U–Pb baddeleyite crystallization age for a Corson diabase intrusion: possible Midcontinent Rift magmatism in eastern South Dakota

Abstract

The largely buried basement of the northern Great Plains includes suture zones and terrane boundaries that represent a significant part of the growth of Laurentia in the Proterozoic. Basement exposures in this region east of the Black Hills are rare. In southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, northeastern Nebraska, and northwestern Iowa, small outcrops of the Proterozoic Sioux Quartzite occur. In southeastern South Dakota, Corson diabase sills or dykes have intruded the quartzite. U–Pb ID–TIMS baddeleyite data from a Corson diabase sample yield an upper intercept date of 1149.4 ± 7.3 Ma, suggesting the diabase is related temporally to the Midcontinent Rift (MCR). The similarity in age of this diabase to the Inspiration sill, Pigeon River, Kipling, and Abitibi dykes suggests that early Midcontinent Rift development was not localized within the Nipigon Embayment, but extended along a roughly east–northeast zone from the Abitibi dykes to the Corson diabase. The presence of the Corson intrusions 250 km west of the MCR is hypothesized to represent a failed rift arm within the Superior craton. The greater strength of the Superior craton relative to lithosphere south of the Spirit Lake tectonic zone resulted in a shift of the southwestern rift arm in southern Minnesota along the Belle Plaine fault southeastward to the Iowa border. Alternatively, the apparent northeast trend of known occurrences of the Corson diabase is also consistent with a mantle plume centre explanation for early Midcontinent rifting.

The stromatoporoidHabrostromain the upper Silurian (uppermost Pridoli)–Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of North America, and the paleobiogeographic significance ofH.centrotum(Girty, 1895)

“…In a recent publication, McCormick et al (2018) described a series of faults in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota oriented northwest-southeast. They believed the faults date back to the late Mesoproterozoic, temporally related to the Midcontinent Rift.…”

The late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic Grenvillian orogeny and the assembly of Rodinia: Turning point in the tectonic evolution of Laurentia

“…These durations are: Shawinigan orogeny, Grenville Province 1198 to 1157 Ma; Grenvillian orogeny, Grenville Province 1089 to 981 Ma; pre-Grenvillian orogeny, Blue Ridge 1162 to 1153 Ma; Grenvillian orogeny, Blue Ridge 1070 to 994 Ma; AMCG plutonism 1174 to 1149 Ma; pre-Midcontinent Rift magmatism 1157 to 1143 Ma; Midcontinent Rift magmatism 1108 to 1086 Ma. The data come from the Canadian Geochronology Knowledgebase compilation (2013) as well as additional data sets compiled in this work from the following publications: Aleinikoff et al (2013, 2021), Bleeker et al (2020), Chiarenzelli et al (2011),Connelly (2006),Davis and Green (1997a),Dunning and Indares (2010),Fairchild et al (2017),Hamilton et al (2004), Jannin et al (2018a, 2018b,Johnson et al (2018Johnson et al ( , 2020,Jordan et al (2006),Krogh et al (1987),Labat et al (2020),Lasalle et al (2014),Markley et al (2018), McCormick et al (2017,Moecher et al (2020),Paces and Miller (1993),Peck et al (2018),Queen et al (1996),Regan et al, (2019),Shinevar et al (2021),,Southworth et al (2010), Swanson-Hysell et al (2019, 2021b,Tollo et al (2010Tollo et al ( , 2017,Williams et al, (2019),Wu et al (2017). For some data sets, new weighted means were calculated for populations of dates.…”

Rare stromatoporoids from the Lower Devonian (Emsian) of Nevada, and their biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic significance

“…This strait appeared in subsequent publications (e.g., Sandberg et al, 1989; Johnson et al, 1991) without explanation. More recently, McCormick et al (2018) described northwest-southeast oriented faults in South Dakota and Minnesota, which occurred at the same time as the Midcontinent Rift in the Mesoproterozoic.…”