Evidence for Mesoproterozoic basement in the Carolina slate belt and speculations on its origin


Mueller, P., Kozuch, M., Heatherington, A., Wooden, J., Offield, T., Koeppen, R., Klein, T., and Nutman, A. (1996), in Nance and Thompson, eds., Avalonian and related peri-Gondwanan terranes of the circum-North Atlantic. Geological Society of America Special Paper 304, p. 207-218

Abstract


Terranes with concurrent Neoproterozoic magmatism in the Appalachian orogen of North America include the Avalon, Carolina, and Suwannee terranes. The extent to which these terranes can be correlated cannot be ascertained, however, without complete characterization of the basement present when magmatism took place. Premagmatic zircons and Nd model ages of mafic to silicic volcanic rocks of the Carolina terrane exposed in the Carolina slate belt of central North Carolina provide direct evidence of the involvement of Mesoproterozoic basement in their petrogenesis. The combination of Neoproterozoic magmatic activity and Mesoproterozoic basement suggests that the Carolina terrane may have a distinct history relative to many other circum-Atlantic, Neoproterozoic arc terranes. In particular, the chronologic and isotopic similarity of the inferred Carolina arc basement to that of the nearby Blue Ridge province suggests the possibility that the Carolina terrane may be allochthonous, but not exotic.


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