Grenvillian provenance for the amphibolite-grade Trap Falls Formation: implications for early Paleozoic tectonic history of New England

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 1286-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. McDaniel ◽  
G. N. Hanson ◽  
S. M. McLennan ◽  
J. H. Sevigny

The Trap Falls Formation is a sequence of interlayered quartzites and schists that crops out in the Appalachian belt in southern Connecticut, and was deformed and metamorphosed to middle amphibolite grade during Acadian orogenesis. Schists have high Al2O3 and low CaO, Na2O, and K2O (chemical index of alteration CIA = 68–70), consistent with a significant weathering history in the sediment source. Rare earth element (REE) patterns for both schists and quartzites parallel post-Archean average Australian Shale, with light REE enrichment and well-developed Eu anomalies, suggesting an average upper crustal source. Whole-rock Nd and Pb isotopic analyses indicate old sources, with depleted mantle model ages (TDM) from 1880 to 1660 Ma, 207Pb/204Pb from 15.62 to 15.87, and 206Pb/204Pb from 19.11 to 22.08. U–Pb ages for single-grain and multigrain populations of detrital zircons range between 1113 and 992 Ma, the youngest of which defines a maximum depositional age for the Trap Falls Formation. U–Pb zircon ages indicate a late Grenvillian source for the zircons. Nd and Pb isotopic compositions are consistent with a source that is dominated by Grenville-age rocks with some component of older crust. Combining all of the data, we interpret that the protolith of the Trap Falls Formation was comprised of aluminous muds interbedded with clean quartz arenites, and suggest that they were deposited on the stable, trailing-edge margin of North America sometime during the Late Proterozoic to the Early Cambrian. The sediments were derived from a weathered source with an upper continental crust composition. Isotopic data and zircon ages indicate that this source was dominated by Grenville-age rocks.

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayla A. Ramos-Vázquez ◽  
John S. Armstrong-Altrin

AbstractThe mineralogy, bulk sediment geochemical composition, and U–Pb ages of detrital zircons retrieved from the Barra del Tordo (Tordo) and Tesoro beach sediments in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico were analyzed to determine their provenance. The beach sediments are mainly composed of quartz, ilmenite, magnetite, titanite, zircon, and anorthite. The weathering proxies such as the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), Chemical Index of Weathering (CIW), and Plagioclase Index of Alteration (PIA), reveal a moderate-to-high intensity of weathering in the source area. The chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns are similar to felsic igneous rocks, with large negative europium anomaly (Eu/Eu* = ~ 0.47–0.80 and ~ 0.57–0.67 in the Tordo and Tesoro beach sediments, respectively).Three major zircon U–Pb age groups are identified in the Tordo and Tesoro beach sediments, i.e., Proterozoic (~ 2039–595 Ma), Mesozoic (~ 244–70.3 Ma), and Cenozoic (~ 65.9–1.2 Ma). The differences of the zircon age spectrum between the Tordo and Tesoro beach sediments are not significant. The comparison of zircon U–Pb ages in this study with ages of potential source terranes suggests that the Mesozoic and Cenozoic zircons of the studied Tordo and Tesoro beach sediments were derived from the Eastern Alkaline Province (EAP) and Mesa Central Province (MCP). Similarly, the likely sources for the Proterozoic zircons were the Sierra Madre Oriental (SMOr) and Oaxaquia in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The results of this study further indicate that the sediments delivered to the beaches by rivers and redistributed by longshore currents were crucial in determining the sediment provenance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Phillips Reuben Ikhane ◽  
Olalekan Olayiwola Oyebolu ◽  
Afolabi Omotayo Alaka

