Preserved Neoproterozoic Continental Collision in Southeastern North America: The Brunswick Suture Zone and Osceola Continental Margin Arc
Abstract
Abstract A series of exotic terranes were accreted to the eastern margin of southeastern Laurentia beginning in the SiluroâDevonian (Acadian event), and to the northeastern Laurentian margin beginning earlier (late Taconian). Many of these terranes have unclear tectonostratigraphic relationships to each other and to their parental cratons, but their accretionary history is critical to understanding the evolution of the Appalachian orogen. Two of these, the Gondwanan Suwannee and Charleston terranes, accreted during the Alleghanian orogeny and now lie beneath the Atlantic Coastal Plain in southeastern North America. Reanalysis of deep seismic reflection and well data reveals a preserved Neoproterozoic continental collision zone and associated continental margin arc, the Osceola arc, related to their juxtaposition. The subduction zone and associated strain are recorded in the newly termed Brunswick suture zone (BSZ). The BSZ is readily identified on a series of eight deep seismic reflection transects across the Brunswick Magnetic Anomaly (BMA), which we interpret as the boundary between the Charleston and Suwannee terranes. While originally interpreted to be the Late Paleozoic Alleghanian suture, new age constraints provided by the overlapping Gondwanan Paleozoic Suwannee Basin strata require the BSZ to predate the Early to Middle Paleozoic passive margin sequence of the Suwanneemore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[2]
- Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Southern States Energy Board, Peachtree Corners, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1537333
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1418725
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0026086; DEâFE0026086, CFDA 81.089
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Tectonics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 37; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0278-7407
- Publisher:
- Wiley/American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; Geochemistry & Geophysics
Citation Formats
Boote, Susannah K., Knapp, James H., and Mueller, Paul A. Preserved Neoproterozoic Continental Collision in Southeastern North America: The Brunswick Suture Zone and Osceola Continental Margin Arc. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1002/2017tc004732.
Boote, Susannah K., Knapp, James H., & Mueller, Paul A. Preserved Neoproterozoic Continental Collision in Southeastern North America: The Brunswick Suture Zone and Osceola Continental Margin Arc. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017tc004732
Boote, Susannah K., Knapp, James H., and Mueller, Paul A. Mon .
"Preserved Neoproterozoic Continental Collision in Southeastern North America: The Brunswick Suture Zone and Osceola Continental Margin Arc". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017tc004732. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1537333.
@article{osti_1537333,
title = {Preserved Neoproterozoic Continental Collision in Southeastern North America: The Brunswick Suture Zone and Osceola Continental Margin Arc},
author = {Boote, Susannah K. and Knapp, James H. and Mueller, Paul A.},
abstractNote = {Abstract A series of exotic terranes were accreted to the eastern margin of southeastern Laurentia beginning in the SiluroâDevonian (Acadian event), and to the northeastern Laurentian margin beginning earlier (late Taconian). Many of these terranes have unclear tectonostratigraphic relationships to each other and to their parental cratons, but their accretionary history is critical to understanding the evolution of the Appalachian orogen. Two of these, the Gondwanan Suwannee and Charleston terranes, accreted during the Alleghanian orogeny and now lie beneath the Atlantic Coastal Plain in southeastern North America. Reanalysis of deep seismic reflection and well data reveals a preserved Neoproterozoic continental collision zone and associated continental margin arc, the Osceola arc, related to their juxtaposition. The subduction zone and associated strain are recorded in the newly termed Brunswick suture zone (BSZ). The BSZ is readily identified on a series of eight deep seismic reflection transects across the Brunswick Magnetic Anomaly (BMA), which we interpret as the boundary between the Charleston and Suwannee terranes. While originally interpreted to be the Late Paleozoic Alleghanian suture, new age constraints provided by the overlapping Gondwanan Paleozoic Suwannee Basin strata require the BSZ to predate the Early to Middle Paleozoic passive margin sequence of the Suwannee Basin. These results provide new insights into the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Charleston and Suwannee terranes, the controversy surrounding the age and origin of the dipping seismic reflectors, previously attributed to the suturing of the Suwannee terrane to Laurentia, and the relationship of this suture zone to the origin of the BMA.},
doi = {10.1002/2017tc004732},
journal = {Tectonics},
number = 1,
volume = 37,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Mon Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
From the Alleghanian to the Atlantic: Extensional collapse of the southernmost Appalachian orogen
journal, February 2019
- Ma, Chong; Foster, David A.; Hames, Willis E.
- Geology, Vol. 47, Issue 4