Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0040, USA

Widespread thermal metamorphism at 1.4 Ga is present throughout much of the magmatic province and is viewed as a consequence of this immense event. Compressional deformation associated with several western 1.4 Ga Laurentia granite batholiths, alternatively interpreted as the distal expressions of a presumed 1.4 Ga orogeny, have at least in part been shown to be localized on preexisting Paleoproterozoic zones of deformation. Thus, we do not find compelling evidence for a 1.4 Ga orogeny related to the formation of most of these granites. Renewed intrusions at 1.0–1.1 Ga between and immediately following phases of the Grenville orogeny indicate that situations leading to their formation need to be more broadly considered.

The origin of this red granite-forming event in Laurentia and Baltica is considered as part of a global magmatic event that was coeval with intrusion of massif anorthosites and associated charnockites. Most are viewed as anorogenic, but it is recognized that the same conditions leading to their formation may have occurred during extensional phases of orogens. The immense volumes of red granites produced are also essentially unique to the Mesoproterozoic and appear to be tied to the stabilization and eventual break up of supercontinents of both Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic age.