Geochemistry and Petrology of the Cuttingsville Igneous Suite, Poster 13

The Cuttingsville igneous suite, located ten miles south of Rutland VT, is one of several plutons emplaced during the Mesozoic in the New England Quebec region. Despite the abundance and longstanding study of these intrusions,... [ view full abstract ]

The Cuttingsville igneous suite, located ten miles south of Rutland VT, is one of several plutons emplaced during the Mesozoic in the New England Quebec region. Despite the abundance and longstanding study of these intrusions, their origin is still a subject of debate. Two explanations currently exist for this intraplate magmatism; one arguing that melting occurred due to a mantle plume, the other that the intrusions are a result of extensional tectonic forces. Studying the Cuttingsville complex will shed light on this debate. Composed of five distinct lithologies, the Cuttingsville pluton contains both mafic and felsic silica-undersaturated and oversaturated rocks. For this study, multiple samples have been collected from each rock type and are currently undergoing a suite of analyses. Ultimately, this research will result in a complete whole rock, trace, and rare element geochemistry dataset for the Cuttingsville suite. This information will help determine the petrogensis of this pluton, and should contribute to the understanding of regional anorogenic magmatism.