The North Caribou Greenstone Belt (NCGB) lies at the core the granitoid-dominant North Caribou Terrane (NCT). Two sedimentary assemblages; the Eyapamikama (ELS) and Zeemal-Heaton Lake (ZHA) form the core of the NCGB. Geochemistry of garnets from the orogenic Au deposit at Musselwhite suggest that the auriferous fluids have a contribution of metamorphic fluids and mineralization consisted of prolonged, multi-stage periods. Chemical zoning suggests changes in the influx of chalcophile and lithophile elements and that Au/sulphide ratios during nucleation were lower relative to later growth events. Zircons from the ELS and ZHA suggest a c. 100 My hiatus in the onset of sedimentation, with the ZHA showing younger, “Timiskaming-type” ages. Age distributions from each assemblage reflect proximal, igneous sources. Nd isotopic compositions of the ZHA suggest a mixture of ancient and contemporaneous sources which are similar to external TTG rocks. Deplete mantle model ages of the ZHA rocks indicate a Mesoarchean inheritance.

The tectonic evolution of northern Ellesmere Island is dominated by the accretion of the Pearya Terrane and the progressive reworking of materials from the Pearya Terrane and the northern Caledonides. Geochronology from a suite of seven Succession I orthogneiss samples defines a range of earliest Neoproterozoic ages from 962 ± 6 Ma to 974 ± 8 Ma. Geochemistry of both zircon and whole rock samples reveal a complex magmatic history tapping multiple sources. The rocks include both I and S type granitoids, with silica contents ranging from 62% to 73%. Trace element geochemistry reveals LILE enrichment decoupled from low to depleted HFSE values, suggestive of an origin above a subduction zone. Isotope geochemistry supports input from juvenile and evolved materials, with εNd(i) values between -1 and -4.6, and a similar range for εHf from zircon. The northern elements of the Caledonian Orogen preserve a record of magmatism in the c. 985 Ma to 920 Ma range. These ages are also observed in orthogneiss units of the south central Brooks Range and Farewell terrane, Alaska. The Pearya Terrane orthogneiss units and those currently dispersed in Alaska are interpreted to have originated near or on the eastern margin of Greenland and record post-Rodinia assembly subduction outboard of the supercontinent. Succession II (Trettin, 1987) of the Pearya Terrane represents variably metamorphosed metasedimentary rocks of Proterozoic to early Paleozoic age. These units are structurally juxtaposed with Succession I orthogneiss and Paleozoic sedimentary units of the Pearya Terrane. Detrital zircon age spectra from seven samples of Neoproterozoic meta-sedimentary rocks reveal three groups defined by observed dominant age peaks and youngest observed age populations. Group I includes three quartzite samples and contains numerous c. 1100 Ma to 1800 Ma peaks, with the youngest population at c. 1050 Ma. Two samples of immature meta-sandstone form Group II, defined by a dominant c. 970 Ma age peak. Two samples from the diamictite unit below the Deutchers Glacier thrusts form Group III, with a similar pattern of c. 1000 Ma to 1800 Ma age peaks to Group I; however, this group includes a small population of c. 600 Ma to 700 Ma grains as well. The ubiquitous Mesoproterozoic ages reflect a Grenvillian-Sveconorwegian provenance. These data are consistent with detrital zircon datasets from other North Atlantic-Arctic Caledonide terranes, reinforcing stratigraphic links between the Pearya Terrane and the northern Caledonides. The utility of the Pearya Terrane dataset is multiplied by probable links to Circum-Arctic and Cordilleran terranes, many of which contain similar populations of Mesoproterozic-aged detrital zircon. U/Pb ages and Hf isotopic data from detrital zircon suites sampled from Ordovician to Carboniferous sedimentary rock of the Pearya Terrane and northern Ellesmere Island record define the background for terranes translating along the northeastern Laurentian margin in the Paleozoic. Ordovician to Silurian clastic sediments deposited on the Pearya Terrane record pre terrane accretion provenance dominated by recycling of the metaigneous and metasedimentary Proterozoic basement as well as an Ordovician arc source. The provenance of Late Devonian sediments deposited during the Ellesmerian Orogen is dominated by similar recycled materials, with new sources derived from Paleoproterozoic domains of the Canadian-Greenland shield and documented late Devonian granitoids emplaced the Canadian Arctic Islands and Arctic Alaska. The basal Sverdrup Basin records increasing proportions of Paleoprtoerozoic and Archean aged grains relative to Mesoproterozoic ages, suggestive of increased contributions from the Laurentian craton and no little detritus exotic to Laurentia. Detrital zircon age spectra from Devonian to Carboniferous sediments in the northern Cordilleran clastic wedge and western Canadian Arctic Islands contain abundant exotic zircon likely derived from the Caledonian and Timanian Orogens. This variance of sediment provenance indicates that the eastern Canadian Arctic Island were isolated from non-Laurentian or Caledonian detritus, and that sources of the exotic Timanian zircon reconstruct farther west along the margin.

