Regional Stratigraphy of North America Regional Stratigraphy of North America William J. Frazier David R. Schwimmer Columbus College Columbus, Georgia Plenum Press • New York and London Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Frazier, William J., 1946- Regional stratigraphy of North America. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Geology, Stratigraphic. 2. Geology-North America. I. Schwimmer, David R. II. Title. QE651.F75 1987 557 87-7019 ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-9005-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-1795-1 DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-1795-1 This limited facsimile edition has been issued for the purpose of keeping this title available to the scientific community. 109876543 © 1987 Plenum Press, New York A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher To Sandra and Gabriele Preface An early reviewer of this book stated that he had difficulty assessing its marketability because it "falls between the cracks" of geological literature. We have designed this book to meet a need of modem geology: namely, a single source providing both detailed and synoptic stratigraphy of the various regions of North America, through geological time. Shortly after beginning work on such a book, we realized why it had not yet been written: it required six years of effort, assimilation of an incredible amount of information, and two years' additional work to cut the volume down to publishable size. Further, by the time the final chapter was written, the fIrst few were already out of date. Nevertheless, the book lies in front of you. It is intended to serve several purposes. As a textbook, it will serve the following courses: • Regional stratigraphy • Sedimentary tectonics • Regional tectonics • Advanced historical geology • Survey-level paleontology Obviously, not all portions of the book are relevant to all of the above courses. We assume the reader will retain this book after the particular course is done, and will use it as a reference book. Hopefully, others will obtain the book solely for reference purposes. We believe it will be especially useful for the working geologist or academic geologist seeking generalized and some moderately detailed information about a region or geological time interval which is unfamiliar. Discussions herein are detailed to the formational level on an exemplar basis: that is, not all formations for a time and region are discussed, but the characteristic strata are generally explained in a paragraph and equivalent units are noted. It is hoped that the reader can fInd the depositional history of virtually any North American unit of note in this text. We omit discussions of basic principles because it is assumed the reader will have had courses in physical geology, historical geology, mineralogy, principles of stratigraphy, and at least a basic introduc­ tion to plate tectonics theory. A considerable amount of paleontology is included because many under­ graduate curricula do not require paleontology and many discussions herein involve details of bio­ stratigraphy. Then too, even a course in undergraduate invertebrate paleontology will not prepare the reader for the various elements of vertebrate history we have interwoven with the stratigraphy. One may, of course, simply read the book for a thorough survey of North American stratigraphic history, exclusive of course or reference needs. Certain discussions will undoubtedly be heavy going, and for that reason we liberally provide overviews throughout. One may skip around the text and use the overviews to reorient or summarize detail one chooses not to read. A most valuable part of this book for many readers will be the citations. We opted for a compromise between the rigorous citation format of technical papers and the general lack of citations in textbooks. Rather than cite all arguments (as in journal articles), we typically cite both classical and current references for major arguments, and assume the reader will check those sources and their citations for further in-depth reference. We have vii viii PREFACE attempted to avoid citing obscure or archaic sources, unless there is an important point to be made by the nature of such reference (e.g., the original authorship of a major idea). Specialists in many areas will undoubtedly bemoan our omissions of crucial papers: we ask indulgence and consideration of how many we found. An additional source of understandable culpability is in the scope of the book itself. Modem geology is inherently international, considering the importance of global tectonics. One may fairly ask how we dare create a sizable book dealing with the history