Detrital Zircon Evidence for Mixing of Mazatzal Province Age Detritus with Yavapai Age (Ca

Bucknell University Bucknell Digital Commons Honors Theses Student Theses 2014 Detrital Zircon Evidence for Mixing of Mazatzal Province Age Detritus With Yavapai Age (ca. 1700-1740 Ma) and Older Detritus in the ca. 1650 Ma Mazatzal Province of Central New Mexico, USA Daniel Patrick Wallace Bucknell University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses Recommended Citation Wallace, Daniel Patrick, "Detrital Zircon Evidence for Mixing of Mazatzal Province Age Detritus With Yavapai Age (ca. 1700-1740 Ma) and Older Detritus in the ca. 1650 Ma Mazatzal Province of Central New Mexico, USA" (2014). Honors Theses. 269. https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/honors_theses/269 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at Bucknell Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Bucknell Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DETRITAL ZIRCON EVIDENCE FOR MIXING OF MAZATZAL PROVINCE AGE DETRITUS WITH YAVAPAI AGE (CA. 1700-1740 MA.) AND OLDER DETRITUS IN THE CA. 1650 MA. MAZATZAL PROVINCE OF CENTRAL NEW MEXICO, USA By Daniel P. Wallace A Thesis Presented to the Honors Committee In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honors in Geology Bucknell University May 2014 Approved : Christopher G. Daniel Thesis Advisor, Department of Geology, Bucknell University Jeffrey M. Trop Chair, Department of Geology , Bucknell University 2 3 DETRITAL ZIRCON EVIDENCE FOR MIXING OF MAZATZAL PROVINCE AGE DETRITUS WITH YAVAPAI AGE (CA. 1700-1740 MA.) AND OLDER DETRITUS IN THE CA. 1650 MAZATZAL PROVINCE OF CENTRAL NEW MEXICO, USA By Daniel P. Wallace A Thesis Presented to the Honors Committee In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honors in Geology Bucknell University May 2014 Approved : Christopher G. Daniel Thesis Advisor, Department of Geology, Bucknell University Jeffrey M. Trop Chair, Department of Geology , Bucknell University 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’d like to take this section to acknowledge everyone who has made this research experience possible. First and foremost I would like to thank Dr. Christopher Daniel for taking me as a research student almost a year and a half ago and continuing to be my thesis advisor. I’ve learned so much since we started talking about the idea of doing research in New Mexico and have had a lot of fun along the way. You have been a constant source of guidance and insight, and for that I say thanks. I’d also like to thank the faculty of the Bucknell Department of Geology. As a whole you all have an open door policy and whenever I needed to talk an idea out or figure out the logistics of my thesis you were all so willing to help. I’d also like to thank Carilee Dill, who, without all of your hard work behind the scenes, booking trips and flights and plans, no one in this department could function. A huge shout out goes to all of my O’Leary friends who have made the long nights in the computer lab both bearable and fun. Tracey, Meg, Stew, Mattie, and Erica you have all been willing to help me out along this journey whether it is proofreading a draft I have, listening to my poster presentation, or just keeping me company when I’m hard at work. You guys are always there when I need you to be and that means a lot. I’d also like to thank Brad Jordan for his constant service to all of us geology majors, and Chris MacFarlane for giving us the opportunity to work in your lab in New Brunswick. I’d also like to thank the members of my thesis committee: Dr. Jeff Trop and Dr. Sharon Garthwaite. Thank you for taking your own time to be on this committee and for helping me through this process. 5 Lastly I would like to thank my parents, Patrick and Lillian Wallace. Although they might not know a whole lot about what I do, they put up with me travelling all across the planet to do it. From South Africa to New Mexico to Canada and back they have been behind my every step of the way. Thank you. We gratefully acknowledge funding for the Quanta 400 environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy/cathodoluminesence (EDS/CL) systems at Bucknell University provided by the generous support of Bucknell University geology alumni, Bucknell University, and NSF award 0132204 to Daniel. We would also like to acknowledge Clay and Leland Harral for allowing us to access the Harral Ranch to collect samples near Pedernal Peak, and The University of New Brunswick Department of Earth Sciences for their help and support in using the LA-ICP- MS. Geochronological analyses were supported by NSF EAR-1250220 to Daniel. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 7 LIST OF TABLES 8 ABSTRACT 9 INTRODUCTION 10 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 13 Significance of Research 16 METHODS 17 Sample collection and preparation 17 Hand sample and thin section descriptions 23 Zircon morphology 24 Detrital zircon geochronology methods 26 RESULTS 29 U-Pb detrital zircon ages 29 DISCUSSION 39 Detrital zircon ages 39 Regional tectonic implications 43 CONCLUSION 49 REFERENCES 51 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Precambrian provinces of the southwestern United States 11 Figure 2. Geologic Map of the Pedernal Hills 12 Figure 3. Geologic Map of the Manzano Mountains 15 Figure 4.1 – 4.5. Field photos of analyzed samples 18-22 Figure 5. Scanning electron microscope images of detrital zircon samples 25 Figure 6. Thin section photomicrographs of analyzed samples 27 Figure 7. Normalized probability density distribution plot and 30 concordia diagram DW13-3 Figure 8. Normalized probability density distribution plot and 32 concordia diagram DW13-4 Figure 9. Normalized probability density distribution plot and 33 concordia diagram DW13-8 Figure 10. Normalized probability density distribution plot and 34 concordia diagram CD13-5 Figure 11. Concordia diagram CD13-3 35 Figure 12. Weighted mean age plot CD13-3 36 Figure 13. Weighted mean age plot CD13-3 (three youngest grains) 37 Figure 14. U/Th plot for all analyzed samples 38 Figure 15. Normalized probability density distribution plots 41 from the Picuris and Tusas Mountains Figure 16. Normalized probability density distribution plot for other samples 42 Figure 17. Schematic diagram of tectonic implications ca. 1650 Ma. 46-47 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Sample location sites 51 8 ABSTRACT Preliminary detrital zircon age distributions from Mazatzal crustal province quartzite and schist exposed in the Manzano Mountains and Pedernal Hills of central New Mexico are consistent with a mixture of detritus from Mazatzal age (ca. 1650 Ma), Yavapai age (ca. 1720 Ma.), and older sources. A quartzite sample from the Blue Springs Formation in the Manzano Mountains yielding 67 concordant grain analyses shows two dominant age peaks of 1737 Ma and 1791 Ma with a minimum peak age of 1652 Ma. Quartzite and micaceous quartzite samples from near Pedernal Peak give unimodal peak ages of ca. 1695 Ma and 1738 Ma with minimum detrital zircon ages of ca. 1625 Ma and 1680 Ma, respectively. A schist sample from the southern exposures of the Pedernal Hills area gives a unimodal peak age of 1680 Ma with a minimum age of ca. 1635 Ma. Minor amounts of older detritus (>1800 Ma) possibly reflect Trans-Hudson, Wyoming, Mojave Province, and older Archean sources and aid in locating potential source terrains for these detrital zircon. The Blue Springs Formation metarhyolite from near the top of the Proterozoic section in the Manzano Mountains yields 71 concordant grains that show a preliminary U-Pb zircon crystallization age of 1621 5 Ma, which provides a minimum age constraint for deposition in the Manzano Mountains. Normalized probability plots from this study are similar to previously reported age distributions in the Burro and San Andres Mountains in southern New Mexico and suggest that Yavapai Province age detritus was deposited and intermingled with Mazatzal Province age detritus across much of the Mazatzal crustal province in New Mexico. This data shows that the tectonic evolution of southwestern Laurentia is associated with 10 multiple orogenic events. Regional metamorphism and deformation in the area must postdate the Mazatzal Orogeny and ca. 1610 Ma – 1620 Ma rhyolite crystallization and is attributed to the Mesoproterozoic ca. 1400 – 1480 Ma Picuris Orogeny. INTRODUCTION Whitmeyer and Karlstrom (2007) present a tectonic model for the evolutionary history of North America that suggests that during the Proterozoic Eon (specifically 1.60 Ga – 1.80 Ga) multiple micro continents and island arcs, called “provinces”, were accreted onto Laurentia from the south and southeast. Two of these provinces in particular are the Yavapai Province (1.70 – 1.78 billion years old) and the Mazatzal Province (1.60 – 1.69 billion years old). Between about 1.60 and 1.80 billion years ago these provinces were accreted along the continental margin across the central United States and Great Lakes, and into northeastern Canada (Figure 1). The Proterozoic sediments deposited along the Yavapai – Mazatzal crustal boundary during the ca. 1650 Ma Mazatzal Orogeny contain detrital zircon, and U-Pb dating of these zircon aid in determining the maximum depositional age and provenance of these metasedimentary rocks. The Pedernal Hills are located about 54 km south of the boundary between the Yavapai and Mazatzal Provinces, and east of Albuquerque in Torrance County, New Mexico. A metaquartzite, granitic gneiss, schist, cataclasite, and granite are among the common rock types found in the Pedernal Hills (Gonzales and Woodward, 1972) (Figure 2). Age relations of the metaquartzite, granitic gneiss, and schist cannot 11 Figure 1: Regional map of Proterozoic rocks in the western United States.

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