Tectonic history of the Grenville-age Trenton Prong inlier, Central Appalachians, USA: evidence from SHRIMP U–Pb geochronology

Abstract

New zircon U–Pb geochronologic data from the Grenville-age Trenton Prong provide information on the age of magmatism, timing of metamorphism, and post-metamorphic history of the inlier. Diorite gneiss (1318 ± 13 Ma) of the Colonial Lake Suite temporally correlates to magmatic arc sequences that formed along the eastern margin of Laurentia at <1.4 Ga. Metasedimentary gneisses yielded detrital zircon ages of ca. 1319–1133 Ma and ca. 1370–1207, consistent with sediment derived from a similar local source of Laurentian affinity. A small population of zircon (either detrital or igneous in origin) in one sample yielded ages of ca. 1074–1037 Ma. Possible interpretations for their formation are explored. Ca. 1060 Ma overgrowths on zircon in the northern part of the inlier constrain the timing of granulite-facies metamorphism to the Ottawan phase of the Grenvillian Orogeny. The undeformed Assunpink Creek Granite (1041 ± 6 Ma) intruded country rocks as small bodies of late-orogenic syenogranite. It provides a minimum age for amphibolite-facies metamorphism and Ottawan orogenesis elsewhere in the inlier. Regionally, zircon rim ages of ca. 1010–960 Ma record continued thermal activity during the Rigolet phase of the orogen that resulted in migmatization of paragneiss at ca. 1004 Ma and juxtaposition of upper- and mid-crustal rocks during orogenic collapse. The lithologic ages and tectonic history of the Trenton Prong correlate to those in other Appalachian Mesoproterozoic inliers and parts of the Canadian Grenville Province, confirming it is not an exotic terrane that was accreted to eastern Laurentia during Grenvillian orogenesis.