<p>This study presents new detrital zircon geochronologic data from Jurassic to Cretaceous sedimentary basins and modern rivers in south-central Alaska in order to examine the sedimentary record of magmatism and tectonics associated with the Mesozoic to Cenozoic growth of the southern Alaska convergent margin. Jurassic to Cretaceous strata of the Wrangell Mountains, Nutzotin, and Wellesly basins formed coeval with the Mesozoic accretion of the Wrangellia composite terrane (WCT) to the continental margin. New detrital zircon data from the Wrangell Mountains and Nutzotin basins demonstrate that these basins were derived primarily from sources associated with the WCT, with little to no derivation from continental margin sources. Detrital zircon ages from the Wrangell Mountains and Nutzotin basins are very similar, suggesting that these basins may have initially formed in a connected retroarc basin system. New detrital zircon data from the Wellesly basin show that the basin was source chiefly from continental margin sources. These ages show that the Wellesly basin is not related to the Nutzotin basin as previously suggested, and may be genetically related to the Kahiltna basin; this suggests that ~330-390 km of post-collisional strike-slip offset occurred along the Denali Fault. Comparing our new data with a regional detrital zircon database from similar-aged depocenters shows that there is a strong provenance and temporal link between outboard and inboard depocenters, with these depocenters being sourced from the same magmatic arcs from the late Jurassic to the late Cretaceous. Our findings from these comparisons are most consistent with a scenario where the WCT was accreted to the margin along an eastward-dipping subduction zone, in contrast to recent suggestions that the accretion was the result of westward-dipping subduction. New and previously published detrital zircon ages from the Tanana, Matanuska-Susitna, and Copper River watersheds in south-central Alaska document the major magmatic episodes that occurred along the southern Alaska convergent margin. These magmatic episodes display a periodicity that is similar to documented cyclic magmatic patterns in other regions along the Cordilleran margin, suggesting similar processes may be occurring margin-wide. The magmatic record of south-central Alaska can also be compared with the magmatic record of other regions in the northern Cordillera such as the Coast Plutonic Complex in British Columbia and the western Alaska Peninsula, which shows a spatial and temporal relationship of magmatism along the entire northern Cordilleran margin.</p>

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Sandstone modal compositions and detrital zircon U-Pb analysis of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group of the southern Gulf Coast of Texas indicate long-distance sediment transport primarily from volcanic and basement sources to the west, northwest and southwest. The Wilcox Group of south Texas represents the earliest series of major post-Cretaceous pulses of sand deposition along the western margin of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Laramide basement uplifts have long been held to be the provenance of the Wilcox Group, implying that initiation of basement uplifts was the driving factor for this transition from carbonate sedimentation to clastic deposition. To determine the provenance of the Wilcox Group and test this conventional hypothesis, 40 thin sections were point-counted using the Gazzi-Dickinson method to determine sandstone composition and 10 detrital zircon samples were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS to determine U-Pb age spectra for each of the sampled areas. Modal data for sand grain populations suggest mixed sources including basement rocks, magmatic arc rocks and subordinate sedimentary rocks for the Wilcox Group. Zircon age spectra for these sandstones reveal a complex grain assemblage derived from older sediments and crystalline rocks ranging in age from Archean to Cenozoic. Sediment was primarily derived from Laramide uplifted crystalline blocks of the central and southern Rocky Mountains, the Cordilleran arc of western North America, and arc related extrusive and intrusive igneous rock of northern Mexico. Comparisons of Upper and Lower Wilcox zircon age spectra show that more arc related material was deposited in the Lower Wilcox, whereas more basement material was deposited in the Upper Wilcox. / text

Three studies on Cordilleran foreland basin deposits in the western U.S.A. constitute this dissertation. These studies differ in scale, time and discipline. The first two studies include basin analysis, flexural modeling and detailed stratigraphic analysis of Upper Cretaceous depocenters and strata in the western U.S.A. The third study consists of detrital zircon U-Pb analysis (DZ U-Pb) and thermochronology, both zircon (U-Th)/He and apatite fission track (AFT), of Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous foreland-basin conglomerates and sandstones. Five electronic supplementary files are a part of this dissertation and are available online; these include 3 raw data files (Appendix_A_raw_isopach_data.txt, Appendix_C_DZ_Data.xls, Appendix_C_UPb_apatite.xls), 1 oversized stratigraphic cross section (Appendix_B_figure_5.pdf), and 1 figure containing apatite U-Pb concordia plots (Appendix_C_Concordia.pdf). Appendix A. Subsidence in the retroarc foreland of the North American Cordillera in the western U.S.A. has been the focus of a great deal of research, and its