Insights into the Acadian orogeny, New England Appalachians: a provenance study of the Carrabassett and Kittery formations, Maine

Dorais, Michael J.; Wintsch, Robert P.; Nelson, W. R.; Tubrett, Michael

doi:10.4138/atlgeol.2009.002

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…j from Dorais et al . (). The age distribution is based on a small population that is made even smaller by filtering to exclude ages having 1‐sigma errors greater than 5%.…”

Section: Detrital Zircon Ages From the Northwestern Flank Of The Centmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Stratigraphic positions of detrital zircon samples are shown by black squares, including the Carrabassett Formation sample of Dorais et al . (). Strata in shades of brown are known or inferred to be of inboard provenance and those in shades of yellow are considered to be of outboard provenance.…”

Section: Detrital Zircon Ages From the Northwestern Flank Of The Centmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Numbers refer to locations mentioned in text: 1, Silurian conglomerate near Kennebago Lake; 2, two closely spaced detrital zircon sample locations in Chain Lakes massif, from Gerbi et al . (); 3, detrital zircon location from the Dead River Formation (D. Reusch and C. Gerbi, unpublished data); 4, Silurian graptolite locality in strata assigned to the Smalls Falls Formation, Kingsbury quadrangle; 5, Carrabassett Formation detrital zircon sample location (Dorais et al ., ); 6, detrital zircon sample location from the Grand Manan Island Belt of Ganderia (Fyffe et al ., ); 7, detrital zircon sample location from the Brookville Belt of Ganderia (Fyffe et al ., ). AV , Avalonia terrane; BHA , Bronson Hill anticlinorium; BMA , Boundary Mountains anticlinorium; CHL , Chain Lakes massif; CVB , Connecticut Valley‐Gaspé basin; GA ‐B, Brookville Belt of Ganderia terrane; FB , Fredericton basin, or ‘trough’; GA ‐ GM , Grand Manan Belt of Ganderia terrane; GA ‐M, Miramichi Belt of Ganderia terrane; GA ‐ NR , New River Belt of Ganderia terrane; GA ‐ SC , St. Croix Belt of Ganderia terrane; LMA , Lobster Mountain anticlinorium; MRS , Moose River Synclinorium; MB , Merrimack basin, or ‘trough’; PR , Presidential Range; WLA , Weeksboro‐Lunksoos anticlinorium.…”

Section: Introduction: the Acadian Orogeny In New England And The Cenmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detrital zircon geochronology of pre‐ and syncollisional strata, Acadian orogen, Maine Appalachians

Bradley

O’Sullivan²

2016

Basin Research

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The Central Maine Basin is the largest expanse of deep‐marine, Upper Ordovician to Devonian metasedimentary rocks in the New England Appalachians, and is a key to the tectonics of the Acadian Orogeny. Detrital zircon ages are reported from two groups of strata: (1) the Quimby, Rangeley, Perry Mountain and Smalls Falls Formations, which were derived from inboard, northwesterly sources and are supposedly older; and (2) the Madrid, Carrabassett and Littleton Formations, which were derived from outboard, easterly sources and are supposedly younger. Deep‐water deposition prevailed throughout, with the provenance shift inferred to mark the onset of foredeep deposition and orogeny. The detrital zircon age distribution of a composite of the inboard‐derived units shows maxima at 988 and 429 Ma; a composite from the outboard‐derived units shows maxima at 1324, 1141, 957, 628, and 437 Ma. The inboard‐derived units have a greater proportion of zircons between 450 and 400 Ma. Three samples from the inboard‐derived group have youngest age maxima that are significantly younger than the nominal depositional ages. The outboard‐derived group does not share this problem. These results are consistent with the hypothesised provenance shift, but they signal potential problems with the established stratigraphy, structure, and (or) regional mapping. Shallow‐marine deposits of the Silurian to Devonian Ripogenus Formation, from northwest of the Central Maine Basin, yielded detrital zircons featuring a single age maximum at 441 Ma. These zircons were likely derived from a nearby magmatic arc now concealed by younger strata. Detrital zircons from the Tarratine Formation, part of the Acadian foreland‐basin succession in this strike belt, shows age maxima at 1615, 980 and 429 Ma. These results are consistent with three episodes of zircon recycling beginning with the deposition of inboard‐derived strata of the Central Maine Basin, which were shed from post‐Taconic highlands located to the northwest. Next, southeasterly parts of this succession were deformed in the Acadian orogeny, shedding detritus towards the northwest into what remained of the basin. Finally, by Pragian time, all strata in the Central Maine Basin had been deformed and detritus from this new source accumulated as the Tarratine Formation in a new incarnation of the foreland basin. Silurian‐Devonian strata from the Central Maine Basin have similar detrital zircon age distributions to coeval rocks from the Arctic Alaska and Farewell terranes of Alaska and the Northwestern terrane of Svalbard. We suggest that these strata were derived from different segments of the 6500‐km‐long Appalachian‐Caledonide orogen.

