Jn. Aleinikoff et al., U-PB AGES OF METARHYOLITES OF THE CATOCTIN AND MOUNT-ROGERS FORMATIONS, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS - EVIDENCE FOR 2 PULSES OF IAPETAN RIFTING, American journal of science, 295(4), 1995, pp. 428-454
U-Pb ages of zircon from rhyolites of the Catoctin and Mount Rogers Fo
rmations demonstrate that rifting of the Laurentian continent to form
the Iapetus Ocean was a prolonged event spanning 200 my involving two
important pulses of extrusive igneous activity. Rhyolitic flows of the
non-fossiliferous Catoctin and Mount Rogers Formations, long correlat
ed with one another on the basis of similar stratigraphic constraints,
are dated at 564 +/- 9 Ma and 758 +/- 12 Ma, respectively. A hypabyss
al felsic dike, intruding Middle Proterozoic (Grenville) granitic gnei
ss basement and presumed to feed the Catoctin flows, is dated at 572 /- 5 Ma. These new data invalidate previous geochronology that combine
d U-Pb data from both units to derive an upper intercept age of about
810 Ma. Ages of anorogenic granitoids of the Crossnore Complex (760-74
0 Ma), Robertson River Igneous Suite (730-700 Ma), and the Bakersville
mafic dike swarm (734 Ma) are bracketed by the new ages presented her
ein, but all are closer to the age of the Mount Rogers than the Catoct
in. All these data suggest a history of rifting in the central and sou
thern Appalachians spanning 200 my near the end of the Late Proterozoi
c. The earliest pulses, represented by the Mount Rogers Formation and
by granitoids, did not proceed to continental separation and are not r
ecorded north of the Potomac River. The later pulse or pulses, which p
roduced the areally more extensive Catoctin Formation, affected the ar
ea from Newfoundland (ages of 617-590 Ma) to North Carolina and result
ed in the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.