THE CASE FOR LATE CRETACEOUS COMPRESSIONAL REJUVENATION IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

Although the eastern U.S. has been a passive margin for nearly 200 million years there is abundant evidence for tectonic rejuvenation during this post-rift period. Strong evidence for Mio-Plio-Pleistocene rejuvenation comes from steep river profiles, uplifted shorelines, and high relief. More subtle evidence for pre-Miocene episodes of rejuvenation comes from geologic mapping, tectonic fracturing, offshore sedimentation, basin inversion, and variations in apatite fission-track ages. This presentation will review evidence for a Late Cretaceous rejuvenation event in the eastern U.S. and compare it with evidence for tectonic rejuvenation along other circum-Atlantic margins at roughly the same time. We will show that many Atlantic margins experienced synchronous Late Cretaceous rejuvenation and will speculate on the origin of a widespread compressional stress regime from roughly 84-65 Ma.