IMPLICATIONS FOR AVALONIA IN AND BEYOND SE NEW ENGLAND

ABSTRACT. High-precision CA-TIMS 206Pb/238U zircon dates from sandstone and Brighton igneous rocks associated with Roxbury Conglomerate in the Boston Basin, eastern Massachusetts provide constraints on the age and tectonic significance of these deposits. Detrital zircon suites from Roxbury-related sandstones representing, in ascending order, the Franklin Park Member (proposed name), the Brookline Member and the Squantum Member establish closely comparable maximum depositional ages of 595.14 0.90, 598.87 0.71 and 596.39 0.79 Ma, respectively. The youngest of these is the best maximum age estimate of the conglomerate. Brighton dacite near the base of the Brookline Member and amygdaloidal andesite near the top yield respective crystallization ages of 584.19 0.70 Ma and 585.37 0.72 Ma. These virtually identical dates support previous interpretations of these particular units as shallow intrusions and thus represent minimum ages of associated conglomerate. The Roxbury-Brighton sequence is traditionally shown as inter-fingering northward with <570 Ma mudstone of the Cambridge “Argillite, ” but the age range of the conglomerate makes this impossible. Conglomerate lacking quartzite clasts typical of the Roxbury prope