Metamorphic core complexes (MCC) provide a rare glimpse into thermomechanical processes in the lithosphere and play a substantial role in the evolution of the crust. The North American Cordillera contains a northwest trending line of MCCs, which have been extensively studied using bedrock thermochronology and modelling approaches to better understand extensional processes related to Cordilleran collapse. While these studies have proposed a wide variety of models to explain the timing and mechanism behind MCC formation, few have considered the syn-deformational basin record, which preserves a unique archive of sediment sources in adjacent MCC highlands. This study focuses on the Deer Lodge Valley, located in the hanging-wall of the Anaconda MCC. We utilize detrital zircon (U-Pb)-(U-Th)/He double dating in the context of stratigraphic and sedimentologic analyses, and HeFTy time-temperature modelling to reconstruct basin evolution. Stratigraphic analysis shows that the basin was dominated by deposition of coalescing alluvial fans, with sediment sourced directly from the footwall of the detachment fault. U-Pb maximum depositional ages indicate late Paleocene to early Eocene proximal basin sedimentation. (U-Th)/He analyses from U-Pb dated zircons range from 194-32 Ma; >70% of dates are Eocene. Preliminary HeFTy modelling shows a period of rapid cooling between 65-55 Ma, which is supported by short (<10 Myr) sediment lag times and inferred rapid exhumation in the MCC. Our findings support a link between MCC exhumation and basin formation. They further depict a potentially earlier period of MCC exhumation than previous work has proposed, indicating an earlier onset of extension in western Montana.

The central Andean Precordillera, between 30-31°S, has experienced active faulting and deformation from the early Miocene to present driven by a flat-slab segment of the down-going Pacific Plate. Basic models for fault propagation, in this region, involve progressive eastward stepping of deformation; however, out-of-sequence faulting has been postulated. Furthermore, deformation appears to have started earlier in the northern part of this region and later in the southern part. We use apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He (AHe) low-temperature thermochronology to quantify timing of fault exhumation and fault growth patterns to test hypotheses about out-of-sequence thrusting and the southward propagation of deformation in the region. Nine vertical transects were collected in the eastern-most part of the Precordillera. Preliminary AHe data indicate complete and partial age resetting in middle to late Miocene sedimentary units, that were deposited, buried, and subsequently exhumed. AHe ages range between 30 - 2Ma and trend younger to the south, supporting previous suggestions of north to south deformation migration. Additionally, we use cosmogenic radionuclides (CRN) to assess modern erosion rates across the landscape. Initial erosion rates range from 22 – 1330 m/my, with generally lower rates in the north and higher rates to the south. Ongoing analysis and modeling of both thermochronologic and CRN data will help to constrain the recent exhumation and erosion history in the central Andean Precordillera and determine if combining these two techniques can be used to identify out-of-sequence faulting and changes in spatial patterns of tectonically driven deformation.