ABSTRACT Supermature siliciclastic sequences were deposited between 1.64 Ga and 1.59 Ga over a broad swath of southern Laurentia in the Archean, Penokean, Yavapai, and Mazatzal Provinces. These siliciclastic sequences are notable for their extreme mineralogical and chemical maturity, being devoid of detrital feldspar and ferromagnesian minerals, containing the clay mineral kaolinite (or its metamorphic equivalent, pyrophyllite), and having a chemical index of alteration >95. Such maturity is the result of a perfect confluence of tectonic and climatic conditions, including a stable continental crust with low topographic relief (the Archean, Penokean, and Yavapai Provinces ca. 1.70 Ga), a warm humid climate, an elevated level of atmospheric CO 2 , and relatively acidic pore fluids in the critical zone. The weathered detritus was transported and deposited by southward-flowing streams across the Archean, Penokean, and Yavapai Provinces, ultimately to be deposited on 1.66 Ga volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks in the Mazatzal continental arc along the southern margin of Laurentia.

ABSTRACT Using images from an updated and expanded three-dimensional electrical conductivity synthesis model for the contiguous United States (CONUS), we highlight the key continent-scale geoelectric structures that are associated with the Precambrian assembly of southern Laurentia. Conductivity anomalies are associated with the Trans-Hudson orogen, the Penokean suture, the ca. 1.8–1.7 Ga Cheyenne belt and Spirit Lake tectonic zone, and the Grenville suture zone; the geophysical characteristics of these structures indicate that the associated accretionary events involved the closure of ancient ocean basins along discrete, large-scale structures. In contrast, we observe no large-scale conductivity anomalies through the portion of southern Laurentia that is generally viewed as composed of late Paleoproterozoic–early Mesoproterozoic accretionary crust. The lack of through-going conductors places constraints on the structure, petrology, and geodynamic history of crustal growth in southern Laurentia during that time period. Overall, our model highlights the enigmatic nature of the concealed Precambrian basement of much of southern Laurentia, as it in some places supports and in other places challenges prevailing models of Laurentian assembly. The revised CONUS electrical conductivity model thus provides important constraints for testing new models of Precambrian tectonism in this region.

Abstract This field trip examines deformed Archean basement, and variably metamorphosed supracrustal rocks and an exhumed midcrustal batholith of late Paleoproterozoic age in east-central Minnesota. Collectively, these rocks reveal an approximately 100 m.y. geologic history of crustal growth and stabilization of this part of the craton. The Penokean orogen in Minnesota consists of a northern foreland basin (the Animikie basin), a medial fold-thrust belt, and a southern high-grade metamorphic and plutonic terrane, representing two major orogenic events: the Penokean (geon 18) and Yavapai (geon 17) orogenies. The 1870–1830 Ma Penokean orogenic rocks are part of a belt of juvenile crust accreted onto the southern margin of Laurentia-Baltic continent during the late Paleoproterozoic. Metamorphism along the southern margin of the Archean Superior province has been historically attributed to the Penokean Orogeny, in a corridor of amphibolite-facies rocks which record 1.86–1.80 Ga (geon 18) metamorphic ages that correspond to the culmination of arc accretion. However, a widespread geon 17 amphibolite-facies metamorphic overprint is also recorded along the regions of greatest thickening of the Penokean crust, which corresponds to the tectonically buried Archean-Proterozoic continental margin. This was also the locus of emplacement of the voluminous east-central Minnesota batholith, composed of some twenty separate intrusions that range from mafic to dominantly felsic-intermediate compositions. Most of these are Yavapai in age, with emplacement ages between 1787 and 1772 Ma.

Newly compiled gravity and magnetic data within the north-central United States were used to investigate the crustal structure of the region's Precambrian geology. Gray-scale imaging, gravity stripping, enhanced magnetic gradients, and polynomial trend surfaces were used to delineate the potential field characteristics of each of the Precambrian orogens. This analysis expanded on the previous regional investigations by suggesting that several crustal blocks (or regions of different lithologies/crust thickness) may exist in each of the known orogens. In addition, the study found that the interpreted location of the orogen boundaries varied depending on the type of potential field analysis used. The Trans-Hudson orogen may extend farther south in Nebraska and the Penokean orogen may extend farther southwest into Nebraska than was previously thought. The reinterpretation of the blocks and orogen boundaries needs additional constraining geological and/or seismic evidence in order for the results of the gravity and magnetic analysis to be completely supported.

A new tectonic map of the southern and central Appalachians incorporates modern field and structural-stratigraphic, geochronologic (mostly sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe–reverse geometry, SHRIMP–RG, and Sm-Nd), geochemical, and geophysical data to identify crustal boundaries and blocks. Major tectonic units include the ∼735 Ma Laurentian failed rift, ∼565 Ma rifted margin sedimentary-volcanic assemblage deposited on Grenvillian and pre-Grenvillian crust, the Laurentian platform, and a series of distal Laurentian terranes (Cowrock, Cartoogechaye, Tugaloo-Chopawamsic-Potomac) accreted to Laurentia during the Taconian (Ordovician) or Neoacadian (Late Devonian–early Mississippian) orogenies. The Dahlonega gold belt consists of more proximal metasandstone and pelitic schist; it also contains Ordovician arc volcanic rocks, and a mixed detrital zircon suite of Laurentian and Gondwanan, or Penokean, affinity. The newly recognized Cat Square terrane contains Laurentian, Avalonian, and 430 Ma detrital zircons, and is considered a remnant ocean basin that closed during Acadian-Neoacadian accretion of the Carolina superterrane. The Pine Mountain terrane (southernmost exposed Appalachians) consists of Grenvillian basement and a cover sequence bearing Gondwanan or Penokean detrital zircons. The Carolina superterrane contains numerous peri-Gondwanan terranes that were deformed, metamorphosed, and amalgamated prior to 530 Ma, then accreted to Laurentia during the Neoacadian along the central Piedmont suture. The Raleigh-Goochland terrane contains blocks of Laurentian basement and cover that moved SW (dextrally) out of the collision zone to the north as the Theic ocean closed north to south during the early Alleghanian orogeny. This event also produced the Kiokee-Raleigh belt high-grade metamorphic core in the eastern Piedmont, and includes faults of the Pine Mountain window. The latter is framed by Alleghanian thrust and dextral faults formed at different crustal depths (times?). Subsurface components of the southern and central Appalachians are recognized in potential field and limited drill data. The Carolina superterrane extends beneath the Coastal Plain—possibly eastward to the East Coast magnetic anomaly. South of the Carolina superterrane and north of the Wiggins suture is the Brunswick (Charleston) terrane, another peri-Gondwanan terrane. The east–west Alleghanian Wiggins suture with the Suwannee terrane is recognizable to the south beneath Georgia and Alabama in potential field data, truncating all Appalachian structures and older crustal blocks west of the Appalachians. South of the suture, African basement and cover lie in the eastern Florida subsurface, while to the west are other Gondwanan or peri-Gondwanan components that may have originally connected with Yucatan.