Dating New England: A Collaborative Study of the Timing of Metamorphism, Assembly and Exhumation of the Central New England Orogen

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

Investigators

Abstract

0073754 Cheney 0073747 Spear New England has long been studied geologically, and the evolution of Central New England during the Devonian Acadian Orogeny is broadly understood as an early Devonian collisional event. However, there are a number of questions about the timing of metamorphism, assembly and exhumation of this terrane that are of fundamental significance in the development of this and any compressional orogen. This project will employ powerful new techniques of age dating to provide the detailed age control that was not available during the classic Acadian studies. Results are expected to help place the timing of peak metamorphism in a tectonic framework, to assess the possibility of time - transgressive metamorphism along strike and to evaluate scenarios for producing inverted metamorphic sequences. While focused on their classic orogen, knowledge of these relationships is applicable to developing models for the evolutions of all orogenic belts.