U-Pb Detrital Zircon Signature of the Ouachita Orogenic Belt
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U-PB DETRITAL ZIRCON SIGNATURE OF THE OUACHITA OROGENIC BELT By PRESTON REEVES McGUIRE Bachelor of Arts, 2014 Western State Colorado University Gunnison, Colorado Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The College of Science and Engineering Texas Christian University In partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN GEOLOGY May 2017 Copyright by Preston Reeves McGuire 2017 Acknowledgements I would like to gratefully acknowledge the help, support, and extreme generosity of all individuals and universities while working on the project. I would first like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Xianyang Xie, for giving me this opportunity to study under his guidance. His enthusiasm has kept me motivated and excited about this project during the course of my stay at TCU. I could not have asked for a better advisor who was as dedicated and inspiring as Dr. Xie was. I would also like to thank my other thesis advisors, Dr. Helge Alsleben and Dr. Elizabeth Petrie, for their helpful criticisms and inputs. Their support and critiques during my research were very much appreciated. Secondly, I would like to thank the help of the other geology departments that graciously offered their facilities and assistance in helping me complete this project: Dr. Fan and the University of Texas at Arlington, Dr. William Griffin and the University of Texas at Dallas, and Dr. George Gehrels and Dr. Mark Pecha at the University of Arizona. I would like to thank Dr. William Thomas for his thoughtful input and assistance. Without his input, this project would have been incredibly more difficult. Thank you for the guidance. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends. This would not have been possible without the unconditional love and support from my other half, Emily, and my parents, Jane and Reeves McGuire. Finally, I have to thank the great friends I have made here at TCU: John Williams, John Weiss, Ali Gomez, Tyler Howe, and Robert White. You guys made my time here at TCU and created memories that will last a lifetime. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………....ii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………...v LIST OF TABLES…………………..…………………………………………………...v INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 Motivation and Goal of Study................................................................................................ 1 Previous Studies ..................................................................................................................... 2 GEOLOGIC SETTING .................................................................................................... 2 Tectonic History..................................................................................................................... 2 Stratigraphy of the Ouachita Trough system ......................................................................... 3 Latest Precambrian – Ordovician .............................................................................................. 3 Silurian – Mississippian ............................................................................................................ 4 Mississippian – Late Pennsylvanian .......................................................................................... 5 METHODS ......................................................................................................................... 5 Sampling and Unit Descriptions ............................................................................................ 5 U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology ....................................................................................... 8 NORTH AMERICAN DETRITAL ZIRCON SOURCES .......................................... 10 Archean and Paleoproterozoic (>1800 Ma) ......................................................................... 10 Late Paleoproterozoic (1600-1800 Ma) ............................................................................... 10 Early Mesoproterozoic (1300-1500 Ma) ............................................................................. 11 Middle-Late Mesoproterozoic (950-1250 Ma) .................................................................... 11 Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic (~500-800 Ma) ............................................................. 12 Paleozoic (320-500 Ma) ....................................................................................................... 12 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 12 Ordovician Crystal Mountain Sandstone ............................................................................. 13 Ordovician Blakely Sandstone ............................................................................................. 13 Ordovician Womble Shale ................................................................................................... 13 Ordovician Polk Creek Formation ....................................................................................... 14 Silurian Blaylock Sandstone ................................................................................................ 14 Mississippian Hot Spring Sandstone ................................................................................... 14 Mississippian Stanley Group ............................................................................................... 15 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 15 DISCUSSIONS................................................................................................................. 15 Sedimentation to the Ouachita trough .................................................................................. 15 Ouachita Detrital Zircon Signature ...................................................................................... 18 Broader implications of regional sediment dispersal in the southern mid-continent region 20 Arkoma Basin Comparison ..................................................................................................... 21 Marathon Basin Comparison ................................................................................................... 22 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 23 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 25 FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... 32 Tables ................................................................................................................................ 41 APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................... 42 Tables: U-Pb Detrital Zircon Geochronology Data ............................................................. 42 Concordia Plots .................................................................................................................... 43 VITA ABSTRACT List of Figures 1. Tectonic Setting and Study Area.............................................................................................33 2. Stratigraphic and Lithologic Column.......................................................................................34 3. Sample Location Map…..........................................................................................................35 4. Pre-Mesozoic Age Belts of North America.............................................................................36 5. Relative Age Probability Plot with Histogram........................................................................37 6. Normalized Age Probability Plot.............................................................................................38 7. Comparison Plot………………..............................................................................................39 8. Comparison Plot Excluding Grenville.....................................................................................40 9. Zipper Like Model………………...........................................................................................41 List of Tables 1. Sample Locations………………………………….…………………………………………42 2. Major age province percentages found in Ouachita samples..………………………………42 v INTRODUCTION Motivation and Goal of Study During the Mississippian period, a major collision between Gondwana and Laurentia formed the Ouachita orogen, shifting the most active tectonism on the Laurentian continent from the Appalachian orogen to this area (Viele and Thomas, 1989). The Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas, and the Marathon thrust belt in Texas are the only two exposures of the Ouachita orogenic belt (Keller and Cebull, 1973). In both areas, the pre-Mississippian passive margin sediments of southern Laurentia have been uplifted and provide a perfect window to study this ancient orogenic belt (Fig. 1). These uplifted passive margin strata of the Ouachita orogen have been pointed to as a major sediment source in North America from the Pennsylvanian to the early Cretaceous (Thomas, 1985; Viele and Thomas, 1989; Gleason et al., 2007; Dickinson and Gehrels, 2009; Soreghan and Soreghan, 2013; Blum and Pecha, 2014). However, no systematic dataset