transition from a flexural foreland basin, during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, to a dynamically subsided basin during the Late Cretaceous has been well documented. However, the exact timing of the flexural to dynamic transition is not well constrained, and the mechanism has been consistently debated. In order to address the timing, I produced new isopach maps from ~130 well log data points that cover much of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and northern New Mexico, producing in the process, the most detailed isopach maps of the area. These isopach maps span the Turonian to mid-Campanian during the Late Cretaceous (~93–76 Ma). In conjunction with the isopach maps I flexurally modeled the Cordilleran foreland basin to identify when flexure can no longer account for the basin geometry and identified the flexural to dynamic transition to have occurred at 81 Ma. In addition, the dynamic subsidence at 81 Ma is compared to the position of the hypothesized Shatsky Oceanic Plateau and other proposed drivers of dynamic subsidence. I concluded that dynamic subsidence is likely caused by convection over the plunging nose of the Shatsky Oceanic Plateau. Appendix B. The second study is a detailed stratigraphic study of the Upper Cretaceous, (Campanian, ~76 Ma) Sego Sandstone Member of the Mesaverde Group in northwestern Colorado, an area where little research has been done on this formation. Its equivalent in the Book Cliffs area in eastern Utah has been rigorously documented and its distal progradation has been contrastingly interpreted as a result of active tectonism and shortening in the Cordilleran orogenic belt ~250 km to the west and to tectonic quiescence, flexural rebound in the thrust belt and reworking of proximal coarse grained deposits. I documented ~17 km of along depositional dip outcrops of the Sego Sandstone Member north of Rangely, Colorado. This documentation includes measured sections, paleocurrent analysis, a stratigraphic cross section, block diagrams outlining the evolution of environments of deposition through time, and paleogeographic maps correlating northwest Colorado with the Book Cliffs, Utah. The sequence stratigraphy of the Sego Sandstone Member in northwest Colorado is similar to that documented in the Book Cliffs area to the south-southwest, sharing three sequence boundaries. However, flood-tidal delta assemblages between fluvio-deltaic deposits that are present north of Rangely, Colorado are absent from the Book Cliffs area. These flood-tidal-delta assemblages are likely caused by a large scale avulsion event in the Rangely area that did not occur or was not preserved in the Book Cliffs area. In regards to tectonic models that explain distal progradation of the 76 Ma Sego Sandstone Member to be caused by tectonic quiescence and flexural rebound in the thrust belt, the first study shows that at 76 Ma, flexural processes were no longer dominant in the Cordilleran foreland, so it is inappropriate to apply models driven by flexure to the Sego Sandstone Member. Dynamic processes dominated the western U.S.A. during the Campanian, and flexural processes were subordinate. Appendix C. In order to test the tectonic vs. anti-tectonic basin-filling models for distal coarse foreland deposits mentioned above, the third study involves estimating lag times of Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous conglomerates and sandstones in the Cordilleran foreland basin. Measuring lag time requires a good understanding of both the stratigraphic age of a deposit and the thermal history of sedimentary basin. To further constrain depositional age, I present twenty-two new detrital zircon U-Pb (DZ U-Pb) sample analyses, spanning Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. Source exhumation ages can be measured using thermochronology. To identify a thermochronometer that measures source exhumation in the North America Cordillera, both zircon (U-Th)/He, on eleven samples, and apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology, on eleven samples was performed. Typically, the youngest cooling age population in detrital thermochronologic analyses is considered to be a source exhumation signal; however, whether or not these apatites are exhumed apatites or derived from young magmatic and volcanic sources has been debated. To test this, I double dated the detrital AFT samples, targeting apatites with a young cooling age, using U-Pb thermochronology. Key findings are that the maximum depositional ages using DZ U-Pb match existing biostratigraphic and geochronologic age controls on basin stratigraphy. AFT is an effective thermochronometer for Lower to Upper Cretaceous foreland stratigraphy and indicates that source material was exhumed from >4–5 km depth in the Cordilleran orogenic belt between 118 and 66 Ma, and zircon (U-Th)/He suggests that it was exhumed from <8–9 km depth. Double dating apatites (with AFT and U-Pb) indicate that volcanic contamination is a significant issue; without having UPb dating of the same apatite grains, one cannot exclude the possibility that the youngest detrital AFT population is contaminated with significant amounts of volcanogenic apatite and does not represent source exhumation. AFT lag-times are 0 to 5 Myr with relatively steady-state to slightly increasing exhumation rates. We compare our data to orogenic wedge dynamics and subsidence histories; all data shows active shortening and rapid exhumation throughout the Cretaceous. Our lag-time measurements indicate exhumation rates of ~.9–>>1 km/Myr.

