Geochronology and geochemistry of zircon from Early to Middle Devonian granitic and felsic volcanic rocks from the Cashes Ledge igneous suite, central Gulf of Maine, USA

Authors

  • Yvette D. Kuiper Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8506-8180
  • Sandra M. Barr Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6, Canada
  • James L. Crowley Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725-1535, USA
  • A. Kate Souders U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Denver, 80225 Colorado, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2023.005

Abstract

New zircon U–Pb, trace element, and Lu–Hf laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data are presented for five Early to Middle Devonian granitic and felsic volcanic rocks from the Cashes Ledge igneous suite, central Gulf of Maine, USA. These samples were previously analyzed by U–Pb LA-ICP-MS and whole-rock geochemical methods and the new data generally corroborate the earlier results. Coarse-grained alkali-feldspar granite from northwest of the Fundy magnetic anomaly, the interpreted fault boundary in the offshore between Gondwanan microcontinents Ganderia to the northwest and Avalonia to the southeast, yielded a crystallization age of 414 ± 2 Ma. Southeast of the inferred fault, crystallization ages are 385 ± 3 Ma and 386 ± 3 Ma for two crystal tuff samples near the fault, 403 ± 3 Ma for an alkali-feldspar granite ~50 km southeast of the fault, and 399 ± 5 Ma for syenogranite ~25 km southeast of the fault, which also yielded inherited grains at ~1.3 Ga and between 613 ± 15 Ma and 558 ± 9 Ma. Lu–Hf LA-ICP-MS data for zircon retaining igneous crystallization ages have εHf(t) between 2.9 and 13.1 and model ages based on felsic sources between 0.52 and 1.04 Ga, reflecting a mix of late Mesoproterozoic (Avalonian?) basement and primitive melt, possibly in an extensional setting. Zircon Nb/Hf ratios generally greater than 0.001 indicate a predominately within-plate/anorogenic/rift setting, consistent with their whole-rock chemistry. U/Yb-Nb/Yb and U/Yb-Hf tectonic setting discrimination diagrams show ocean island to continental arc signatures, with a stronger continental arc signature for the syenogranite. Most zircon grains have Eu/Eu* values less than 0.1, indicating a crustal thickness of ~30 km or less at the time of their crystallization.

Author Biography

Yvette D. Kuiper, Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

Dr. Yvette D. Kuiper is an Associate Professor of structural geology at the Colorado School of Mines. She earned a M.Sc. (incl. B.Sc.) at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 1997, and a Ph.D. at the University of New Brunswick in Canada in 2004. She was a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo in Canada from 2003 to 2005. She then was Assistant Professor, at Boston College from 2006 to 2011, after which she joined the Colorado School of Mines. Her research is mostly field based and is focused on structural geology and tectonic processes. Current research areas include the Colorado Front Range, the northern Appalachians and Morocco.

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2023-07-04

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Kuiper, Y. D., Barr, S. M., Crowley, J. L., & Souders, A. K. (2023). Geochronology and geochemistry of zircon from Early to Middle Devonian granitic and felsic volcanic rocks from the Cashes Ledge igneous suite, central Gulf of Maine, USA. Atlantic Geoscience, 59, 109–121. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2023.005

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