Transpression,extrusion, partitioning,and lateral escape in the middle crust: Significance of structures,fabrics, and kinematics in the Bronson Hill zone,southern New England,U.S.A.

Fabrics in the mid-crustal Bronson Hill zone of the southern New England Appalachian orogen record a range of apparent finite strains and conflicting kinematics, but structural relationships indicate coeval development. At the smallest scale of this study, shortening was accommodated in granitic orthogneiss, while transcurrent deformation was partitioned into relatively thin zones of metastratified rocks along the margins. The Monson orthogneiss can be broadly characterized by subvertical to steeply dipping S > L tectonites, subvertical to subhorizontal stretching lineations, closed to isoclinal folds, and dextral/reverse kinematics. The east-bounding Conant Brook shear zone and Greenwich syncline are characterized by steeply dipping mylonitic foliations, a range of lineations, and dextral/reverse kinematic indicators. The west-bounding Mt. Dumplin high strain zone is comprised of steeply dipping mylonites, subhorizontal lineations, and sinistral/normal kinematics. These structures reflect coeval partitioned dextral transpression, vertical extrusion, and north-directed lateral escape of the orthogneiss that was facilitated by bounding conjugate shear zones. Comparison of structural subdomains with transpressional modeling indicates vertical pseudo-monoclinic to inclined triclinic coaxial to simple shear influenced transpression. Compatibility between laterally adjacent subdomains was maintained by meso-/microscale partitioning. Absolute and relative timing constraints show that transpression was sustained from 330 Ma to 300 Ma.     

Deformation conditions, kinematics, and displacement history of shallow crustal ductile shearing in the Norumbega fault system in the Northern Appalachians, eastern Maine

The Norumbega fault system in the Northern Appalachians in eastern Maine experienced complex post-Acadian ductile and brittle deformation from middle through late Paleozoic times. Well-preserved epizonal ductile shear zones in Fredericton belt metasedimentary rocks and granitic batholiths that intrude them provide valuable information on the nature, geometry, and evolution of orogen-parallel strike-slip Norumbega faulting. Metasedimentary rocks were ductilely sheared into phyllonite schistose mylonite, whereas granite into mylonite within the ductile shear zones. Ductile shearing took place at conditions of the lower greenschist facies with peak temperatures on the order of 300–350° based on comparison of plastic quartz and brittle feldspar microstructures, confirming a shallow crustal environment during faulting.Ductile shear strain was partitioned into two major shear zones in easternmost Maine—the Waite and Kellyland zones—but these zones converge toward the southwest. Megascopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic kinematic indicators confirm that fault motion in both zones was dominantly dextral strike-slip. Detailed mapping, especially in the plutonic rocks, reveals a complex ductile deformation history in the area where the Waite and Kellyland zones converge. Shear strain is broadly distributed in the rocks between Kellyland and Waite zones, and increases toward their junction. Multiple dextral high-strain zones oblique to both zones resemble megascopic synthetic c′ shear bands. Together with the Kellyland and Waite master shear zones, these define a megascopic S–C′ structure system produced in a regional-scale dextral strike-slip shear duplex that developed in the transition zone between the deeper (south-central Maine) and shallower (eastern Maine) segments of the Norumbega fault system.Granite plutons caught within the strike-slip shear duplex were intensely sheared and progressively smeared into long and narrow slivers identified by this study. The western lobe of the Deblois pluton and the Lucerne pluton have been recognized as the sources, respectively of the Third Lake Ridge and Morrison Ridge granite slivers. Restoration of both granite slivers to their presumed original positions yields approximately 25 km of dextral strike-slip displacement along only the Kellyland and synthetic ductile shear zones.     

