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Research Paper GEOSPHERE Detrital zircons and sediment dispersal in the Appalachian foreland GEOSPHERE; v. 13, no. 6 William A. Thomas1, George E. Gehrels2, Stephen F. Greb3, Gregory C. Nadon4, Aaron M. Satkoski5, and Mariah C. Romero6 1Emeritus, University of Kentucky, and Geological Survey of Alabama, P. O. Box 869999, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35486-6999, USA doi:10.1130/GES01525.1 2Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA 3Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0107, USA 4 12 figures; 3 supplemental files Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979, USA 5Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1692, USA 6Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA CORRESPONDENCE: geowat@uky .edu CITATION: Thomas, W.A., Gehrels, G.E., Greb, S.F., Nadon, G.C., Satkoski, A.M., and Romero, M.C., 2017, Detrital zircons and sediment dispersal in the Appala ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION chian foreland: Geosphere, v. 13, no. 6, p. 2206–2230, doi:10.1130/GES01525.1. Seven new detrital-zircon U-Pb age analyses along with a compilation The late Paleozoic Appalachian orogen along eastern North America (Fig. 1) of previously published data from Mississippian–Permian sandstones in the long has been recognized as the dominant source of clastic sediment spread- Received 6 March 2017 Appalachian foreland (total n = 3564) define the provenance of Alleghanian ing cratonward into orogenic foreland basins (e.g., King, 1959; Thomas, 1977) Revision received 10 July 2017 Accepted 27 September 2017 synorogenic clastic wedges, as well as characterize the detritus available to and beyond, into intracratonic basins and farther across the North American Published online 19 October 2017 any more extensive intracontinental dispersal systems. The samples are from Midcontinent (e.g., Gehrels et al., 2011). The late Paleozoic orogen represents the cratonward-prograding Mauch Chunk–Pottsville clastic wedge centered the final assembly of supercontinent Pangaea as a result of a succession of on the Pennsylvania salient, the cratonward-prograding Pennington-Lee clas- Ordo vician–Permian (Taconic, Acadian, and Alleghanian) accretionary pro- tic wedge centered on the Tennessee salient, and a southwestward- directed cesses along the Neoproterozoic–Cambrian Iapetan rifted margin of Lauren- longitudinal fluvial system along the distal part of the foreland. Grenville-age tia and the Cambrian–Ordovician passive margin (e.g., Hatcher et al., 1989a; detrital zircons generally are abundant in all samples; however, ages of Williams, 1995). The orogen includes the Precambrian Grenville province of the Taconic and Acadian orogenies are dominant in some samples but are supercontinent Rodinia assembly, synrift and passive-margin rocks of the minor to lacking in others. Taconic–Acadian ages are dominant in the Mauch Laurentian margin, and Ordovician through Permian synorogenic rocks and Chunk–Pottsville clastic wedge, in parts of the longitudinal system, and in accreted terranes of the Appalachian and Ouachita orogenic belts (Fig. 1). The the upper part (above Middle Pennsylvanian) of the Pennington-Lee clastic objectives of this article are to characterize the detrital-zircon populations of wedge; but they are minor to lacking in the lower part (Upper Mississippian– the late Paleozoic synorogenic clastic wedges within the Appalachian foreland Lower Pennsylvanian) of the Pennington-Lee clastic wedge. New Hf isotopic and to evaluate the contributions of the various components of the prove- analy ses show a similar distinction between the two clastic wedges, sup- nance within the Appalachian orogen. This characterization of Appalachian porting an interpretation of differences in provenance contributions during detrital-zircon populations provides a template to determine possible Appala- the early stages of basin filling. U-Pb ages and Hf isotopic ratios also indicate chian contributions to more distal intracontinental dispersal systems. that the Mauch Chunk–Pottsville transverse dispersal fed the northern part of the longi tudinal system. A few samples in the distal southwestern part of LATE PALEOZOIC SYNOROGENIC SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS the Mauch Chunk–Pottsville clastic wedge and adjacent parts of the longitu- dinal system have unusually large populations of grains with Superior and Mississippian–Permian Alleghanian synorogenic clastic deposits vary sig- Central Plains ages. The relative distance and isolation of these samples from nificantly along the orogen. Between the New York and Alabama promontories, the Cana dian Shield, which is the primary source of