Integration of X-ray fluor escence and stable isotope spectrometric techniques for quality assessment and provenance study of exposed marble deposit at Fakunle Quarry, Ikpeshi, South Western Nigeria constitute the fundamental aims of this research. Fourteen fresh (14) marble samples obtained at different localities within the quarry were subjected to geochemical and isotopic analyses to ascertain the quantitative abundance of major oxides and stable isotopes using X-Ray Fluorescence and Thermo Fisher mass spectrometer respectively. The major oxides revealed by XRF analysis of the marble samples are CaO, MgO, SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3 and Na2O with percentage composition ranging between 11.66 – 13.25, 7.75 – 9.65, 41.36 – 47.55, 12.36 – 15.23, 7.79 – 10.55 and 1.44 – 1.75respectively. Na2O + K2O value ranges between 1.48 and 1.78.The classification of marble in relation to percentage of calcite-dolomite indicate a percentage range of -5 to 4% and 93-103% for Calcite and Dolomite respectively. Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) ranges from 45.16 to 51.59 % and Chemical Index of Weathering (CIW) ranges from 46.19 to 52.30 %. Stable isotope ( ? –180) of marble ranges from -10.50 to -7.00 with a corresponding value from 25.50 to 55.33.Interpretation of the overall results indicates an impure quartz-rich dolomitic marble; metamorphosed from a low carbonate sedimentary/meta sedimentary protolith which shallowly precipitated within a passive marginal marine environment under humid condition. The high silica impurity can however be attributed to the inordinate influx of terrigenous sediments during the precipitation process. Weathering effect is minimal on the marble deposit. Conclusively, strong correlation is apparent between the obtained geochemical result and the basement geology of the study area.


2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 796-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.H. Brown

The San Juan Islands – northwest Cascades thrust system in Washington and British Columbia is composed of previously accreted terranes now assembled as four broadly defined composite nappes stacked on a continental footwall of Wrangellia and the Coast Plutonic Complex. Emplacement ages of the nappe sequence are interpreted from zircon ages, field relations, and lithlogies, to young upward. The basal nappe was emplaced prior to early Turonian time (∼93 Ma), indicated by the occurrence of age-distinctive zircons from this nappe in the Sidney Island Formation of the Nanaimo Group. The emplacement age of the highest nappe in the thrust system postdates 87 Ma detrital zircons within the nappe. The nappes bear high-pressure – low-temperature (HP–LT) mineral assemblages indicative of deep burial in a thrust wedge; however, several features indicate that metamorphism occurred prior to nappe assembly: metamorphic discontinuities at nappe boundaries, absence of HP–LT assemblages in the footwall to the nappe pile, and absence of significant unroofing detritus in the Nanaimo Group. A synorogenic relationship of the thrust system to the Nanaimo Group is evident from mutually overlapping ages and by conglomerates of Nanaimo affinity that lie within the nappe pile. From the foregoing relations, and broader Cordilleran geology, the tectonic history of the nappe terranes is interpreted to involve initial accretion and subduction-zone metamorphism south of the present locality, uplift and exhumation, orogen-parallel northward transport of the nappes as part of a forearc sliver, and finally obduction at the present site over the truncated south end of Wrangellia and the Coast Plutonic Complex.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian W. Hillenbrand ◽  
◽  
Michael L. Williams ◽  
Michael J. Jercinovic ◽  
Daniel J. Tjapkes

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-464
Author(s):  
H.S. Van Niekerk ◽  
R. Armstrong ◽  
P. Vasconcelos

