Early to Middle Devonian granitic and volcanic rocks from the central Gulf of Maine
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
10-1-2011
Abstract
Cashes Ledge igneous suite in the central Gulf of Maine is represented by 10 granitic and two felsic tuff samples collected from bedrock outcrops using the submersible Alvin in 1971-1972 and archived at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Laser ablation ICP-MS analyses of zircon grains yielded crystallization ages of 414.9±1.1Ma and 399.7±1.5Ma for two alkali feldspar granite samples, 407.0±1.9Ma for a syenogranite sample, and 384.4±2.3Ma and 383.9±1.6Ma for two felsic tuff samples. The samples contain iron-rich mafic minerals, including aegirine-augite, grunerite/ferroedenite, and annite. Most of the samples are alkaline to slightly peralkaline, with high concentrations of SiO2, Y, Zr, Nb, and REE, strong negative Eu anomalies, and positive epsilon Nd values (1.8 to 3.7). The suite resembles part of a belt of similar Silurian-Devonian rocks with ages between 426 and 370Ma now recognized in the central part of Avalonia in southeastern New England. They formed in a long-lived, likely extensional regime linked to subduction and subsequent complex transcurrent motions among Ganderia, Avalonia, and Meguma, culminating in the closure of the Rheic Ocean. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Lithos
Volume
126
Issue
3-4
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Barr, Sandra M., James K. Mortensen, Margaret D. Thompson, O. D. Hermes, and Chris E. White. "Early to Middle Devonian granitic and volcanic rocks from the central Gulf of Maine." Lithos 126, 3-4 (2011). doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2011.06.009.