Rb-Sr whole-rock and 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages of the Togus and Hallowell quartz monzonite and Three Mile Pond granodiorite plutons,South-Central Maine: Their bearing on post-Acadian cooling history

Generally synmetamorphic granitic stocks intrude high-grade, Silurian-lowermost Devonian metasedimentary rocks near Augusta, Maine. Rb-Sr whole-rock isochrons (8 points each) define mutually overlapping crystallization ages of 394±8 m.y. (Togus quartz monzonite), 387±11 m.y. (Hallowell quartz monzonite), and 381±14 m.y. (Three Mile Pond biotite granodiorite), thereby providing a narrow chronologic bracket for Acadian tectonothermal activity in the area. Igneous hornblende, muscovite, and biotite display internally concordant ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age spectra with plateau dates of 350 m.y. (hornblende) and 300-265 m.y. (muscovite and biotite), with an overall southwestward younging trend. The mineral dates are similar to those recorded in adjacent portions of the regional metamorphic terrain and suggest a prolonged postmagmatic cooling which closely followed the diachronous northeast-southwest post-Acadian cooling of the country rocks. No evidence for a distinct Permian thermal overprint of older isotopic systems has been observed.