Towards more precise paleogeography using zircon age databases – Initial observations on the geologic components on the Atlantic coast of North America

Abstract

The ever-expanding corpus of published zircon ages facilitates the characterisation of magmatic barcodes, metamorphic episodes and detrital pathways at previously unattainable levels of detail. This development subsequently precipitated the emergence of numerous database projects, exhibiting varying degrees of scope and magnitude. Notwithstanding a number of seminal publications in the field of geochronology, a significant proportion of the extant data are not being utilised to their full potential for the purposes of future studies. Consequently, the substantial potential of all kinds of zircon age data for palaeogeographic reconstructions remains underestimated. The utilisation of previously unexploited data will enhance the spatio-temporal density of geochronological information, particularly within the context of provenance analyses. Based on an initial compilation of zircon age data (N>8400, n>325000) which characterises the circum-Atlantic (s.l.) zircon provinces, the publication will outline the data that has been compiled for the geologic components located along the east coast of North America (N>930, n>45700). This data set has been further augmented by additional information pertaining to igneous and metamorphic events, drawn from other databases. Here we present an overview of the typical igneous, magmatic and detrital zircon age patterns observed in these areas and compare them particularly with their European counterparts.