Migration of the Acadian Orogen and Foreland Basin Across the Northern Appalachians1
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-1 - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Migration of the Acadian Orogen and Foreland Basin across the Northern Appalachians1 By Dwight C. Bradley2, Robert D. Tucker3, Daniel R. Lux4, Anita G. Harris5, and D. Colin McGregor6 OPEN-FILE REPORT 98-770 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. government. 1998 1 This Open-File Report is being released in advance of a Professional Paper with the same title and authors, which is working its way through the publication process as of November 1998. 2 U.S. Geological Survey, 4200 University Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508. [email protected] 3 Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 4 Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469 5-U.S. Geological Survey, MS 926A, Reston, VA 20192 6 Retired; formerly at Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OE8 -2- CONTENTS Abstract ..................................................................................................... 4 Introduction................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgments......................................................................................... 5 Regional Geology.......................................................................................... 6 Determining the Timing of Collisional Orogeny from the Rock Record ............................ 9 Paleontological and Stratigraphic Evidence for the Timing of Acadian Orogenesis............... 11 Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine and New Brunswick............................................... 11 Fredericton Trough, Maine and New Brunswick ................................................ 11 Canterbury Inlier, New Brunswick ............................................................... 11 Carlisle Area, New Brunswick..................................................................... 15 Presque Isle Quadrangle, Maine.................................................................... 15 Central Maine Basin.................................................................................. 16 Littleton and Vicinity, New Hampshire............................................................ 17 Southwestern Moose River Synclinorium, Maine................................................ 17 Northeastern Moose River Synclinorium, Maine................................................. 19 Traveler-Chesuncook Area, Maine ................................................................ 19 Munsungun Anticlinorium, Maine ................................................................. 20 Pennington Anticlinorium, Maine ................................................................. 20 Madawaska Region, New Brunswick............................................................. 21 LaPatrie and Ste. Cecile de Whitton, Eastern Townships, Quebec............................. 22 Northwest Margin of the Connecticut Valley-Gaspe Basin, Quebec .......................... 22 Montreal, Quebec..................................................................................... 22 Isotopic Ages of Acadian Plutons ...................................................................... 23 U/Pb Analytical Methods............................................................................ 23 ^Ar/^Ar Analytical Methods.......................................................................26 Ludlow, Pridoli, and Lochkovian Plutons........................................................ 26 Early Emsian Plutons................................................................................ 28 Late Emsian to Eifelian Plutons..................................................................... 34 Givetian to Early Tournaisian Plutons............................................................. 34 The Silurian-Devonian Time Scale...................................................................... 36 Location Through Time of the Acadian Deformation Front and Foreland Basin ................. 36 Palinspastic Considerations......................................................................... 40 Early Ludlow ......................................................................................... 42 Early Lochkovian..................................................................................... 42 Pragian................................................................................................. 43 Early Emsian.......................................................................................... 43 Late Emsian to Early Eifelian ....................................................................... 43 Late Eifelian to Early Givetian...................................................................... 44 Base of Frasnian...................................................................................... 44 Implications................................................................................................ 45 Age of the Acadian Orogeny........................................................................ 45 Rate and Trajectory of Deformation-Front Migration............................................ 45 Physical Setting of Magmatism..................................................................... 46 Syn-Collisional Versus Pre-Collisional Plate Geometry......................................... 46 Hinterland Deformation Regimes and Regional Partitioning of Acadian Deformation....... 47 Foreland Deformation Regimes .................................................................... 48 Suggestions for Further Work .......................................................................... 48 References Cited.......................................................................................... 49 -3- FIGURES Figure 1. Geologic map of Maine and adjacent areas.................................................. 7 Figure 2. Major paleogeographic elements and structures in Maine and adjacent areas........... 8 Figure 3. Model of two-plate collision................................................................. 10 Figure 4. Stratigraphic sections bearing on the age of Acadian deformation ...................... 12 Figure 5. Conodont and palynological ages of samples dated in this study. ...................... 18 Figure 6. Map of Maine and adjacent areas showing ages of Acadian plutons.................... 24 Figure 7. U/Pb concordia diagrams.................................................................... 25 Figures. 40Ar/39Ar age spectra.......................................................................... 27 Figure 9. Photomicrographs of contact-metamorphic textures...................................... 29 Figure 10. Map showing positions of the Acadian deformation front.............................. 37 Figure 11. Map showing positions of the leading edge of the Acadian foreland basin........... 38 Figure 12. Paleogeographic maps of Maine and adjacent areas..................................... 39 Figure 13. Map showing local estimates of shortening.............................................. 41 TABLES (at end of document) Table 1. Palynological ages.............................................................................. 60 Table 2. Conodont ages.................................................................................. 62 Table 3. Pluton ages plotted in fig. 7................................................................... 66 Table 4. Zircon data. .....................................................................................70 Table 5. 40/39 data.......................................................................................72 Table 6. Comparison between various time scales.................................................... 78 Table 7. Data used in estimating Acadian and younger shortening in fig. 13...................... 79 -4- ABSTRACT We reconstruct seven sequential positions of the Acadian deformation front and foreland basin as these features migrated northwestward across Maine from Late Silurian to Middle Devonian 40 ^9 time. The reconstructions are based on (1) U/Pb and Arf Ar ages of pre-, syn-, and post-tectonic plutons; (2) conodont and palynomorph ages of key strata that predate or postdate the local age of deformation; and (3) interpretations of the depositional settings of these strata: far-foreland, foreland- basin, inner trench slope, and erogenic hinterland. Tight correlations between isotopically and paleontologically dated events are made possible by recent improvements in the Silurian-Devonian time scale. In early Ludlow time (-423 Ma), the deformation front must have lain near the present midline of the Fredericton basin, between the post-tectonic Pocomoonshine pluton (423 Ma) to the southeast, and the graptolitic Smalls Falls Formation of the same age, 70 km across strike to the northwest. During early Lochkovian time (-417 Ma), the deformation front was near the present midline of the Central Maine basin, as recorded by the northwestward advance of slope deposits of the Carrabassett Formation across axially-transported turbidites of the Madrid Formation. The early Emsian (406-407 Ma) deformation front lay along or near the Lobster anticlinorium; its position is bracketed between the post-tectonic Russell