Diffusion creep and partial melting in high temperature mylonitic gneisses, Hope Valley shear zone, New England Appalachians, USA

Field, petrographic, microstructural and isotopic studies of mylonitic gneisses and associated pegmatites along the Hope Valley shear zone in southern Rhode Island indicate that late Palaeozoic deformation (c. 275 Ma) in this zone occurred at very high temperatures (>650 °C). High‐energy cuspate/lobate phase boundary microstructures, a predominance of equant to sub‐equant grains with low internal lattice strain, and mixed phase distributions indicate that diffusion creep was an important and possibly predominant deformation mechanism. Field and petrographic evidence are consistent with the presence of an intergranular melt phase during deformation, some of which collected into syntectonic pegmatites. Rb/Sr isotopic analyses of tightly sampled pegmatites and wall rocks confirm that the pegmatites were derived as partial melts of the immediately adjacent, isotopically heterogeneous mylonitic gneisses. The presence of syntectonic interstitial melts is inferred to have permitted a switch from dislocation creep to melt‐enhanced diffusion creep as the dominant mechanism in these relatively coarse‐grained mylonitic gneisses (200–500 µm syn‐deformational grain size). A switch to diffusion creep would lead to significant weakening, and may explain why the Hope Valley shear zone evolved into a major regional tectonic boundary. This work identifies conditions under which diffusion creep operates in naturally deformed granitic rocks and illuminates the deformation processes involved in the development of a tectonic boundary between two distinct Late Proterozoic (Avalonian) basement terranes.     

Deep in the Heart of Dixie: Pre-Alleghanian Eclogite and HP Granulite Metamorphism in the Carolina Terrane, South Carolina, USA

The central part of the Carolina terrane in western South Carolina comprises a 30 to 40 km wide zone of high grade gneisses that are distinct from greenschist facies metavolcanic rocks of the Carolina slate belt (to the SE) and amphibolite facies metavolcanic and metaplutonic rocks of the Charlotte belt (to the NW). This region, termed the Silverstreet domain, is characterized by penetratively deformed felsic gneisses, granitic gneisses, and amphibolites. Mineral assemblages and textures suggest that these rocks formed under high‐pressure metamorphic conditions, ranging from eclogite facies through high‐P granulite to upper amphibolite facies. Mafic rocks occur as amphibolite dykes, as metre‐scale blocks of coarse‐grained garnet‐clinopyroxene amphibolite in felsic gneiss, and as residual boulders in deeply weathered felsic gneiss. Inferred omphacite has been replaced by a vermicular symplectite of sodic plagioclase in diopside, consistent with decompression at moderate to high temperatures and a change from eclogite to granulite facies conditions. All samples have been partially or wholly retrograded to amphibolite assemblages. We infer the following P‐T‐t history: (1) eclogite facies P‐T conditions at ≥ 1.4 GPa, 650–730 °C (2) high‐P granulite facies P‐T conditions at 1.2–1.5 GPa, 700–800 °C (3) retrograde amphibolite facies P‐T conditions at 0.9–1.2 GPa and 720–660 °C. This metamorphic evolution must predate intrusion of the 415 Ma Newberry granite and must postdate formation of the Charlotte belt and Slate belt arcs (620 to 550 Ma). Comparison with other medium temperature eclogites and high pressure granulites suggests that these assemblages are most likely to form during collisional orogenesis. Eclogite and high‐P granulite facies metamorphism in the Silverstreet domain may coincide with a ≈570–535 Ma event documented in the western Charlotte belt or to a late Ordovician‐early Silurian event. The occurrence of these high‐P assemblages within the Carolina terrane implies that, prior to this event, the western Carolina terrane (Charlotte belt) and the eastern Carolina terrane (Carolina Slate belt) formed separate terranes. The collisional event represented by these high‐pressure assemblages implies amalgamation of these formerly separate terranes into a single composite terrane prior to its accretion to Laurentia.     