Abstract During the Grenvillian assembly of Rodinia, the Namaqua-Natal Metamorphic Province (NNMP) was formed as a result of the convergence of the Laurentia and Kalahari cratons. A detailed model for this accretion along the south-eastern margin of the Kalahari Craton has been established, but the tectonic history of the NNMP along the western margin of the Kalahari Craton has remained highly controversial. U-Pb SHRIMP zircon age dating of gneiss in the Kakamas Domain of the NNMP, as well as U-Pb SHRIMP age dating of detrital zircons and 40Ar/39Ar dating of metamorphic muscovite from sediments overlying the gneiss, confirms the presence of at least two separate events during the Namaqua-Natal Orogeny at ~1 166 Ma and 1 116 Ma. These events occurred after the Areachap Terrane was accreted onto the western margin of the Proto-Kalahari Craton during the Kheis Orogeny. 40Ar/39Ar ages derived from metamorphic muscovite formed in the metasediments of the Kheis terrane does not provide evidence for the timing of the Kheis Orogeny but suggests that it most likely only occurred after ~1 300 Ma and not at 1 800 Ma as commonly accepted. A U-Pb concordia age of ~1 166 Ma was derived from granitic gneiss in the Kakamas Domain of the Bushmanland Subprovince, possibly reflecting subduction and the initiation of continent-continent collision between the Proto-Kalahari Craton and the Bushmanland Subprovince. This granitic gneiss is nonconformably overlain by the metasediments of the Korannaland Group that contains metamorphic muscovite with 40Ar/39Ar ages of ~1 116 Ma. This age suggest that complete closure of the ocean between the Proto-Kalahari Craton and Bushmanland Subprovince probably occurred about 50 Ma after the intrusion of the ~1 166 Ma granitic gneisses.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 371
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Xie ◽  
Zhenning Yang ◽  
Huan Zhang ◽  
Ali Polat ◽  
Yang Xu ◽  
...  

The middle Mesoproterozoic is a crucial time period for understanding the Precambrian tectonic evolutionary history of the northern Yangtze Block and its relationship with the supercontinent Columbia. The Dagushi Group (Gp) is one of the Mesoproterozoic strata rarely found at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block. U–Pb geochronology and Lu–Hf isotopic analyses of detrital zircons were analyzed for three metamorphic quartz sandstone samples collected from the Luohanling and Dangpuling formations of the Dagushi Gp. These metasandstones yielded major zircon populations at ~2.65 Ga and ~1.60 Ga, respectively. The ~1.60 Ga ages first discovered yield a narrow range of ɛHf(t) values from −1.8 to +1.8, which lie above the old crust evolutionary line of the Yangtze Block, suggesting the addition of mantle material. Trace element data indicate that ~1.60 Ga detrital zircons share a basic provenance, whereby they have low Hf/Th and high Nb/Yb ratios. Zircon discrimination diagrams suggest that the ~1.60 Ga detrital zircon source rocks formed in an intra-plate rifting environment. Dagushi Gp provenance studies indicate that the ~1.60 Ga detrital zircon was most likely sourced from the interior Yangtze Block. Thus, we suggest that the late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic continental break-up occurred at the northern margin of the Yangtze Block.


1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 1140-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Thériault ◽  
G. M. Ross

Sm–Nd isotopic data are presented for 23 drill-core samples from five aeromagnetically and geochronologically (U–Pb zircon) distinct domains of the Precambrian basement of northern Alberta. The domains in question are the Taltson (1.96–1.94 Ga), Buffalo Head (2.32–1.99 Ga), Chinchaga (2.19–2.09 Ga), Ksituan (1.99–1.90 Ga), and Nova (2.81 Ga). These domains are truncated to the north and south by the Great Slave Lake shear zone and the Snowbird tectonic zone, respectively.Initial εNd values are −5.0 to −9.7 for the Taltson, +0.2 to −6.3 for the Buffalo Head, +0.6 to −1.8 for the Chinchaga, −1.8 to −2.1 for the Ksituan and +5.6 for the Nova. Crustal residence model ages fall in the 2.5–2.8 Ga range. The Nd isotopic signatures may be viewed in terms of mixing a minimum of 10% Archean continental crust with a depleted-mantle component. Speculations on the tectonic history of the basement domains in question involve the assembly of Archean crustal nuclei to form the Buffalo Head – Chinchaga composite domain. Arc magmatism resulting from plate subduction to the east and west of the Buffalo Head – Chinchaga composite domain would have generated the Taltson and Ksituan domains. The Nd isotopic data suggest that the basement of northern Alberta consists of crust of late Archean crustal residence age which has been extensively remobilized in the Early Proterozoic.


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