Implications for late Grenvillian (Rigolet Phase) construction of Rodinia using new U-Pb data from the Mars Hill Terrane, Tennessee and North Carolina, United States

New data for zircon (external morphology, cathodoluminescence zoning, and sensitive high resolution ion microprobe [SHRIMP] U-Pb ages) from the Carvers Gap granulite gneiss of the Mars Hill terrane (Tennessee and North Carolina, United States) require reevaluation of interpretations of the age and o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2013-10, Vol.41 (10), p.1087-1090
Main Authors: Aleinikoff, John N, Southworth, Scott, Merschat, Arthur J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
absolute age
Appalachians
Blue Ridge Mountains
Geochronology
gneisses
Grenvillian Orogeny
Ions
Luminescence
Mars Hill Terrane
Mesoproterozoic
metamorphic rocks
metamorphism
metasedimentary rocks
Morphology
Neoproterozoic
nesosilicates
North America
North Carolina
orthosilicates
paleogeography
Plate tectonics
Precambrian
Proterozoic
provenance
Rigolet Phase
Rocks
Rodinia
Sedimentary geology
silicates
Stratigraphy
Tennessee
U/Pb
United States
upper Precambrian
zircon
zircon group
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Summary:New data for zircon (external morphology, cathodoluminescence zoning, and sensitive high resolution ion microprobe [SHRIMP] U-Pb ages) from the Carvers Gap granulite gneiss of the Mars Hill terrane (Tennessee and North Carolina, United States) require reevaluation of interpretations of the age and origin of this rock. The new results indicate that the zircon is detrital and that the sedimentary protolith of this gneiss (and related Cloudland gneiss) was deposited no earlier than ca. 1.02 Ga and was metamorphosed at ca. 0.98 Ga. Tectonic models that included the gneiss as a piece of 1.8 Ga Amazonian crust (perhaps as part of the hypothetical Columbia supercontinent) are now untenable. The remarkably fast cycle of exhumation, erosion, deposition, and deep burial also is characteristic of other late Grenvillian (post-Ottawan) Mesoproterozoic paragneisses that occur throughout the Appalachians. These rocks provide new evidence for the duration of the formation of the Rodinia supercontinent lasting until at least 0.98 Ma.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G34779.1