No description available.

O Sistema de Nappes Carrancas compõe um sistema de nappes que circunda ao sul o Cráton do São Francisco e é formado pela Unidade Biotita Xisto e pelas formações Campestre e São Tomé das Letras do Grupo Carrancas. A Unidade Biotita Xisto contém veios de quartzo e xistosidade anastomosada e é formada por quartzo, biotita, muscovita, clorita e, localmente plagioclásio, carbonato e granada. A Formação Campestre é formada por quartzitos intercalados a filitos/xistos que variam de cloritóide filitos grafitosos, com muscovita, quartzo e turmalina e, localmente, granada a xistos com granada, estaurolita e cianita. A investigação da Unidade Biotita Xisto como autóctone em relação ao Cráton do São Francisco, seu potencial agrupamento com o Grupo Carrancas em uma megassequência deposicional, bem como sua comparação com a unidadealóctone Xisto Santo Antônio (Nappe Andrelândia) constituem parte dos objetivos deste estudo. Para tal, foram feitas análises químicas e isotópicas (Sr e Nd) em rocha total e geocronologia U-Pb em cristais de zircão detríticos, tanto na Unidade Biotita Xisto como na Formação Campestre, com intuito de elucidar a relação entre as mesmas e compará-las com dados da literatura disponíveis para o Xisto Santo Antônio. A Unidade Biotita Xisto apresenta características químicas compatíveis com sedimentos que sofreram intemperismo químico de intensidade e período de tempo moderados, depositados em ambientes de colisão continental, com área-fontecomposta essencialmente por rochas félsicas. Assinaturas de elementos traço e isotópicas de Sr ( \'ANTPOT.87 Sr\'/\'ANTPOT. 86 Sr\' entre 0,713 e 0,715) e Nd (\'\'épsilon\' IND.Nd\' entre -6 e -5) indicam contribuição de arco magmático e crosta continental e diferem, portanto, daquelas esperadas em ambientes de margempassiva. A mesma contribuição é observada para o Xisto Santo Antônio, cuja área fonte registra importante assinatura de material juvenil. As idades U-Pb LA-MC-ICP MS obtidas em cristais de zircão mostram contribuição principal de rochas do final do Criogeniano e contribuição secundária do Riaciano. A classe modal ao redor de 665 Ma é comparável com a idade cristais de zircão detrítico do Xisto Santo Antônio, o que aponta parauma mesma área-fonte principal para ambas unidades. A deposição dos sedimentos precursores da Unidade Biotita Xisto ocorreu entre 630-611 Ma, sendo as fontes principais os granulitos cálcio-alcalinos e rochas vulcânicas co-genéticas, além de granitos sin-colisionais da Nappe Socorro-Guaxupé. A pouca representatividade de idades paleoproterozóicas e a ausência de assinaturas químicas de margem passiva, inviabilizam as rochas do Cráton doSão Francisco como parte da área-fonte. Desta forma, a Unidade Biotita Xisto não é autóctone em relação ao Cráton do São Francisco, sendo, potencialmente, a unidade que compõe a frente da Nappe Andrelândia. Por outro lado, a Formação Campestre possui assinatura geoquímica de sedimentos que sofreram uma intensa reciclagem e alteração da composição do sedimento original. As assinaturas químicas de elementos traço e isotópicas Sr e Nd indicam contribuição de crosta continental superior, com componente de crosta antiga e sem afinidade com sedimentos depositados em margem passiva (\'ANTPOT.87 Sr\'/\'ANTPOT. 86 Sr\' entre 0,74 e 0,76; \'\'épsilon IND.Nd\' entre -18 e -15). Os zircões detríticos analisados forneceram idades U-Pb LA-MC-ICP-MS variadas, do Toniano ao Mesoarqueano, correlacionáveis com rochas vulcânicas e plutônicas do Cráton do São Francisco, com as faixas marginais do Cráton de Angola e/ou faixas orogênicas do Cráton Amazônico e com rochas dos arcos Mara Rosa e Goiás.A abrangência das idades U-Pb da Formação Campestre e das formações Chapada dos Pilões e Paracatu, permite a correlação, no Orógeno Brasília, entre os Grupos Carrancas e Canastra. A paleogeografia mais provável é a de um ambiente de rifte, antecessor à deriva e aoestabelecimento de