Introduction to detrital zircon studies of Paleozoic and Triassic strata in western Nevada and northern California

U-Pb geochonologic analyses have been conducted on 648 individual detrital zircon grains from Paleozoic and Triassic strata of western Nevada and northern California. These strata belong to several distinct terranes that are fault bounded and potentially displaced from their sites of origin. The analyses have been conducted in an attempt to provide additional constraints on where these terranes may have formed in relation to each other and to western North America. This paper provides background information that is essential to each of the accompanying chapters presenting detrital zircon data. Main components include (1) an outline of the general tectonic evolution of the region, (2) an overview of the detrital zircon reference for western North America, with a new quantitative analysis of the data that make up this reference, (3) a detailed discussion of the analytical methods used in analyzing detrital zircon grains in our laboratories, and (4) an assessment of the various biases and interpretations involved in this type of study.