A DETRITAL MUSCOVITE PROVENANCE STUDY OF
ARKOSIC SANDSTONES FROM THE HARTFORD BASIN,
CONNECTICUT
GRIFFITHS, Daniel R., (IO20282@Maine.Maine.edu),
LUX, Daniel R., (DLUX@Maine.Maine.edu),
both at Dept of Geological Sciences, 5704 Boardman Hall,
University of Maine, Orono, ME W469
WINTSCH, Robert R., (WlNTSCH@Indiana.edu), Dept. of
Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
47405
KUNK, Michael J., (MKUNK@GCCMAIL.CR.USGS.GOV),
U.S. Geological Survey, M. S. 926, Reston. VA 22902
During the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic over 4 km of strata and 3
major tholeiitic basalt units of the Newark Super Group were
deposited in the Hartford Basin in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The sediment of the Newark Supergroup consists mainly of coarse-
grained, conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone. This material was
deposited mainly in the form of fluvial and alluvial deposits, or fine-
grained lacustrine deposits.
The immature, coarse-grained nature of the Newark Supergroup
strata indicates that the deposits are very proximal in nature. Heavy
mineral studies (Krynine et al., 1950), coupled with paleocurrent and
petrographic data (Hubert et al., 1992) indicates that most of the
material in the Hartford Basin was eroded from the metamorphic
highlands immediately to the west and east of the Hartford Basin.
The material directly to the east of the Hartford Basin consists
of a series of tectonic terrains. These terrains were emplaced in the
Devonian during the Acadian Orogeny, and were later
metamorphically overprinted and slightly thrusted in the
Pennsylvanian and Early Permian during the Alleghenian Orogeny
(Wintsch et al. 1995). The material directly to the west of the basin
consists of a continuation of the lithotectonic terrains found to the east
directly adjacent to the basin and the Proto-North American Terrain
further to the west. Dietsch et al., 1992, published several muscovite
ages of approximately 355 Ma from the Waterbury Dome directly to
the west of the Basin. These Early Mississippian ages indicate this
area was not overprinted by Alleghanian metamorphism.
Muscovites from 27 samples (4 basement, 23 detrital) collected
in a narrow hand running east-west across the basin just south of
Cromwell, Connecticut were dated by the 40Ar39Ar method.
Basement samples at the "Great Unconformity" (Roaring Brook
exposure) range between 363 and 371 Ma. The remaining samples are
all detrital micas and range from 250 Ma in the lower Shuttle Meadow
formation to 280 Ma at the top of the Portland Arkose. The Late
Paleozoic age of these detrital muscovites indicates that the source
areas for the material deposited within the Hartford Basin have
Permian cooling ages suggesting they were eroded from a terrain
overprinted by Alleghenian Metamorphism. This suggests a
predominant source area to the east. In addition muscovite ages
presented here indicate there is a large discontinuity (83 Ma) between
the basement rocks beneath the unconformity and the basal
conglomerate of the New Haven Arkose. This discontinuity precludes
these basement schists and pegmatites as provenance areas for the
Newark Supergroup strata of the Hartford Basin.
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