Architecture of the hidden Penokean terrane suture and Midcontinent rift system overprint in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin from magnetotelluric profiling

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Abstract

© 2017 The Authors. We resolved the architecture of the early Proterozoic Penokean orogen suture and late middle Proterozoic (Keweenawan) Midcontinent rift system magmatic overprint in east-central Minnesota and western Wisconsin through recovery and analysis of a legacy magnetotelluric (MT) data set. We digitized printed plots of off-diagonal MT and controlled-source audio (CSA) MT responses, including error intervals, to provide 22 soundings along a profile of ~225 km length extending from north of Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota, southeastward to Flambeau Ridge, Wisconsin. the MT data were inverted to a smoothed electrical resistivity structure using a two-dimensional finite-element, regularized Gauss-Newton algorithm emphasizing the transverse magnetic (TM) mode data subset. Our model reveals a major electrically conductive zone dipping moderately to the southeast for > 50 km in the 5-35 km depth range, which marks the probable Penokean suture in easternmost Minnesota. We interpret the conductor to reflect a package of graphitized metasediments of the former Archean continental margin and near foreland zone, underthrust as the Penokean terrane collided with the Superior Province. the large-scale conductor is now hidden beneath mainly Yavapai-aged plutonic rocks of the East-Central Minnesota batholith. Below the axis of the later Midcontinent rift (St. Croix horst, subsequently), a compact resistive body ranging from 5 to 20 km deep overlies the large conductor. We interpret this resistor to be mafic volcanic and intrusive rocks of the Midcontinent rift event, which correlate spatially with a high Bouguer gravity anomaly similarly modeled. the rift here coincides with the lower-crustal reaches of the suture, but the specific influence of the suture on rift emplacement is unclear.

Publication Title

Lithosphere

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