Science. 1990 Nov 9;250(4982):763-9. doi: 10.1126/science.250.4982.763.
The character of sedimentary basins, before they are deformed and metamorphosed, may strongly influence the thermal and baric patterns of metamorphic belts. Crustal thickening of anoxic sedimentary basins and subsequent thermal reequilibration may produce large areas of high-grade metamorphic rocks and granites because the concentrations of the heat-producing elements are high in such basins. In New England there is a spatial association among granites and high-grade metasedimentary rocks rich in U and Th that now form the Central Maine terrane. The high content of heat-producing elements in these rocks is attributed to fixing of U and Th in highly reduced sediments that were deposited in an anoxic basin that formed in the Silurian. When the basin was thickened during the Devonian Acadian orogeny, the thermal energy generated by the U- and Th-rich sediments produced the observed broad zone of high-grade rocks and anatectic granites. This hypothesis was tested with thermal calculations that reproduce most of the first-order thermal and baric patterns of the Acadian Appalachians, if pretectonic lateral variations in heat production are assumed.
在沉积盆地变形和变质之前，其特征可能会强烈影响变质带的热和压力模式。缺氧沉积盆地的地壳增厚和随后的热再平衡可能会产生大面积的高级变质岩和花岗岩，因为此类盆地中的产热元素浓度很高。在新英格兰地区，富铀和钍的高级变质沉积岩与花岗岩之间存在空间关联，这些岩石现在构成了缅因州中央地体。这些岩石中产热元素的高含量归因于在形成于志留纪的缺氧盆地中沉积的高度还原沉积物中固定的铀和钍。当盆地在泥盆纪阿坎迪亚造山运动期间增厚时，富铀和钍沉积物产生的热能产生了观察到的广泛的高级岩石和熔结花岗岩带。如果假设前构造横向产热变化，那么通过热计算可以重现阿坎迪亚阿巴拉契亚山脉的大部分一级热和压力模式，从而验证了这一假设。