uma margem continental passiva. / The Carrancas Nappe System composes a system of nappes that surround the southern margin of the São Francisco Craton and is formed by the Biotite Schist Unit and by the Campestre and São Tomé das Letras formations of the CarrancasGroup. The Biotite Schist Unit encompass quartz veins and anastomosed schistosity and is formed by quartz, biotite, muscovite, chlorite and, locally plagioclase, carbonate and garnet. The Campestre Formation is composed by interleaved quartzites and phyllite/schist that varies from graphite-chloritoid phyllites, with muscovite, quartz, tourmaline and garnet, and locally garnet schists and schists with garnet, staurolite and kyanite. The investigation of the Biotite Schist Unit as authochtonous in relation to the São Francisco Craton, it´s potencial grouping with the Carrancas Group in a deposicional megassequence, as well as it´s comparison with the allochthonous Santo Antônio Schist (Andrelândia Nappe) is part of the goals of this study. For this purpose, chemical and isotopic (Sr and Nd) whole rock analysis were obtained, along with U-Pb detrital zircon data, in the Biotite Schist Unit and also in the Campestre Formation, in order to elucidate the relationship between these units and compare them with literature data available for theSanto Antônio Schist. The Biotite Schist Unit show chemical characteristics compatible with sediments that underwent chemical weathering of moderate intensityand time, deposited in continental collision setting, with source region composed essentially by felsic rocks. Trace elements and Sr isotopic signatures ( \'ANTPOT.87 Sr\'/\'ANTPOT. 86 Sr\' between 0,713 and 0,715) and Nd (\'\'épsilon IND.Nd\' between -6 and -5) points to contribution from magmatic arc and continental crust, and are different from the expected for passive margin settings. The same contribution is observed in the Santo Antônio Schist, which source area registers an important juvenile material signature. The U-Pb LA-MC-ICP MS zircon data show major contribution from rocks of the later Cryogenian and minor contribution from the Ryacian. The modal class around 655 Ma is comparable with the U-Pb detrital zircon data from the Santo Antônio Schist, pointing to the same source area for both units. The deposition of the precursors sediment of the Biotite Schist Unit occurred between 630 - 611 Ma, and the main sources were the calk-alcaline granulites and co-genetic volcanic rocks, besides the Socorro-Guaxupé Nappe sin-collisional granites. The low representation of Paleoproterozoic ages and the absence of passive margin chemical signatures preclude the rocks of the São Francisco Craton as part of the source area. Thus, Biotite Schist Unit is not an autochthonous unit in relation to the São Francisco Craton, and is, potentially, the unit that composes the Andrelândia Nappe front. On the other hand, the Campestre Formation has geochemical signatures of sediments that underwent intense recycling and alteration of the original sediment. The trace element and Sr and Nd isotopic signatures indicates upper continental crust contribution, with older crust component and no affinity with passive margin sediments ( \'ANTPOT.87 Sr\'/\'ANTPOT. 86 Sr\' between 0,74 and 0,76; \'épsilon\' IND.Nd\' between -18 and -15). The U-Pb LA-MC-ICP MS detrital zircon data provide varied ages, from the Tonian to the Mesoarchean, correlated withvolcanic and plutonic rocks of the São Francisco Craton, with the marginal belts of the Angola Craton, and/or orogenic belts of the Amazonian Craton and with the Mara Rosa and Goiás magmatic arcs. The range of the U-Pb ages of the Campestre Formation and the Chapada dosPilões and Paracatu formations, allows the correlation, in the Brasília Orogen, of the Campestre and Canastra groups. The most likely paleogeography is that of a rift setting, before the continental drift and the establishment of a passive continental margin.