195 Evolution of Orogenic Belts Through Time: Insights from Sedimentation, Deformation, Magmatism, and Metamorphism (Posters)

This session explores the evolution of orogenesis on Earth, encompassing applications of sedimentology, petrology, geochemistry, paleomagnetism, geochronology, and structural geology. We encourage studies combining field observations with laboratory and modeling techniques to unravel tectonic processes.

Tuesday, 21 October 2025
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, Hall 1

Refining the Age and Occurrence of Basement Rocks in Northwest Iowa:  Implications for Precambrian Tectonics of the Laurentian Midcontinent

Paper number: 195-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

Here we present four new U-Pb (LA-ICPMS) ages for drill cores of basement rocks along the Transcontinental Arch in northwest Iowa, USA. The Camp Quest gneiss was sampled at a depth of 1,078 ft from the Camp Quest D-21 core (W25498; z=38).  The weighted mean and Concordia ages were both ~1838 Ma, which is the first Trans-Hudson/Penokean age recognized in Iowa. This core is located south of the Spirit Lake tectonic zone (SLTZ) which is interpreted as the suture between Yavapai terrane rocks to the south and Archean Superior province rocks to the north. Nine inherited zircons are mostly Archean in age and interpreted as xenocrysts, indicating Archean crust occurs at depth south of the SLTZ. Granite was also sampled at a depth of 660 ft from the Hawarden D-7 core (W27270; z=35). The zircon age spectrum reveals three age clusters at ~2895, ~2683, and ~1800 Ma. The older, inherited age clusters are consistent with ages of the Minnesota River Valley terrane and the greater Superior Province, respectively. The ~1800 Ma age is similar to the nearby 1803-1810 Ma Matlock “keratophyre” and the distant 1805 Ma Humboldt granite (northern Michigan), representing the initiation of north-directed Yavapai subduction and granitic melt production into Archean and previously accreted Trans-Hudson/Penokean rocks north of the SLTZ. Granodiorite was sampled at a depth of 915 ft from the Harris D-13 core (W27270; z=41). The weighted mean and Concordia ages are ~1780 Ma, suggesting that Yavapai rocks intrude older Trans-Hudson/Penokean or Archean rocks north of the SLTZ. A late-stage granitic dike was sampled at a depth of 1,611 ft from the Spencer BX-2 core (W16223; z=7), which is from a tabular noritic body within the Spencer intrusive complex just south of the SLTZ. The sampled interval yielded sparse zircons; however, the weighted mean age of 1238 Ma is the first Grenville age recognized in Iowa. This age suggests an obscure early Grenvillian thermal resetting or reactivation in the upper Midcontinent which postdates anorthositic/noritic magnetism concentrated along the SLTZ at Spencer.

 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-413891

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