Migration of the Acadian Orogen and foreland basin across the Northern Appalachians of Maine and adjacent areas

The timing of Acadian orogenesis in Maine is reassessed, on the basis of a new Silurian-Devonian time scale, new U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar ages of Acadian plutons, new conodont and palynomorph ages of strata that constrain the age of deformation, and published information. This analysis shows that the Acadian deformation front migrated some 240 km (present distance) from southeast to northwest during a span of about 40 million years from Late Silurian to Middle Devonian time.