'Kalkberg' K‐Bentonite
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Ghent University Academic Bibliography A new, high-precision CA-ID-TIMS date for the ‘Kalkberg’ K-bentonite (Judds Falls Bentonite) NEO E.B. MCADAMS , MARK D. SCHMITZ, MARK A. KLEFFNER, JACQUES VERNIERS, THIJS R.A. VANDENBROUCKE, JAMES R. EBERT AND BRADLEY D. CRAMER McAdams, N.E.B., Schmitz, M.D., Kleffner, M.A., Verniers, J., Vandenbroucke, T.R.A., Ebert, J.R. & Cramer, B.D. 2018: A new, high-precision CA-ID-TIMS date for the ‘Kalkberg’ K-bentonite (Judds Falls Bentonite). Lethaia, Vol. 51, pp. 344–356. The numerical calibration of the base of the Devonian is poorly constrained due to several factors. Few precise radioisotopic age determinations are available from the late Silurian and Early Devonian, and the limited published data carry large error bars from older analytical methodologies. Volcanic ashfalls suitable for dating occur in the Lower Devonian of the Appalachian Basin, but have not been precisely correlated into the global chronostratigraphical scheme because of limited bio- and lithostratigraphi- cal information. Here, we report a new U-Pb zircon radioisotopic age determination of 417.61 Æ 0.12(0.23)[0.50] Ma and improved chronostratigraphical context, including revised biostratigraphy, for an ash bed in the New Scotland Formation, Helderberg Group, from the Lochkovian Stage that was previously identified as the Kalkberg K-bentonite. This new information helps to integrate the classic New York Appalachian Basin succession into global Siluro-Devonian stratigraphy, refine the cali- bration of the Silurian–Devonian boundary and more precisely estimate the duration of both time periods. □ Chitinozoans, chronostratigraphy, conodonts, Lochkovian, U-Pb geochronology. Neo E.B. McAdams ✉ [[email protected]], and Bradley D. Cramer [[email protected]], Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univer- sity of Iowa, 115 Trowbridge Hall Iowa City, IA 52240, USA; Mark D. Schmitz [[email protected]], Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive Boise, ID 83725, USA; Mark A. Kleffner [[email protected]], School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University at Lima, 4240 Campus Drive Lima, OH 45804, USA; Jacques Verniers [[email protected]], Thijs R.A. Vandenbroucke [[email protected]], Department of Geology (WE13), Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8 9000 Ghent, Belgium; James R. Ebert [[email protected]], Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, State University of New York, College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY 13820, USA; manuscript received on 24/04/2017; manuscript accepted on 27/07/2017. The late Silurian to early Devonian is a dynamic The stratigraphically lowest radioisotopic date transitional period of Earth history. It includes available from the Devonian System is derived from sharp sea-level fall (Tippecanoe–Kaskaskia a K-bentonite in the Helderberg Group that was ter- sequence boundary of Sloss 1963), the origin of med the Kalkberg K-bentonite (Tucker et al. 1998) the Old Red Sandstone Continent, the Acadian in reference to the formation from which it was orogeny, the Klonk carbon cycle perturbation and reported. Whereas this age determination provides the firm establishment of life on land (Labandiera the anchor for the calibration of the Silurian–Devo- 2005; Becker et al. 2012; Melchin et al. 2012). nian boundary in the Geologic Time Scale 2012 Our understanding of each of these events is lim- (Schmitz 2012a), reinvestigation of the K-bentonite ited by a general lack of precise radioisotopic age is necessary because the original determination of determinations that can provide accurate dura- the date used methodology that did not sufficiently tions and timings of these events. Recent work account for lead loss and/or inheritance in zircons, incorporating new radioisotopic dates from the and used tracers and gravimetric standards with Wenlock and Ludlow (Cramer et al. 2012, 2015; lower levels of metrology and traceability than those Cooper et al. 2014) demonstrates that integration available currently. These factors resulted in large of geochronometric and biostratigraphical meth- error bars attached to the date that can be improved ods can discern events with durations of less than with modern analytical techniques. Problems with 1 Myr in the stratigraphical record. However, no the utility of the date are compounded by changes in such data from the Pridoli to Lower Devonian are the chronostratigraphical framework of the New currently available. York Devonian succession, which indicate that the DOI 10.1111/let.12241 © 2017 Lethaia Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd LETHAIA 51 (2018) ‘Kalkberg’ CA-ID-TIMS 345 K-bentonite is chronostratigraphically