The northern Appalachians contain a number of exotic terranes, accreted during the closure of the Iapetus ocean that involved elements of North America and Laurentia as well as Gondwana. However, the timing, geometry and terrane positions are still incompletely known. This project will focus on the western margin of Avalon, one of the more important terranes, in Maine, and the Maritime provinces of eastern Canada and will involve paleomagnetic, geochronologic and tectonic investigations. Results will be useful in testing the large number of contrasting tectonic scenarios that have been proposed for the Appalachian Caledonian belt, in particular the tectonic setting and locations of major arc/back arc systems in the southern portion of Iapetus.
