The Midcontinent rift system and the Precambrian basement in southern Michigan
- Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo, MI (United States). Dept. of Geology
The Precambrian basement within Michigan consists of at least three provinces, each characterized by distinctive potential field anomalies: (1) the Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Province (EGRP) in the south, (2) the Grenville Province in the southeast and (3) the Penokean Province to the north. Also located within the basement is the Mid-Michigan rift (MMR), which is the eastern arm of the Midcontinent rift system (MRS). Southwest and parallel to the MMR is a series of linear positive gravity anomalies which has been referred to as the Ft. Wayne rift (FWR) and the Southwest Michigan Anomaly (SWMA). The EGRP, which is characterized by undeformed and unmetamorphosed rhyolite to dacite and epizonal granites, was emplaced ca. 1510--1450 Ma. However, the EGRP may be comprised of several terranes of varying extent and origin based on analysis of potential field data and rock and mineral ages. The MMR and the FWR/SWMA are characterized by linear arrays of positive magnetic and gravity anomalies, which are probably due to thick accumulations of mafic igneous rocks within the rifts. The extent and trends of the FWR/SWMA have been largely inferred from geophysical data with a presumption of the age of about 1,100 Ma. The continuation of the MMR southward into Ohio and Kentucky as a sequence of gravity highs is questionable and needs further resolution. The FWR/SWMA may be part of the East Continent Rift Basin (ECRB). The ECRB, which is a large complex of related rift basins of Keweenawan age (1300 --1100 Ma), may be an extension of the MRS but it is not physically continuous with it. The ECRB lies to the west of the Grenville Front and extends at least from northwest Ohio to central Kentucky. Extensions of the ECRB north and south are speculative.
- OSTI ID:
- 7123436
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9404217-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 26:5; Conference: 27. annual conference of the North-Central Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Kalamazoo, MI (United States), 28-29 Apr 1994; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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