 °C for Ar in alunite (Arribas et al., 2011).
“Continentalization” Turns Bonanza Arc
into Continental Crust
The accretion of island arcs is one process
that has built post-Archean continental crust
(Rudnick and Gao, 2004; Clift and Vannucchi,
2004). For this reason, construction of the bulk
composition of arc-crustal sections has been an
important and fruitful exercise, but there are
several uncertainties (Hacker et  al., 2008). In
assembling the bulk composition of arc crust, a
common approach is to use thicknesses (depths)
from field relations and geobarometry for vari-
ous components of the arc section to create a
weighted sum of upper, middle, and lower crust
(DeBari and Sleep, 1991; Jagoutz and Kelemen,
2015). Two uncertainties arise: (1) the pressure-
depths recorded by rocks in the arc section are
not always coeval, and (2) the extent of structural
thinning and dismemberment of various units
affects the weighted average of rocks to produce
a bulk estimate (Hacker et al., 2008). Some arc
sections have a missing component that leads to
model-dependent variations in bulk composition
(Jagoutz and Kelemen, 2015).
In the Bonanza arc case, the West Coast Com-
plex or mezza arc is exposed mostly along the
west coast of Vancouver Island, which is a more
structurally disrupted and less accessible region
(Fig. 1). The cross section that is most acces-
sible and less structurally disrupted is observed
through Saanich Peninsula (Fig. 9). Using the
pressures of 200 MPa to 500 MPa from horn-
blende barometry, we estimated that an equiva-
lent of ∼9 km of middle crust is exposed in this
section (Fig. 9). The thickness of the dopo arc
represented by the Island Plutonic Suite north
of the Elk Lake fault in the Saanich Peninsula
section is less certain. Using constraints from
hornblende barometry from throughout the arc
(Fig. 8), the dopo arc has a maximum thickness
of 7 km (Figs. 8 and 9). Adding these two plu-
tonic components with the thickness of Bonanza
Volcanics in the dopo arc (3 km) gives a mini-
mum thickness of 19 km for the Jurassic arc
components of Wrangellia on Vancouver Island.
The compositions of plutonic rocks of the older
prima arc are less frequently studied for their
bulk compositions (Morris and Canil, 2022) and
are not included in our analysis.
If the 19 km of prima, mezza, and dopo
Bonanza arc are built into a pre-existing sub-
strate of ∼10 km of oceanic plateau (Triassic
Karmutsen), the entire crustal section sums
to ∼29 km. The modern moho beneath Van-
couver Island is 35 km (Ramachandran et al.,
2006), and assuming no loss of crustal thick-
ness, the remaining ∼10 km of crust could
comprise a mafic cumulate complement to the
Karmutsen lavas (Greene et al., 2009). Seismic
studies, however, instead reveal lower veloci-
ties and a high Poissons ratio at depths of
>25 km beneath Vancouver Island, consistent
with a more Si-rich lithology (Ramachandran
et al., 2006).
The averages of bulk rock analyses for the
mezza and dopo arc components are close to
estimates of bulk continental crust in terms
of bulk SiO2, Mg# < 0.55, and trace element
patterns (Fig. 10; Table S2). In comparing the
mezza (West Coast Complex) and dopo (Island
Plutonic Suite) arc, we see that the former is
more depleted in incompatible elements, and

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 Bonanza intraoceanic arc
Figure 10. The average bulk
compositions of plutons in
the dopo arc (Island Plutonic
Suite) and mezza arc (West
Coast Complex) (Table S2 [see
text footnote 1]; D’Souza et al.,
2016) are compared to those
of the upper continental crust
(Rudnick and Gao, 2004). All
compositions are normalized to
average bulk continental crust,
with dashed lines encompass-
ing the maximum and mini-
mum estimates for the latter
(Gazel et al., 2015).
a progression in the bulk composition of these Sr/Y ratios of Bonanza arc rocks do not suggest
components became more continental-like over this mechanism. Amphibole is a dominant phase
the course of ∼10 m.y. (Fig.  10). Gazel et  al. throughout Bonanza arc plutonic rocks, and
(2015) devised a Continental Index to compare fractionation of this phase with plagioclase by
the spectrum of bulk arc crust estimates and their either crystal removal or reaction has controlled
respective seismic velocities. The Continental the Sr/Y of most plutons and their bulk composi-
Index of the dopo component is greater than that tions as well (D’Souza et al., 2016).
