ABSTRACT The Avalon terrane of southeastern New England is a composite terrane in which various crustal blocks may have different origins and/or tectonic histories. The northern part (west and north of Boston, Massachusetts) correlates well with Avalonian terranes in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, Canada, based on rock types and ages, U-Pb detrital zircon signatures of metasedimentary rocks, and Sm-Nd isotope geochemistry data. In the south, fewer data exist, in part because of poorer rock exposure, and the origins and histories of the rocks are less well constrained. We conducted U-Pb laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry analysis on zircon from seven metasedimentary rock samples from multiple previously interpreted subterranes in order to constrain their origins. Two samples of Neoproterozoic Plainfield Formation quartzite from the previously interpreted Hope Valley subterrane in the southwestern part of the southeastern New England Avalon terrane and two from the Neoproterozoic Blackstone Group quartzite from the adjacent Esmond-Dedham subterrane to the east have Tonian youngest detrital zircon age populations. One sample of Cambrian North Attleboro Formation quartzite of the Esmond-Dedham subterrane yielded an Ediacaran youngest detrital zircon age population. Detrital zircon populations of all five samples include abundant Mesoproterozoic zircon and smaller Paleoproterozoic and Archean populations, and are similar to those of the northern part of the southeastern New England Avalon terrane and the Avalonian terranes in Canada. These are interpreted as having a Baltican/Amazonian affinity based primarily on published U-Pb and Lu-Hf detrital zircon data. Based on U-Pb detrital zircon data, there is no significant difference between the Hope Valley and Esmond-Dedham subterranes. Detrital zircon of two samples of the Price Neck and Newport Neck formations of the Neoproterozoic Newport Group in southern Rhode Island is characterized by large ca. 647–643 and ca. 745–733 Ma age populations and minor zircon up to ca. 3.1 Ga. This signature is most consistent with a northwest African affinity. The Newport Group may thus represent a subterrane, terrane, or other crustal block with a different origin and history than the southeastern New England Avalon terrane to the northwest. The boundary of this Newport Block may be restricted to the boundaries of the Newport Group, or it may extend as far north as Weymouth, Massachusetts, as far northwest as (but not including) the North Attleboro Formation quartzite and associated rocks in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, and as far west as Warwick, Rhode Island, where eastern exposures of the Blackstone Group quartzite exist. The Newport Block may have amalgamated with the Amazonian/Baltican part of the Avalon terrane prior to mid-Paleozoic amalgamation with Laurentia, or it may have arrived as a separate terrane after accretion of the Avalon terrane. Alternatively, it may have arrived during the formation of Pangea and been stranded after the breakup of Pangea, as has been proposed previously for rocks of the Georges Bank in offshore Massachusetts. If the latter is correct, then the boundary between the Newport Block and the southeastern New England Avalon terrane is the Pangean suture zone.

ABSTRACT Extensive glaciers covered the High Atlas mountains in Morocco during the late Pleistocene. On the northern escarpments of the Marrakech High Atlas, a series of cirques perched at ~3000–3500 m above sea level (asl) fed their valley glaciers that, in some cases, extended to as low as 2000 m asl. Cosmogenic exposure dating with 10 Be and 36 Cl has shown that at least three phases of glaciation are preserved in glacial deposits over the last glacial cycle at 50, 22, and 12 ka, which appear to correlate with marine isotope stage (MIS) 3, the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the Younger Dryas chronozone. This geochronological framework is sufficiently robust to allow for time-constrained glacier-climate reconstructions. The glaciers associated with these three phases of advance had equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of 2761 m asl (ca. 50 ka), 2919 m asl (ca. 22 ka), and 3213 m asl (ca. 12 ka). Glacier-climate modeling suggests that all of these phases were driven by both colder temperatures and wetter conditions than today. The dominant moisture supply to these glaciers in all phases would have been sourced from Atlantic depressions. The influence of an extended and enhanced West African monsoon on glacier development during African Humid Periods is unlikely to have been a significant influence on glacier dynamics. The climate conditions associated with the three glacier phases indicate sustained moisture supply to the highest mountain areas when records from other areas, such as the Middle Atlas lakes and marine sediment cores offshore, indicate marked aridity.