Prograde and retrograde history of eclogites from the Eastern Blue Ridge, North Carolina, USA

Abstract The prograde metamorphism of eclogites is typically obscured by chemical equilibration at peak conditions and by partial requilibration during retrograde metamorphism. Eclogites from the Eastern Blue Ridge of North Carolina retain evidence of their prograde path in the form of inclusions preserved in garnet. These eclogites, from the vicinity of Bakersville, North Carolina, USA are primarily comprised of garnet–clinopyroxene–rutile–hornblende–plagioclase–quartz. Quartz, clinopyroxene, hornblende, rutile, epidote, titanite and biotite are found as inclusions in garnet cores. Included hornblende and clinopyroxene are chemically distinct from their matrix counterparts. Thermobarometry of inclusion sets from different garnets record different conditions. Inclusions of clinozoisite, titanite, rutile and quartz (clinozoisite + titanite = grossular + rutile + quartz + H₂O) yield pressures (6–10 kbar, 400–600 °C and 8–12 kbar 450–680 °C) at or below the minimum peak conditions from matrix phases (10–13 kbar at 600–800 °C). Inclusions of hornblende, biotite and quartz give higher pressures (13–16 kbar and 630–660 °C). Early matrix pyroxene is partially or fully broken down to a diopside–plagioclase symplectite, and both garnet and pyroxene are rimmed with plagioclase and hornblende. Hypersthene is found as a minor phase in some diopside + plagioclase symplectites, which suggests retrogression through the granulite facies. Two‐pyroxene thermometry of this assemblage gives a temperature of c. 750 °C. Pairing the most Mg‐rich garnet composition with the assemblage plagioclase–diopside–hypersthene–quartz gives pressures of 14–16 kbar at this temperature. The hornblende–plagioclase–garnet rim–quartz assemblage yields 9–12 kbar and 500–550 °C. The combined P–T data show a clockwise loop from the amphibolite to eclogite to granulite facies, all of which are overprinted by a texturally late amphibolite facies assemblage. This loop provides an unusually complete P–T history of an eclogite, recording events during and following subduction and continental collision in the early Palaeozoic.     

Mantle petrology and mineralogy of the Thetford Mines Ophiolite Complex

The Ordovician Thetford Mines ophiolite complex (TMOC) formed by boninite-fed seafloor-spreading, probably in a fore-arc environment. The mantle section is dominated by foliated harzburgite (≤ 5–6% clinopyroxene), cut by dunitic (± chromitite cores) and orthopyroxenitic veins and dykes. Contrasting structures, textures and mineral compositions allow us to subdivide the mantle. The granular-textured rocks of the Duck Lake Block (DLB) have two steeply-dipping foliations. The older foliation strikes NW, is sub-perpendicular to the Moho, and is interpreted to have resulted from upflow of the asthenosphere beneath the spreading ridge. This fabric is overprinted by a 2nd ductile foliation striking ENE, oriented sub-parallel to the Moho, which we interpreted as having formed by crust–mantle shear as the lithosphere migrated away from the spreading ridge. The DLB mantle has a limited range of spinel Cr# (100Cr / (Cr + Al) = 51–71). Comparison with experimentally determined residual spinel compositions (equilibrium melting) implies a maximum loss of 27–38% melt if the protolith had a fertile MORB mantle composition. However, interstitial-textured clinopyroxene may have high TiO₂ (< 0.04wt.%) and Na₂O (< 0.27wt.%), and some interstitial spinel has higher TiO₂ (< 0.09wt.%), suggesting interaction with (or crystallization from) an “impregnating” melt. Interstitial tremolitic amphibole also indicates the passage of late hydrous fluids. The harzburgite in the Caribou Mountain Block (CMB) has a porphyroclastic texture, with a strong, locally mylonitic foliation striking roughly N–S, parallel to the orientation of seafloor-spreading related paleo-normal faults in the crust. These fabrics and textures imply a colder, lithospheric deformation, possibly related to tectonic denudation (oceanic core complex). This would explain problematic lava/mantle contacts, favour infiltration of seawater, serpentinization, and reduced fO₂ conditions. The CMB mantle shows a wider range of mineral compositions than the DLB, with spinel Cr# (28–86) implying ≤ 15–45% of equilibrium melting. Locally higher TiO₂ in spinel (< 0.05wt.%) and clinopyroxene (< 0.11wt.%), a local rimward decrease in spinel Cr#, clinopyroxene Cr#, and olivine Fo-content, and traces of interstitial amphibole, are attributed to the circulation of an evolved hydrous melt during peridotite deformation. This suggests that the lower limit to the extent of melting inferred for the CMB (15%), established on the basis of Al-rich spinel rims and neoblasts, is probably too low. On the other hand, the higher inferred degree of depletion of the CMB is probably unaffected by the metasomatic overprint and is a more robust conclusion.     

