DETRITAL ZIRCON U-Pb PROVENANCE ANALYSIS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS STRATA FROM THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BASIN

The Appalachian Basin is a complex retroarc foreland basin that developed along the eastern margin of North America in response to four successive orogenic events during the Paleozoic time and extends from southeastern Canada into northern Alabama. In the southern Appalachian Basin, much of the Paleozoic strata is now exposed in the Cumberland Plateau, a subregion within the larger Appalachian Plateau, running parallel to the western boundary of the Appalachian fold-thrust belt. Published research on detrital zircon provenance analyses of the Carboniferous foreland basin strata in the central and southern Appalachians predominantly indicates sediment recycling along the Appalachian orogenic front. Conversely, detrital zircon provenance studies of the Black Warrior Basin in Alabama and the Ouachita foreland basin strata in Arkansas and Oklahoma suggest sediment sources along the Ouachita orogenic front and accreted Gondwana terranes. In this study, we present an extensive U-Pb detrital zircon age dataset (n = 2873) from the Carboniferous sandstones of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee to trace the sediment sources in the southern Appalachian Basin. Preliminary results reveal that the detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra are statistically consistent across all our analyzed samples and show significant similarity with published data from the central and southern Appalachian Basin, spanning Pennsylvania to northern Alabama. This uniformity in detrital zircon age signatures is likely due to sediment recycling in one or more sources along the Appalachian orogenic front. We employ multiple statistical tests using the detrital zircon U-Pb age data to deepen the understanding of sediment provenance in the Carboniferous strata of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, where sparse spatial and temporal data exist.