Paleomagnetism of carboniferous intrusions in North Carolina

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Abstract
Paleomagnetic samples of two late Paleozoic plutons were collected from the eastern Piedmont Province in North Carolina. Results from the early Carboniferous (326±27 m.y.) Lilesville pluton, located in the Carolina Slate Belt, indicate a pole position similar to that of the stable North American craton for the lower Carboniferous. Five sites inthis gabbro/granite complex give a pole of 40°N, 134°E (α 95 = 2.9). The late Carboniferous 282±6 m.y.) Churchland pluton, located in the Charlotte Belt, gives a pole of 34°N, 126°E α 95 = 16.3) which correlates well with other North American poles for the late Carboniferous. Observations made by Kent and Opdyke (1978) on rocks from the eastern edge of the northern Appalachians suggest gross lateral displacement between the mid‐Devonian and late Carboniferous in the late Paleozoic. This paleomagnetic information from the eastern Piedmont region implies that the area of the Carolina Slate Belt and Charlotte Belt was associated with the North American platform for the entire Carboniferous period. The Slate Belt rocks, although geologically a southern counterpart to some of the Avalonian rocks from the northeastern edge of North America, do not display a paleomagnetic history suggestive of great displacement.