of the mezza, but both are remarkably similar to We can further examine the continentaliza-
continental crust within uncertainties (Fig. 11). tion of the Bonanza arc using the covariation
Gazel et al. (2015, 2019) used the Continental of the Continental Index with seismic velocities
Index to examine the gradual progression in (Gazel et al., 2015), with the caveat that the latter
crustal composition from juvenile intraoceanic are derived from studies of modern Vancouver
arc to continental in the Talamanca Cordillera Island, not only the Jurassic Bonanza arc itself
of the Central American arc over a 10–20 m.y. during its formation. Taking the modern seismic
period, and they attribute this to an increased data at face value, from depths of 10–20 km,
contribution from subducted slab melting. The depth velocities are 6.4–6.8 km/s. These veloci-
Figure 11. Seismic veloci-
ties (Vp in km/s) of the crust
from depths of 5 km to 20 km
for various intra-oceanic arcs
(gray symbols) and the Bo-
nanza arc are compared with
their average bulk arc composi-
tions expressed using the Con-
tinental Index of Gazel et  al.
(2015). The bulk composition
of the Bonanza arc is separated
into its dopo (Island Plutonic
Suite, IPS) and mezza (West
Coast Complex, WCC) compo-
nents. The Continental Index
integrates differences between
a given bulk composition and
continental crust for a range
of trace and major elements
(lower values are closer to those
of bulk continental crust). Note
that the Continental Indices for dopo (Island Plutonic Suite) and mezza (West Coast Com-
plex) in the Bonanza arc (from Table S2 [see text footnote 1]) are close to those of average
continental crust. The Vp values calculated for these units use seismic data for the middle
crust of modern day Vancouver Island (Ramachandran et al., 2006). The younger part of the
Talamanca arc in Costa Rica (<10 Ma) is shown as a recent example of “continentalization”
of an oceanic arc (Gazel et al., 2019).
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ties match those of average continental crust
within uncertainty (Fig. 11).
While the Bonanza and Talkeetna arcs are
clearly contemporaneous and related, they dif-
fer in several details. Both have missing parts
of the section and/or structural thinning, but the
Bonanza arc clearly appears to be more conti-
nental-like, independent of model composition
based on missing components or various ages
of the entire section. This may have been caused
by the fact that the Bonanza arc was emplaced
into pre-existing thickened oceanic plateau (of
∼10 km), whereas the Talkeetna arc was not.
The pre-existence of an oceanic plateau may
have been fundamental to continentalization of
the Bonanza arc, as it is to the general preserva-
tion of arcs when they accrete to form new parts
of a continent (Condie, 1997).
CONCLUSIONS
New U-Pb zircon ages for volcanic and plu-
tonic rocks from the Bonanza arc on central and
southern Vancouver Island vary from 205 Ma
to 173 Ma. The new age dates, when integrated
with new field observations, reveal three peri-
ods of arc development. The youngest, dopo
Bonanza arc, has a maximum age of 180 Ma
and is built on the oldest, prima (>197 Ma),
with both exposing their volcanic and plutonic
components. In contrast, the mezza arc (195–
180 Ma) has no volcanic rocks and is repre-
sented mostly by plutons that were emplaced
and deformed in the middle crust and extruded
against the dopo or prima arc along thrust faults.
Limited 40Ar/39Ar ages for plutonic rocks, and
detrital U-Pb zircon age populations in basal
Nanaimo Group sedimentary rocks on Vancou-
ver Island, show that the prima, mezza, and dopo
arcs were all exhumed and emergent between ca.
160 Ma to 150 Ma.
A cross section on Saanich Peninsula reveals
an ∼9-km-thick diorite gneiss middle crust of
the mezza arc in contact with volcanic and shal-
low plutonic rocks of the dopo arc, along a south-
west vergent thrust formed from accretion of the
Eocene Crescent-Siletzia terrane to Wrangellia.
Although they are from different crustal levels,
the mezza and dopo arcs have overall average
bulk compositions similar to estimates of bulk
continental crust. In this way, continental-like
crust was created in an intraoceanic realm, likely
due to emplacement of the Bonanza arc on a
thick, pre-Jurassic oceanic plateau.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful to S. Wing, S. Modeland, H. Steen-
kamp, M. van den Berghe, and E. Bonnet for field as-
sistance over several years of field observations on the
Bonanza arc. We thank R. Friedman for ­overseeing

U-Pb zircon age determinations at the University
of British Columbia. Our points were clarified by J.
Otamendi and an anonymous reviewer, and we thank
P. Luffi and B. Singer for editorial handling. This re-
search was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engi-
neering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant
(154275) and Natural Resources of Canada Geomap-
ping for Minerals (GEM) funds to D. Canil and Min-
eralogical Association of Canada and Geoscience BC
scholarships to Rebecca Morris.
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Science Editor: Brad Singer
Associate Editor: Peter Luffi
Manuscript Received 9 August 2022
Revised Manuscript Received 21 February 2023
Manuscript Accepted 8 March 2023
Printed in the USA