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“…j from Dorais et al . (). The age distribution is based on a small population that is made even smaller by filtering to exclude ages having 1‐sigma errors greater than 5%.…”

Section: Detrital Zircon Ages From the Northwestern Flank Of The Centmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Detrital Zircon Ages From the Northwestern Flank Of The Centmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introduction: the Acadian Orogeny In New England And The Cenmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Detrital zircon geochronology of pre‐ and syncollisional strata, Acadian orogen, Maine Appalachians

Bradley

O’Sullivan²

2016

Basin Research

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“…(1) Melt-depleted compositions. The garnetites have low SiO 2 , K 2 O, Rb, Ba, and Sr contents, as well as very high Fe 2 O 3 , MgO, TiO 2 , Sc, Cr, V, Y, and HREE concentrations compared with any Central Maine Trough metasediments reported in the literature (Cullers et al, 1997;Dorais et al, 2009aDorais et al, , 2009b; see Dorais et al, 2009a, fig. 6).…”

Section: E V I D E N C E F O R P E R I T E C T I C G a R N E T I N T mentioning

confidence: 90%

Detecting Peritectic Garnet in the Peraluminous Cardigan Pluton, New Hampshire

Dorais

Tubrett

2011

Journal of Petrology

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The peraluminous Cardigan Pluton of New Hampshire contains restitic garnetites with abundant peritectic garnet that serves as a basis for comparison with garnet in the host-rock. The peritectic garnet is inclusion-rich and contains high concentrations of heavy rare earth elements (HREE), Sc, and Zr and low concentrations of Zn, P, and U. The high HREE, Zr, and Sc result from biotite and zircon melting, buffering liquid compositions. Because the HREE and Sc are compatible in garnet, the peritectic garnet is rich in these elements. Some garnet crystals in the host-rocks have cores with identical inclusions and trace element compositions to the peritectic garnet in the garnetites. We infer that these are also peritectic garnet grains dispersed in the host magma. These cores are mantled by inclusion-poor garnet. These mantles, along with other garnet crystals that are inclusion-poor throughout, show rimward trends of decreasing HREE, Sc, and Zr, and increasing Zn, P, U, and Eu/Eu*.We interpret the trace element variations as records of fractionation as the melt decreased in HREE, Zr, and Sc and was enriched Zn, P, and U. The rimward increase in Eu/Eu* records the effect of feldspar fractionation. Thus the peritectic garnet preserves evidence of crystallization from buffered melts whereas the phenocrystic garnet shows variable trace element abundances indicative of crystallizing from fractionating melts. These differences provide criteria for the recognition of peritectic garnet in the host pluton.

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Dating slate belts using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and zircon ages from crosscutting plutons: A case study from east-central Maine, USA

Ghanem

Kunk

Ludman

et al. 2016

Journal of Structural Geology

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We report the ages of cleavage development in a normally intractable lower greenschist facies slate belt, the Central Maine-Aroostook-Matapedia belt in east-central Maine. We have attacked this problem by identifying the minimum ages of muscovite in a regional Acadian cleavage (S 1) and in a local ductile fault zone cleavage (S 2) using 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology and the ages of crosscutting plutons. Our success stems from the regional low-grade metamorphism of the rocks in which each crystallization event preserves a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar crystallization age and not a cooling age. Evidence for recrystallization via a pressure solution mechanism comes from truncations of detrital, authigenic, and in some rocks S 1 muscovite and chlorite grains by new cleavage-forming muscovite and chlorite grains. Low-blank furnace age spectra from meta-arkosic and slaty rocks climb from moderate temperature Devonian age-steps dominated by cleavage-forming muscovite to Ordovician age-steps dominated by a detrital muscovite component. S 1-and S 2-cleaved rocks were hornfelsed by granitoids of ~407 and 377 Ma, respectively. The combination of these minimum ages with the maximum metamorphic crystallization ages establishes narrow constraints on the timing of these two cleavage-forming events, ~410 Ma (S 1) and ~380 Ma (S 2). These two events coincide in time with a change in the plate convergence kinematics from the arrival of the Avalon terrane (Acadian orogeny), to a right-lateral transpression arrival of the Meguma terrane in the Neoacadian orogeny.

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Insights into the Acadian orogeny, New England Appalachians: a provenance study of the Carrabassett and Kittery formations, Maine

Cited by 9 publications

References 73 publications

Detrital zircon geochronology of pre‐ and syncollisional strata, Acadian orogen, Maine Appalachians

Detrital zircon geochronology of pre‐ and syncollisional strata, Acadian orogen, Maine Appalachians

Detecting Peritectic Garnet in the Peraluminous Cardigan Pluton, New Hampshire

Dating slate belts using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and zircon ages from crosscutting plutons: A case study from east-central Maine, USA

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