Superior and Central two late Paleozoic classic synorogenic clastic wedges filled foreland basins cen- Plains zircons, indicates likely recycling from synrift sediment, passive-mar- tered on the Pennsylvania and Tennessee embayments (Fig. 2). From the New gin strata, or Taconic–Acadian clastic wedges. Among the lesser components York promontory northward to Newfoundland, late Paleozoic clastic sedimenta- are a few grains with ages that correspond to Iapetan synrift igneous rocks tion along the Appalachian orogen filled fault-bounded pull-apart basins along and also to Pan-African–Brasiliano components of Gondwanan accreted ter- a regional system of dextral strike-slip faults (Fig. 1) (e.g., Thomas and Schenk, For permission to copy, contact Copyright ranes. Synorogenic zircons of the Alleghanian orogeny are very rare (seven 1988; van de Poll, 1995). From the Alabama promontory westward along the Permissions, GSA, or [email protected]. grains in the total of 3564). Ouachita and Marathon embayments, late Paleozoic synorogenic clastic wedges © 2017 Geological Society of America GEOSPHERE | Volume 13 | Number 6 Thomas et al. | Appalachian detrital zircons Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/13/6/2206/3990899/2206.pdf 2206 by guest on 23 September 2021 Research Paper 90W 80W 70W 60W Newfoundland50N EXPLANATION embaymen Appalachian-Ouachita thrust front t Appalachian basement (Grenville) massifs outline of Ouachita late Paleozoic clastic wedges Ganderia faults within late Paleozoic Maritimes basin 55W boundaries of Gondwanan accreted terranes Avalonia 50N SUPERIOR GRENVILLE 45N outline of Acadian clastic wedge St. Lawrence outline of Taconic clastic wedges promontory maximum thickness in Taconic clastic wedges transformIapetan rifted margin of Laurentia M.R. Meguma Quebec (palinspastic location) Ganderia embaymen rift t synrift intracratonic basement faults 45N GRENVILLE FRONT 60W PENOKEAN 65W 100W 95W 40N 105W CENTRAL New 40N Yo PLAINS promontoryrk GRANITE- Pennsylvania RHYOLITE embaymen t B.R. 70W nia Virginia 35N 35N promontory Caroli Tennessee embayment Ouachit 75W embaymen 80W GRENVILLE FRONT Suwannee a Figure 1. Regional map of potential provenance elements in the Appalachian orogen in eastern 30N 30N North America: Precambrian provinces of the craton (modified from Van Schmus et al., 1993); Alabama Iapetan rift margin and synrift intracratonic faults of Laurentia, which outline the locations of 105W t promontory synrift igneous and sedimentary rocks, as well as the approximate trace of the passive-margin shelf edge (from Thomas, 2014); generalized outlines of Taconic and Acadian synorogenic clastic Marathon wedges (from Thomas, 1977, and references therein); boundaries of Gondwanan accreted terranes Texas (from Hibbard et al., 2007; Hatcher, 2010); trace of the Appalachian-Ouachita thrust front (compiled embaymen promontory 90W 85W from Thomas et al., 1989b; Hatcher, 2010); basement massifs of Grenville-age rocks (from Hatcher, N 2010); locations of faults within the late Paleozoic Maritimes basin in the northern Appalachians (from Thomas and Schenk, 1988; van de Poll, 1995); and outline of late Paleozoic clastic wedges t 0 200 400 600 km along the Ouachita orogen (from Thomas, 2006). Gray outline shows the location of the map in 100W 95W Figure 2. B.R.—Blue Ridge external basement massif; M.R.—Midcontinent rift system. GEOSPHERE | Volume 13 | Number 6 Thomas et al. | Appalachian detrital zircons Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/13/6/2206/3990899/2206.pdf 2207 by guest on 23 September 2021 Research Paper Mauch Chunk–Pottsville clastic wedge A PA B NW SE e 3 16 Md Penn 16 Sharp Mtn. Figure 2. (A) Map of sample sites in the 13 3 Sharon-N 13 Tumbling Run context of directions of progradation of e Lw Penn 4 Sharon-S clastic sediment within the Mauch Chunk– 14 Pottsville (blue arrows) and Penning ton- OH 7 1 Up Miss 21 Mauch Chunk–Pottsville clastic wedge Lee (red arrows) clastic wedges, as well 17-19 WV SW NE 20 clastic wedg as the Early Pennsylvanian longitudinal 4 dispersal system (green arrow). Numbers Mauch Chunk–Pottsvill Lw Penn 14 Pottsville in circles indicate new analyses reported 4 Bluestone 1 Mauch Chunk in Supplemental Table S1 and plotted in KY 11 Up Miss 3 Princeton 2 Hinton Figure 3; numbers in rectangles indicate 6 7 10 2-4 1 Stony Gap 9 published analyses (references cited in 2 1 5 VA Fig. 4 provide analytical data, location, and Pennington-Lee clastic wedge longitudinal system 6 N stratigraphic information for each sample). TN 15 The location of this map is shown by out- 7 Proctor 21 Greene Lw Perm 20 Washington S line in Figure 1. The blue barbed line shows 8 19 upper Monongahela the Appa lachian thrust front (from Fig. 1). Up Penn 18 lower