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Age and emplacement of the Flat River Complex, an Eocambrian sub-volcanic pluton near Durham, North Carolina

Keith I. McConnell and Lynn Glover
Age and emplacement of the Flat River Complex, an Eocambrian sub-volcanic pluton near Durham, North Carolina (in Tectonic studies in the Talladega and Carolina slate belts, southern Appalachian Orogen, Denny N. Bearce (editor), William W. Black (editor), Stephen A. Kish (editor) and James F. Tull (editor))
Special Paper - Geological Society of America (1982) 191: 133-143

Abstract

This study documents an eruptive center, the instrusive Flat River complex and associated Carolina slate belt volcanic rocks near Durham, North Carolina. The zircon Pb/U age of the granite, granodiorite, quartz diorite, gabbro Flat River complex is 650 + or - 30 m.y. Local vent breccias, chilled and protoclastically deformed margins, and petrographic comparisons with the experimental results in the qz-ab-or system confirm that the Flat River complex was emplaced at a depth of less than 1 km and was locally surface breaking. Thus, the Flat River can be viewed as a very shallow fossil volcanic magma chamber and may be typical of many granitoid plutons in the Carolina slate belt. The Flat River was intruded into a pile of coarse, near-vent pyroclastic deposits and lavas of felsic to intermediate composition. Intercalated in these is an exhalative unit of thinly layered to laminated metachert and iron oxide. Shallow to deep (or quiet) probably marine conditions prevailed. Some subaerial pyroclastic rocks may be present in the older parts of this >650-m.y. to 620-m.y.-old sequence of volcanic rocks.


ISSN: 0072-1077
EISSN: 2331-219X
Coden: GSAPAZ
Serial Title: Special Paper - Geological Society of America
Serial Volume: 191
Title: Age and emplacement of the Flat River Complex, an Eocambrian sub-volcanic pluton near Durham, North Carolina
Title: Tectonic studies in the Talladega and Carolina slate belts, southern Appalachian Orogen
Author(s): McConnell, Keith I.Glover, Lynn, III
Author(s): Bearce, Denny N.editor
Author(s): Black, William W.editor
Author(s): Kish, Stephen A.editor
Author(s): Tull, James F.editor
Affiliation: Va. Polytech. Inst. and State Univ., Dep. Geol. Sci., Blacksburg, VA, United States
Pages: 133-143
Published: 1982
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
Meeting name: Carolina slate belt; origin and evolution of an ancient volcanic age
Meeting location: Blacksburg, VA, USA, United States
Meeting date: 19790426April 26, 1979
References: 29
Accession Number: 1983-048768
Categories: Igneous and metamorphic petrologyGeochronology
Document Type: Serial Conference document
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 1 table, geol. sketch maps
N33°49'60" - N36°34'60", W84°15'00" - W75°30'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 1983
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