of a single continent when all geologists realize that this slab of crust has been strongly influenced by the comings and goings of other continents, smaller terranes, and the expansions and contractions of seafloors. If we are myopic, it is for practical reasons: the book is already as large as possible. To provide a measure of the global perspective, we open most chapters with analyses of global paleogeography, showing especially which adjacent landmasses were affecting the margins of North America during the time in discussion. In addition, in subsequent discussions in text we analyze the effects of extracontinental influences on this continent's geological development. William]. Frazier David R. Schwimmer Columbus, Georgia Acknowledgments During the long course of production of this book, a great many individuals have assisted in manuscript preparation, securing literature, providing illustrations, and performing technical reviews. In figure captions we acknowledge the sources of all illustrations, so at least one group will receive a portion of the credit due. Here, we wish to thank selected individuals. For manuscript typing: Karen Jackson, Daniella Homeck, Martha White, Bonnie Edwards, and Martha Kilgore. For reproduction of text figures: Jon Haney. For literature search and acquisition: Dr. Sharon Self and Fred Smith. Many colleagues have shared ideas with us during the course of writing this manuscript, but we would especially like to thank Drs. Ronald S. Taylor, Thomas B. Hanley, Sydney W. Fox, William C. leNoir, and William Birkhead for valuable critiques during the course of research. We also wish to acknowledge the material and financial support given by Columbus College during the long course of this effort. Technical reviews were done by the following individuals, whose inclusion here does not neces­ sarily indicate agreement with all material appearing in the book, but to whom we are grateful: Chapters 2 and 3, Dr. Kent C. Condie; Chapter 4, Dr. Juergen Reinhardt; Chapter 5, Dr. Peter W. Bretsky; Chapter 6, Dr. John M. Dennison; Chapter 7, Dr. Walter H. Wheeler; Chapter 8, Dr. Kenneth A. Aalto; Chapter 9, Drs. William J. Fritz and John Attig. ix Contents CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2: The Archean 9 A. Introduction . 9 A.1. Distribution of Archean Rocks .............................. 9 A.1.a. Archean Rocks outside of North America ............... 9 A.l.b. Archean Rocks of North America ..................... 10 A.2. Problems of Archean Geology .............................. 12 B. Major Archean Lithologies .................................... 13 B.1. Greenstone Belts ......................................... 13 B.l.a. Shape ............................................ 14 B.l.b. Structure . 14 B.l.c. Stratigraphy ....................................... 17 B.2. A Digression: Weathering and Sedimentation during the Archean................................................ 21 B.2.a. Surface Temperature ................................ 22 B.2.b. Atmospheric Composition. ..... .. ... ... ........ 22 B.2.c. Weathering Processes.. ..... ..... ........... 23 B.2.d. Sedimentation. 23 B.3. High-Grade Terranes ...................................... 24 B.3.a. Isua Supracrustals: The Oldest Rocks. .......... .. .... 24 B.3.b. The Amitsoq and Uivak Gneisses. 25 B.3.c. Malene and Uperoavik Supracrustals ................... 25 B.3.d. Younger Quartzofeldspathic Gneisses. ..... .. ..... .. 26 B.3.e. Late Granites ...................................... 27 B.4. Relation of High-Grade Terranes to Greenstone Belts. .. ........ 27 C. Hypotheses on Archean Tectonics .............................. 28 C.1. "Classical" Models: The Downsagging Basin ................. 28 C.2. Uniformitarian Models. 30 C.2.a. Rift-Basin Model ................................... 30 C.2.b. Marginal-Basin/Magmatic-Arc Model .................. 31 C.3. Development of an Actualistic Mvdel ........................ 33 C.3.a. The Archean Geothermal Gradient...... .. .. ... ..... 33 C.3.b. The Primitive Stage ................................. 35 C.3.c. The Permobile Stage ................................ 36 C.3.d. The Archean-Proterozoic Boundary. .... .... .. .. 38 xi xii CONTENTS CHAPTER 3: The Proterozoic . 39 A. Introduction . 39 B. North Atlantic Craton ........................................ 39 B.1. Nagssugtoqidian Mobile Belt ............................... 40 B.2. Ketilidian Mobile Belt . 40 B.3. The Gardar Assemblage.................................... 40 C. Circum-Superior MobUe Belt .................................. 40 C.1. Southern Province ........................................ 41 C.I.a. Lower Proterozoic Strata of Southern Province ..........