University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 2007 Mapping, petrological and geochemical explorations of the Massabesic Gneiss Complex in New Hampshire Charles M. Kerwin University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Kerwin, Charles M., "Mapping, petrological and geochemical explorations of the Massabesic Gneiss Complex in New Hampshire" (2007). Doctoral Dissertations. 396. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/396 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MAPPING, PETROLOGICAL AND GEOCHEMICAL EXPLORATIONS OF THE MASSABESIC GNEISS COMPLEX IN NEW HAMPSHIRE BY CHARLES M. KERWIN BS Geology, Keene State College, 1996 MS Earth Sciences: Geology, U.N.H., 2000 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Earth Sciences: Geology September, 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3277140 Copyright 2007 by Kerwin, Charles M. All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3277140 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED c 2007 Charles M. Kerwin Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. -S jr: $6 Dissertation Co-Director, Jo Laird, Associate Professor of Geology Dissertation Co-Director, Wallace A. Bothner, Professor of Geology Peter J. Thompson, Affiliate Professor of Geology Timothy T. Allen, Professor of Geology, Keene State College . / > . U , _________________________________ G. Nelson Eby, Professor of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts at Lowell Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my committee members: co-primary advisors Jo Laird and Wally Bothner for guidance throughout the entire project, Peter Thompson for countless hours of stratigraphic discussions, Nelson Eby for the use of the INAA providing this project with Rare Earth Element analyses and advice on how to interpret and present geochemical information and to Tim Allen for allowing me to, help calibrate, optimize, work on method development and obtain analyses with the XRF. I also would like to thank: the many geologists from all over the United States that contributed their thoughts and advice on complex geologic terranes and attended my geologic talks and poster sessions and to the United States Geological Survey for providing funding for the mapping portion of this study, Steve Allard for years of discussion and collaboration on south­ eastern New Hampshire geology problems, Sean Kerwin and John Trautwein for many hours of editing and last but not least, my family for many years of patience. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x ABSTRACT xiii CHAPTER PAGE 1. PREVIOUS WORK AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS 1 Mapping 1 Stratigraphy and rock descriptions 8 Metasedimentary rocks 10 Central Maine Terrane 10 Devonian Littleton Formation (DL) 10 Madrid (Sm) and Smalls Falls Formation (Ssf) 10 Perry Mt. Formation (Sp) 11 Rangely Formation (Sr) 11 Merrimack Group 12 Kittery Formation (SOk) 12 Eliot Formation (SOe) 12 Berwick Formation (SOb) 12 Igneous rocks 13 Geochronology 13 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Petrology and geochemistry 16 Pressure and Temperature Estimates 16 Geochemistry 16 Purpose 18 2. METHODS 23 Field work 23 Petrography 23 Sample preparation for analytical geochemistry 24 Pressed pellets 24 Fused beads (major elements) 24 Loss on ignition for fusion techniques 24 Sample preparation for fusion 25 Sample preparation and analytical procedures for INAA (Rare Earth Elements) 25 Sampling 26 Modeling and figures 28 3. GEOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN MASSABESIC GNEISS COMPLEX 30 General geology 30 Structure 35 Foliation 36 Metasedimentary rocks 36 Migmatites 36 Foliated granites and pegmatites 39 Faults 39 Campbell Hill-Hall Mountain Fault 39 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Flint Hill Fault 41 Gulf Shear Zone 43 Other 43 Mineral and crenulation lineations 43 Slickenlines 45 Mafic dikes and quartz veins 45 Summary and interpretation 48 4. PETROGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY 52 Introduction 52 General descriptions 52 Metasedimentary rocks 52 Metawacke 52 Pelitic schists 53 Migmatites 53 Granites 58 Mineral textures 66 Petrology 66 Interpretation 71 5. CHEMICAL ANALYSES 73 Rare Earth Elements 73 Metasedimentary rocks 75 Migmatites 75 Granites 80 Anomalous rocks 80 Major element analyses 84 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Granite fractionation 94 Comparison of chemistry with texture 94 Modeling 97 Comparisons with surrounding metasedimentary rocks 100 REE comparison 100 Trace element comparison 104 Summary and conclusions 106 CONCLUSIONS, INTERPRETATIONS AND FURTHER WORK Conclusions 109 Interpretation 111 T ectonic history 111 Timing 111 Continued work 116 REFERENCES 117 APPENDICES 126 APPENDIX A XRF CALIBRATION CURVES 126 APPENDIX B LOSS ON IGNITION CALCULATION 147 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES PAGE 1 Definitions 20 2 Measuring conditions for the XRF 27 3 a Instrument and sampling precision tables on pressed pellets 27 3b Instrument and sampling precision tables on fused beads 28 4 Mineral abbreviations 53 5 Mineral modes 64 6 Some partition coefficient values for the REEs 75 7 Chondrite normalized REE values determined by INAA 76 8 Slope calculations for the REE patterns La/Lu 78 9 Calculated Europium anomalies 79 10 Chemical data 85 ix Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES PAGE 1 Portion of the NH State Geology map of New Hampshire 2 2 Previously mapped areas around the MGC 4 3 Pictures of the three different migmatite types 7 4 Simplified map of the composite terranes that comprises New England 9 5 MGC geochronology map 15 6 MGC locations, pressure and temperature estimates map 17 7a, b Locations of basement terranes in northern New England 19 8 Model of evolution of the migmatite types and granites 22 9 Elevation diagram of the Gossville, North wood, Barrington, Candia, Mt. Pawtuckawy and Epping 7.5 minute quadragles 31 10 Lithology map of the study area 32 11 Picture of a glacially polished basement outcrop of sheared pegmatite 34 12 Poles to foliation of the metasedimentary rocks 37 12a, b Fold axes and axial planes for the Candia quadrangle 37 12c, Fold axes for the remainder of the study area 37 12d. Synoptic diagram for the foliation fot the Northwood and Barrington quadrangle 37 13 a, b Poles to foliation of the migmatites and fold axes 38 14 Stereonet plots of the poles to foliation of the granites 40 15 Hillshade model (DEM) of the study area and adjacent quadrangles 42 x Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 16 Plots of mineral and crenulation lineations 44 17 Map and rose diagram showing orientation of slickenlines within the study area 46 18a, b Rose diagrams showing the orientation of the Mafic dikes in the Candia and Mt. Pawtuckaway quadrangles 47 18c, d Rose diagrams showing the orientation of the quartz veins in the Candia and Northwood quadrangles 47 19 Generalized foliation pattern on bedrock geologic base map 49 20a, b Synoptic diagram of pole to foliation planes of the metasedimentary rock and migmatites 51 2 la, b Outcrop photos of metawacke, tan and purplish weathering 54 21c, d Photomicrographs of metawacke 55 22a, b Outcrop pictures of typical Pelitic schist 56 22c, d Photomicrographs of typical pelitic schist 57 23 MGC Type 2 migmatite in plane and polarized light 59 24 Migmatites on QAP ternary diagram 60 25 Photomicrographs of Cg 90 (granite) plane and polarized fight 61 26 Picture of hand sample (Pg 304) of a granite in the Mt. Pawtuckaway quadrangle 62 27 Granites plotted