Source contributions to Devonian granite magmatism near the Laurentian border, New Hampshire and Western Maine, USA

Radiogenic isotope data (initial Nd, Pb) and elemental concentrations for the Mooselookmeguntic igneous complex, a suite of mainly granitic intrusions in New Hampshire and western Maine, are used to evaluate petrogenesis and crustal variations across a mid-Paleozoic suture zone. The complex comprises an areally subordinate monzodiorite suite [377±2 Ma; ε_Nd (at 370 Ma)=−2.7 to −0.7; initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=15.56–15.58] and an areally dominant granite [370±2 Ma; ε_Nd (at 370 Ma)=−7.0 to −0.6; initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb=15.55–15.63]. The granite contains meter-scale enclaves of monzodiorite, petrographically similar to but older than that of the rest of the complex [389±2 Ma; ε_Nd (at 370 Ma)=−2.6 to +0.3; initial ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb 15.58, with one exception]. Other granite complexes in western Maine and New Hampshire are 30 Ma older than the Mooselookmeguntic igneous complex granite, but possess similar isotopic signatures.

Derivation of the monzodioritic rocks of the Mooselookmeguntic igneous complex most likely occurred by melting of Bronson Hill belt crust of mafic to intermediate composition. The Mooselookmeguntic igneous complex granites show limited correlation of isotopic variations with elemental concentrations, precluding any significant presence of mafic source components. Given overlap of initial Nd and Pb isotopic compositions with data for Central Maine belt metasedimentary rocks, the isotopic heterogeneity of the granites may have been produced by melting of rocks in this crustal package or through a mixture of metasedimentary rocks with magmas derived from Bronson Hill belt crust.

New data from other granites in western Maine include Pb isotope data for the Phillips pluton, which permit a previous interpretation that leucogranites were derived from melting heterogeneous metasedimentary rocks of the Central Maine belt, but suggest that granodiorites were extracted from sources more similar to Bronson Hill belt crust. Data for the Redington pluton are best satisfied by generation from sources in either the Bronson Hill belt or Laurentian basement. Based on these data, we infer that Bronson Hill belt crust was more extensive beneath the Central Maine belt than previously recognized and that mafic melts from the mantle were not important to genesis of Devonian granite magma.     

Basement massifs in the Appalachians: their role in deformation during the Appalachian Orogenies

Basement is constituted of rocks which belong to a previous orogenic cycle which have been reactivated and incorporated into a younger cycle. Basement massifs may be classified according to their relative position in an orogen as external or internal massifs. They may also be categorized according to their role in deformation, as thrust-related, fold-related and composite massifs. All Appalachian external massifs were transported following their removal from the overridden edge of the ancient North American continental margin. Most of the internal massifs are also probably transported, but several (Pine Mountain and Sauratown Mountains) may be present as windows exposing parautochthonous basement beneath the main thrust sheet. The latter reside immediately west of the low (west) to high (east) gravity gradient which probably outlines the old edge of Grenvillian crust. Reactivated crustal material generated during early Palaeozoic orogeny plays the same mechanical role in reactivation as basement from the previous Grenville cycle. The domes of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium cored with Ordovician or older gneisses illustrate this behaviour. Basement (Grenville) massifs are distributed throughout the Appalachians as a belt of external massifs (Blue Ridge, Reading Prong, Hudson and Berkshire Highlands, Green Mountains, and Long Range Mountains) along the western edge of the crystalline metamorphic core. Additionally, internal massifs are also present (Pine Mountain belt, Tallulah Falls and Toxaway domes, Sauratown Mountains anticlinorium, State Farm gneiss dome, Baltimore Gneiss domes, Mine Ridge anticline, and Chain Lakes massif). Basement internal massifs probably served to localize thrusts by causing them to ramp over and around the massifs. Their antiformal shape may in part be as much related to thrust mechanics as to folding.