higher than A originally reported (Kleffner et al. 2009; Bevington Rd et al. 2010). New lithostratigraphical investigation of Canajoharie Creek n Valkenburgh the Helderberg Group shows that the dated ben- 32 Va Judds Falls tonite occurs within the New Scotland Formation, Salt Springville Rd which overlies the Kalkberg Formation (Ebert et al. 20 2007). Conodonts and chitinozoans are rare in both the Kalkberg and New Scotland formations and no biostratigraphically informative graptolites have 166 been reported. However, integration of recent (Ebert St Butler Rd & Matteson 2003; Kleffner et al. 2009; Bevington et al. 2010) and new (this paper) conodont and 200 ft chitinozoan data suggest that the strata surrounding the bentonite belong to the middle Lochkovian, not B 76° W 74° W the basal Lochkovian Stage. e tud lati Low Land Here, we provide a new, high-precision, chemical aeo abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionization mass 30° S pal d Rochester Utica spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) radioisotopic age 43° N Syracuse Low Lan n Cherry determination for a new sample from the ash bed Valley Lagoo Build-ups sin Albany dated by Tucker et al. (1998), which is constrained Ba nter by updated litho- and biostratigraphical data for Depoce roximal 42° chronostratigraphical correlation. The bentonite dis- P tics N Lime mudstone-wackestone, Clas stromatolite-stromatoporoid Cherty, Silty Limestone cussed in this paper will be referred to as the ‘Kalk- fauna berg’ K-bentonite (KKB) for simplicity, although Crinoidal grainstone Calcareous Siltstone d an several other names have been proposed previously 010100 L kilometres (see Discussion). Fig. 1. A, roadmap showing location of the measured section (indicated by grey star) on US Route 20, near Cherry Valley, New York State. Sprout Brook Road section of Kleffner et al. Geological background (2009) is indicated by black circle. Lower right, diagram of New York showing outline of Otsego County, with area of roadmap indicated by grey square. B, palaeogeographical reconstruction of Palaeogeography New York State in the Lower Devonian and depositional envi- ronments during Helderberg Group deposition. Palaeolatitude The Palaeozoic succession of New York State inferred from Domeier & Torsvik (2014); lithologies from includes strata encompassing the Silurian–Devonian Laporte (1967) and Diedrich & Wilkinson (1999); basin geome- try adapted from Isaacson & Curran (1981) and Brett et al. boundary (Helderberg Group; Hall et al. 1859). (1990). These units were deposited in a shallow shelf envi- ronment in the Appalachian foreland basin during the Acadian orogeny (Bradley et al. 2000; Ebert & Becraft, Alsen and Port Ewen formations (Fig. 2). It Matteson 2003; Ver Straeten 2004, 2009). At that is underlain by the Rondout Formation and overlain time, New York was positioned along the southeast- by the Oriskany or Glenerie Formation of the Tris- ern margin of Laurentia, approximately 30° south of tates Group. Deposition of the Helderberg Group the palaeoequator (Fig. 1). The lithology is domi- was interrupted by a number of major unconformi- nated by carbonates, but some units in the middle ties (Kleffner et al. 2009; fig. 2, and references and upper Helderberg Group show increased silici- therein), and it was terminated by the Wallbridge clastic input, and also episodic volcanic input from Unconformity, which is a regionally angular uncon- the active margin (Ver Straeten 2004). Helderberg formity that marks the Tippecanoe–Kaskaskia Group strata crop out in a narrow belt in central sequence boundary in the Appalachian Basin (Sloss New York, extending from just west of Syracuse to 1963; Hamilton-Smith 1993). Albany and then southward towards the New Jersey– The Helderberg Group includes a general repeti- Pennsylvania border. This is part of the classic New tion of facies (skeletal limestones–cherty carbonates– York Devonian which has been studied since the increasingly shaly carbonates) in the six formations mid-19th century (e.g. Hall et al. 1859; Rickard above the Manlius Formation. The Manlius Forma- 1962; Laporte 1969). tion is a mosaic of very shallow water, peritidal car- In New York, the Helderberg Group is composed bonates with some stromatoporoid build-ups, of the Manlius, Coeymans, Kalkberg, New Scotland, except for the informal ‘Green Vedder Member’ (i.e. 346 McAdams et al. LETHAIA 51 (2018) Sys- Se- with the New Scotland Formation partially equiva- Formation Member lent to the Becraft Formation, the Becraft partially tem ries Stage Group equivalent to the Alsen Formation and the Alsen Pr. Port partially equivalent to the Port Ewen Formation Ewen (Rickard 1962; fig. 27). However, new interpreta- tions of the lower Helderberg Group, including the Alsen recognition of