Of numerous post-depositional microstructures !hat exist in Carboniferous quartz sandstones, Tuttle lamellae (healed microcracks or microfractures, planar arrays of fluid inclusions) are potentially the most informative. Universal stage orientation analysis and the stratigraphic position of relict and consistent post-depositional Tuttle lamellae populations indicate a polyphase history of formation with at least three events: a pre-Carboniferous event, a Carboniferous event (perhaps associated with basin extension), and a post-Triassic event - very likely Tertiary in age. Since Carboniferous macrostructures are scarce, Tuttle lamellae provide a promising avenue for future kinematic analysis of somewhat cryptic Carboniferous deformation events.

John R. Pray, Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. 29208, USA;
Hormon D. Maher, Jr. , Department of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska 68182, USA;
Alastair I. Welbon, Department of Geological Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6, Canada.