Tres Piedras Orthogneiss Stratigraphic range: | |
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![]() Knolls underlain by Tres Piedras Orthogneiss, Tres Piedras, New Mexico, USA | |
Type | Pluton |
Lithology | |
Primary | Orthogneiss |
Location | |
Coordinates | 36°38′56″N105°59′24″W / 36.649°N 105.990°W |
Region | Tusas Mountains, New Mexico |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Tres Piedras, New Mexico |
Named by | F. Barker |
Year defined | 1958 |
The Tres Piedras Orthogneiss is a pluton in northern New Mexico. It has a U-Pb radiometric age of 1693 Mya, placing it in the Statherian period. [1]
Though described as the Tres Piedras Granite in the earlier studies, the unit is more properly described as an orthogneiss. [2] The orthogneiss is pink to reddish-orange and shows faint to obvious foliation. Grain sizes are from 0.5 to 5 mm. Many of the quartz grains are fractured. With a modal composion of 42% quartz, 40% microcline, and 12% albite, it has the composition of an alkali feldspar granite. It has no contact metamorphism with the Moppin Complex, suggesting the country rock was only slightly cooler when the granite was injected. [3]
The orthogneiss crops out around the town of Tres Piedras, New Mexico and intrudes the Moppin Complex to the west in the Tusas Mountains. It may correlate with the San Miguel gneiss in the Nacimiento Mountains.
The pluton is interpreted as possibly a magma chamber associated with Vadito Group volcanism [4] or a stitching pluton associated with the Yavapai-Mazatzal orogenies. [5]
The unit was originally included in the Tusas Granite by Just in his 1937 survey of pegmatites in northern New Mexico. [6] but was designated as the Tres Piedras Granite by Barker in 1958. Barker included exposures near the town of Tres Piedras, along the Rio Tusas, and near Burned Mountain and Hopewell. [7] Wobus and Hedge removed the western outcrops from the pluton [8] based on an unreliable radiometric date, [9] but Davis et al. concluded that the Tusas Mountain orthgneiss is likely part of the Tres Piedras Orthogneiss. [10]
A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than 1 cm (0.4 in) and sometimes greater than 1 meter (3 ft). Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic composition as granite. However, rarer intermediate composition and mafic pegmatites are known.
The St. Francois Mountains in southeast Missouri are a mountain range of Precambrian igneous mountains rising over the Ozark Plateau. This range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock in North America. The name of the range is spelled out as Saint Francois Mountains in official GNIS sources, but it is sometimes misspelled in use as St. Francis Mountains to match the anglicized pronunciation of both the range and St. Francois County.
The Moppin Complex is a Precambrian geologic complex found in the Tusas Mountains of northern New Mexico. It has not been directly dated, but is thought to be Statherian based on a minimum age of 1.755 Gya from radiometric dating of magmatic intrusions.
The Maquinita Granodiorite is a Precambrian pluton that crops out in the northern Tusas Mountains of New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1.755 billion years, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Vadito Group is a group of geologic formations that crops out in most of the Precambrian-cored uplifts of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology and radiometric dating give a consistent age of 1700 Mya for the group, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Big Rock Formation is a formation that crops out in the Tusas Mountains of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology gives a maximum age for the formation of 1665 Mya, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Burned Mountain Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in the Tusas Mountains of northern New Mexico. It has a U-Pb radiometric age of 1700 Mya, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Ortega Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in most of the mountain ranges of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology establishes a maximum age for the formation of 1690-1670 million years (Mya), in the Statherian period of the Precambrian.
The Rinconada Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in the Picuris Mountains of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology establishes a maximum age for the Rinconada Formation of about 1723 Mya, placing it in the Statherian period of the Precambrian.
The Pilar Formation is a geologic formation that crops out in the Picuris Mountains of northern New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1488 ± 6 million years, corresponding to the Calymmian period.
The Marquenas Formation is a geological formation that crops out in the Picuris Mountains of northern New Mexico. Detrital zircon geochronology gives it a maximum age of 1435 million years, corresponding to the Calymmian period.
The San Pedro quartz monzonite is a Paleoproterozoic pluton in New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1730 Mya, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The San Miguel gneiss is a Paleoproterozoic pluton in the Nacimiento Mountains of New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1.695 billion years, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Joaquin quartz monzonite is a Mesoproterozoic pluton in northern New Mexico. Radiometric dating gives it an age of 1460 million years, corresponding to the Calymmian period.
The Ritito Conglomerate is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico dating to the Oligocene epoch.
The Uncompahgre Formation is a geologic formation in Colorado. Its radiometric age is between 1707 and 1704 Ma, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Sevilleta Metarhyolite is a geologic formation in central New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1665 ± 16 Ma, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Cibola gneiss is a pluton in central New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1653±16 Ma, corresponding to the Statherian period.
The Sandia granite is a pluton in central New Mexico. It has a radiometric age of 1453±12 Ma, corresponding to the Calymmian period.
The Los Pinos Formation is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico. It was deposited from the late Oligocene through the late Miocene epochs, based on radiometric ages of interbedded lava flows and overlying and underlying formations.