A long-lived metamorphic history in the contact aureole of the Mooselookmeguntic pluton revealed by in situ dating of onazite grains preserved as inclusions in staurolite porphyroblasts

Abstract

Emplacement of the Mooselookmeguntic pluton, located in the western Maine region of the northern Appalachians, was thought to have occurred towards the end of the Acadian deformation at around 370 Ma. Crystallization ages from different parts of the pluton suggest a more sequential emplacement history over a period of c. 20 Myr. Foliation inflection/intersection axes (FIAs) within porphyroblasts from its aureole reveal at least five periods of garnet and staurolite growth. The orientation of FIAs in both garnet and staurolite porphyroblasts trend successively from ESE–WNW, NNW–SSE, E–W, ENE–WSW to NE–SW. Electron probe microanalysis dating of monazite grains included in staurolite porphyroblasts containing one of these five periods of FIA development reveals a succession of apparent ages from 410 Ma to 345 Ma. A similar spread of crystallization ages can be observed for plutons from Maine and adjacent regions. This succession indicates that deformation and metamorphism began well before and continued long after what is classically regarded as the Acadian orogeny. The thermal structure of the orogen progressively evolved to enable pluton emplacement, and it continued to develop afterwards with magmatic fluids still forming at depth.