The Middle Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift System (MRS) of North America is a failed rift that formed in response to region-wide stresses about 1,100 Ma. In Iowa, the MRS is buried beneath 2,200-3,500 ft of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks and Quaternary glaciogenic deposits. An extremely large volume of sediments was deposited within basins associated with the rift at several stages during its development. Although the uplift of a rift-axial horst resulted in the erosional removal of most of these clastic rocks from the central region of the MRS in Iowa, thick sequences are preserved in a series of horst-bounding basins. Recent studies incorporating petrographic analysis, geophysical modeling, and other analytical procedures have led to the establishment of a preliminary stratigraphy for these clastic rocks and interpretations of basin geometries. This information has allowed the refinement of existing theories and history of MRS formation in Iowa. Additionally, drill samples previously interpreted as indicating the existence of early Paleozoic basins overlying the Proterozoic MRS basins were re-examined. Samples previously interpreted as deep-lying Paleozoic rocks are now known to have caved from upper levels of the drillhole and were out of stratigraphic position. No deep Paleozoic basins exist in this area. These investigations led to the development of petrographic parameters useful in differentiating the Proterozoic MRS Red clastics from Paleozoic clastic rocks having similar lithologies.

Based on the Tenth International Basement Tectonics Conference held at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in August 1992, this volume contains 19 papers, 13 of which focus on the Middle Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift. An introductory essay discussing the Middle Proterozoic to Cambrian rifting in central North America is followed by contributions addressing topics including the Midcontinent Rift in Michigan and Minnesota, the Port Coldwell veins of northern Ontario, and petrography and sedimentation in the western Lake Superior region. The last five papers deal with the pre-Mount Simon basins of Ohio, the English Graben and the newly proposed East Continent Rift Complex, the Reelfoot Rift/Rough Creek Graben in the evolution of the Illinois Basin, and the A-type sheet granites in the Oklahoma Aulacogen of Cambrian age. Bandw illustrations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR