Neodymium isotopic composition of Cambrian–Ordovician biogenic apatite in the Baltoscandian Basin: implications for palaeogeographical evolution and patterns of biodiversity

2005 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
ULF STURESSON ◽  
LEONID E. POPOV ◽  
LARS E. HOLMER ◽  
MICHAEL G. BASSETT ◽  
SERGEI FELITSYN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Constant Factor ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Benthic Assemblages ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
T Values

Biogenic apatite preserved in 148 samples of conodonts and organophosphatic-shelled brachiopods from Cambrian through Ordovician successions of the Baltoscandian Basin (Baltica Plate) preserves a sensitive record of early Palaeozoic sea-water chemistry interpreted via neodymium isotope ratios. Consistent ${\uvarepsilon}$Nd(t) values of −9.6 to −8.3 for Lower to Middle Cambrian samples suggest no significant lateral or temporal variation across the region. Average Upper Cambrian values are −7.2 to −7.7. Sedimentary analysis suggests that the influence of continental weathering from Baltica as a major source of radiogenic Nd was negligible. Ordovician samples show a rise to −5 to −6 in the early Arenig, early–mid Llanvirn and late Caradoc. Sea-water mixing from the southeast Iapetus Ocean was a constant factor throughout Cambrian–Ordovician times. The rise reflects erosion of obducted volcanic arc complexes along the Caledonian margin, and probably also relates to pollution of the Baltica sector of Iapetus from the approaching Avalonia Plate. Patterns of evolutionary biodiversity and palaeobiogeographical linkages support the geochemical signatures in interpreting the tectonic history of the region. Extinction of lingulate brachiopod faunas in the Tremadoc, followed by subsequent recovery and emergence of benthic assemblages typical of the Ordovician Evolutionary Fauna in the Billingen–early Volkhov regional stages coincide with significant changes in geochemical characteristics of water masses across the Baltoscandian basin. The early and mid Ordovician (Arenig to Llandeilo) brachiopod faunas of the North Estonian Confacies Belt are characterized by high endemism and low turnover rates, whereas increased immigration resulted in the extinction of a number of local lineages in the late Llanvirn. From the mid Caradoc to mid Ashgill, when Baltica was drifting on a course to collide eventually with Avalonia and gradually approach Laurentia, brachiopod assemblages were characterized by higher turnover rates. At the same time they gradually became more cosmopolitan and less influenced by the invasion of new faunas.

Age, evolution and tectonic history of the Highland Border Complex, Scotland

1984 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon B. Curry ◽  
B. J. Bluck ◽  
C. J. Burton ◽  
J. K. Ingham ◽  
David J. Siveter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
North American Plate ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Northwestern Margin ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
Western Ireland

I. ABSTRACT: Research interest in the Highland Border Complex has been pursued sporadically during the past 150 years. The results and conclusions have emphasised the problems of dealing with a lithologically disparate association which crops out in isolated, fault-bounded slivers along the line of the Highland Boundary fault. For much of the present century, the debate has centred on whether the rocks of the complex have affinities with the Dalradian Supergroup to the N, or are a discrete group. Recent fossil discoveries in a wide variety of Highland Border rocks have confirmed that many are of Ordovician age, and hence cannot have been involved in at least the early Grampian deformational events (now accurately dated as pre-Ordovician) which affect the Dalradian Supergroup. Such palaeontological discoveries form the basis for a viable biostratigraphical synthesis. On a regional scale, it is apparent that the geological history of the Highland Border rocks must be viewed in the context of plate boundary tectonism along the entire northwestern margin of Iapetus during Palaeozoic times.II. ABSTRACT: Silicified articulate brachiopods from the Lower Ordovician (Arenig) Dounans Limestone are extremely rare but the stratigraphically diagnostic generaArchaeorthisSchuchert and Cooper, andOrthidiumHall and Clarke, have been identified. In addition, three specimens with characteristic syntrophiid morphology have been recovered. Inarticulate brachiopods are known from Stonehaven and Bofrishlie Burn near Aberfoyle, and have also been previously recorded from Arran.III. ABSTRACT: Micropalaeontological investigation of the Highland Border Complex has produced a range of microfossils including chitinozoans, coleolids, calcispheres and other more enigmatic objects. The stratigraphical ranges of the species lie almost entirely within the Ordovician and reveal a scatter of ages for different lithologies from the Arenig through to the Caradoc or Ashgill, with a pronounced erosional break between the Llandeilo and the Caradoc.IV. ABSTRACT: A Lower Ordovician (Arenig Series) silicified ostracode fauna from the Highland Border Dounans Limestone at Lime Craig Quarry, Aberfoyle, Central Scotland, represents the earliest record of this group of Crustacea from the British part of the early Palaeozoic ‘North American’ plate.V. ABSTRACT: Palaeontological age determinations for a variety of Highland Border rocks are presented. The data are based on the results of recent prospecting which has demonstrated that macro- and microfossils are present in a much greater range of Highland Border lithologies than previously realised. Data from other studies are also incorporated, as are modern taxonomie re-assessments of older palaeontological discoveries, in a comprehensive survey of Highland Border biostratigraphy. These accumulated data demonstrate that all fossiliferous Highland Border rocks so far discovered are of Ordovician age, with the exception of the Lower Cambrian Leny Limestone.VI. ABSTRACT: The Highland Border Complex consists of at least four rock assemblages: a serpentinite and possibly other ophiolitic rocks of Early or pre-Arenig age; a sequence of limestones and conglomerates of Early Arenig age; a succession of dark shales, cherts, quartz wackes, basic lavas and associated volcanogenic sediments of Llanvirn and ? earlier age; and an assemblage of limestones, breccias, conglomerates and arenites with subordinate shales of Caradoc or Ashgill age. At least three assemblages are divided by unconformities and in theirmost general aspect have similarities with coeval rocks in western Ireland.The Highland Border Complex probably formed N of the Midland Valley arc massif in a marginal sea comparable with the Sunda shelf adjacent to Sumatra–Java. Strike-slip and thrust emplacement of the whole Complex in at least four episodes followed the probable generation of all or part of its rocks by pull-apart mechanisms.

scholarly journals Cenozoic tectonic history of the North America-Caribbean plate boundary zone in western Cuba

1997 ◽  
Vol 102 (B5) ◽  
pp. 10055-10082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark B. Gordon ◽  
Paul Mann ◽  
Dámaso Cáceres ◽  
Raúl Flores
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Boundary Zone ◽  
Caribbean Plate ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Plate Boundary Zone

Holkham Salts Hole, an Isolated Salt-Water pond with Relict Features. An Account Based on Studies by the late C. F. A. Pantin

1971 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 717-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. D. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
High Water ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Marine Fauna ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Water Pond

A saline pond known as the ‘Salts Hole’ at Holkham on the north coast of Norfolk is situated between the pine-covered sand-hills and the fields that have been reclaimed for agriculture from pre-existing salt-marshes. It has a salinity of about 75% of that of sea water and supports a peculiar relict marine fauna. Except for the rare occurrence of flooding for a short period, as in the great storm of 1953, the pond has probably been cut off from the sea for about 250 years. It presents three problems: how it got its fauna and flora; how its marine character is maintained; and how the pond originated geographically. The fauna and flora, as described, show the pond as a refuge where various marine and brackish species have managed to maintain themselves and co-exist in water outside their normal and differing ranges of salinity. The main character of the pond is kept remarkably constant with respect to salinity, alkalinity, temperature and oxygenation. The pond is a study in ‘natural engineering’, constituting a natural marine aquarium with natural controls. It is fed near the level of high-water neap tide by continuous flow from a salt spring of very constant salinity supplied from water contained in the extensive coastal sands. Its only apparent artificial feature is the outlet controlled by a dam through a culvert into a ditch that conveys its water through the fields to the sea at Wells nearly two miles away. Search in the muniment room at Holkham Hall brought to light maps dating back to Elizabethan days which show the history of the Salts Hole.

On the nature of the crust in the vicinity of the southeast Newfoundland Ridge

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1462-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Sullivan ◽  
C. E. Keen
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Magnetic Data ◽  
Seismic Structure ◽  
Grand Banks ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Continental Origin ◽  
Magnetic Lineations ◽  
Gravity And Magnetic Data

This paper presents new seismic reflection, refraction, gravity, and magnetic data bearing on the nature of the crust in the vicinity of the Newfoundland Ridge and the J-anomaly Ridge, immediately south of the Grand Banks. This area experienced a complicated plate tectonic history being the focal point for interactions of the North American, African, and Iberian plates. New data have recently been published for this region and conflicting interpretations have been offered in relation to the oceanic or continental origin of the crust there. The data presented here show that the seismic structure and the most reasonable models for the magnetic anomalies are more consistent with an oceanic origin. The trends and offsets in the magnetic lineations and possible differences in subsidence, north and south of the Newfoundland Ridge, are discussed in relation to possible modes of formation of this feature. It is proposed that similar subsidence histories since mid-Cretaceous time on the Grand Banks and J-anomaly Ridge are related to a similarity in the thermal history of the lithosphere beneath these areas, as the ridge crest migrated eastwards, and do not require the same type of crust to underlie both areas.

scholarly journals AGE, PETROGENESIS AND TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE LATE PERMIAN PERALUMINOUS AND METALUMINOUS MAGMATIC ROCKS IN THE MIDDLE GOBI VOLCANOPLUTONIC BELT, MONGOLIA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariuntsetseg Ganbat ◽  
Tatsuki Tsujimori ◽  
Laicheng Miao ◽  
Inna Safonova ◽  
Daniel Pastor-Galán ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Continental Margin ◽  
Biotite Granite ◽  
Ridge Subduction ◽  
The North ◽  
Magmatic Rocks ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
History Of ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
T Values

The Mongol–Okhotsk Belt, the youngest segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, formed by the evolution and closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. The oceanic closure formed two volcanoplutonic belts: Selenge Belt in the north and Middle Gobi Belt in the south (in present day coordinates). However, the origin and tectonic evolution of the Mongol–Okhotsk Belt in general, the origin and formation age of the Middle Gobi Belt in particular, remain enigmatic. To better understand the history of the magmatic activity in the Middle Gobi Belt, we conducted geochemical, U–Pb geochronological, zircon Hf, whole-rock Nd isotopic analyses of volcanic and plutonic rocks of the Mandalgovi suite, the major component of the Middle Gobi Belt. Our results show that the Mandalgovi suite consists of (i) 265 ± 2 Ma biotite-granite; (ii) 250 ± 3 Ma hornblende-granitoids; (iii) their volcanic equivalents of both: and (iv) gabbro-diorites. The geochemical compositions indicate that their precursor magmas were derived from crustal source. The protoliths of the biotite and hornblende-granitoids were metagraywacke and metabasalt, respectively. They are characterized by positive whole-rock εNd(t) and zircon εHf(t) values, indicating the molten protoliths were juvenile crust. The biotite-granites formed by remelting of fore-arc sediments by ridge subduction and later hornblende-granites were emplaced at an intra-oceanic arc by the subduction of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. We conclude that the magmatic rocks of the Middle Gobi formed in an active continental margin and/or intra-oceanic arc setting.

Paleogeographic position of the central Dodecanese Islands, southeastern Greece: The push-pull of Pelagonia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Grasemann ◽  
D.A. Schneider ◽  
K. Soukis ◽  
V. Roche ◽  
B. Hubmann
Keyword(s):  
Normal Fault ◽  
White Mica ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Tectonic Position ◽  
History Of ◽  
Single Grain ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Bottom To Top

The paleogeographic position of the central Dodecanese Islands at the transition between the Aegean and Anatolian plates plays a considerable role in understanding the link between both geologically unique domains. In this study, we investigate the tectonic history of the central Dodecanese Islands and the general correlation with the Aegean and western Anatolian and focus on the poorly studied islands of Kalymnos and Telendos. Three different major tectonic units were mapped on both islands from bottom to top: (1) The Kefala Unit consists of late Paleozoic, fossil-rich limestones, which have been deformed into a SE-vergent fold-and-thrust belt sealed by an up to 200-m-thick wildflysch-type olistostrome with marble and ultramafic blocks on a scale of tens of meters. (2) The Marina Basement Unit consists of a Variscan amphibolite facies basement with garnet mica schists, quartzites, and amphibolites. (3) Verrucano-type formation violet shales and Mesozoic unmetamorphosed limestones form the Marina Cover Unit. Correlation of these units with other units in the Aegean suggests that Kalymnos is paleogeographically located at the southern margin of the Pelagonian domain, and therefore it was in a structurally upper tectonic position during the Paleogene Alpine orogeny. New white mica 40Ar/39Ar ages confirm the Carboniferous deformation of the Marina Basement Unit followed by a weak Triassic thermal event. Single-grain white mica 40Ar/39Ar ages from pressure solution cleavage of the newly defined Telendos Thrust suggest that the Marina Basement Unit was thrusted toward the north on top of the Kefala Unit in the Paleocene. Located at a tectonically upper position, the units exposed in the central Dodecanese escaped subduction and the syn-orogenic, high-pressure metamorphism. However, these units were affected by post-orogenic extension, and the contact between the Marina Basement Unit and the non-metamorphic Marina Cover Unit has been reactivated by the cataclastic top-to-SSW, low-angle Kalymnos Detachment. Zircon (U-Th)/He ages from the Kefala and Marina Basement Units are ca. 30 Ma, which indicates that exhumation and cooling below the Kalymnos Detachment started in the Oligocene. Conjugate brittle high-angle normal fault systems, which resulted in the formation of four major WNW-ESE−trending graben systems on Kalymnos, localized mainly in the Marina Cover Unit and probably rooted in the mechanically linked Kalymnos Detachment. Since Oligo-Miocene deformation in the northern Dodecanese records top-to-NNE extension and the Kalymnos Detachment accommodated top-to-SSW extension, we suggest that back-arc extension in the whole Aegean realm and transition to the Anatolian plate is bivergent.

Continuity of the North Qilian and North Altun orogenic belts of NW China: evidence from newly discovered Palaeozoic low-Mg and high-Mg adakitic rocks

2017 ◽  
Vol 155 (8) ◽  
pp. 1684-1704 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHENG-YAO YU ◽  
JIAN-XIN ZHANG ◽  
SAN-ZHONG LI ◽  
DE-YOU SUN ◽  
YIN-BIAO PENG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nd Isotopes ◽  
Significant Information ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Adakitic Rocks ◽  
Early Palaeozoic ◽  
T Values ◽  
Orogenic Belts ◽  
North Qilian ◽  
Mantle Magma

AbstractIn this study, the petrology, zircon U–Pb ages, Lu–Hf isotopic compositions, whole-rock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotopes for newly recognized low-Mg and high-Mg adakitic rocks from the North Altun orogenic belt were determined. The results will provide important insights for understanding the continuities of the North Qilian and North Altun orogenic belts during early Palaeozoic time. The low-Mg adakitic granitoids (445 to 439 Ma) are characterized by high SiO2 (69–70 wt %), low Mg no. (43–48) and low Cr and Ni contents. In contrast, the high-Mg adakitic granitoids (425 to 422 Ma) have relatively lower SiO2 (65–67 wt %), higher Mg no. (60–62) and higher Cr and Ni contents. The low-Mg adakitic rocks have high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7073–0.7084), negative εNd(t) (−1.9 to −4.0) and εHf(t) values (−6.8 to −2.0), and old zircon Hf model ages (1.4–1.7 Ga). In contrast, the high-Mg adakitic rocks show lower initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7044–0.7057), higher εNd(t) (−0.7 to 3.1) and positive εHf(t) values (2.0 to 6.9), with younger zircon Hf model ages (0.9–1.2 Ga). These results suggest that the low-Mg adakitic rocks were probably generated by the partial melting of thickened crust, whereas the high-Mg adakitic rocks were derived from the anatexis of delaminated lower crust, which subsequently interacted with mantle magma upon ascent. The data obtained in this study provide significant information about the geological and tectonic processes after the closure of the Altun Ocean. The continent–continent collision and thickening probably occurred during 450–440 Ma with the formation of low-Mg adakitic rocks, and the transition of the tectonic regime from compression to extension probably occurred at 425–422 Ma with the formation of high-Mg adakitic rocks. The geochemical, geochronological and petrogenetic similarities between the North Altun and North Qilian adakitic rocks suggest that these two orogenic belts were subjected to similar tectonomagmatic processes during early Palaeozoic times.

Are Wilson Cycles preserved in Archean cratons? A comparison of the North China and Slave cratons

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M. Kusky ◽  
Xiaoyong Li ◽  
Zhensheng Wang ◽  
Jianmin Fu ◽  
Luo Ze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North China Craton ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
North China ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
The North ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pacific Slab ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Back Arc

A review and comparison of the tectonic history of the North China and Slave cratons reveal that the two cratons have many similarities and some significant differences. The similarities rest in the conclusion that both cratons have a history of a Wilson Cycle, having experienced rifting of an old continent in the late Archean, development of a rift to passive margin sequence, collision of this passive margin with arcs within 100–200 Ma of the formation of the passive margin, reversal of subduction polarity, then eventual climactic collision with another arc terrane, microcontinental fragment, or continent. This cycle demonstrates the operation of Paleozoic-style plate tectonics in the late Archean. The main differences lie in the later tectonic evolution. The Slave’s post-cratonization history is dominated by subduction dipping away from the interior of the craton, and later incorporation into the interior of a larger continent, whereas the North China Craton has had a long history of subduction beneath the craton, including presently being located above the flat-lying Pacific slab resting in the mantle transition zone, placing it in a broad back-arc setting, with multiple mantle hydration events and collisions along its borders. The hydration enhances melting in the overlying mantle, and leads to melts migrating upwards to thermochemically erode the lithospheric root. This major difference may explain why the relatively small Slave craton preserves its thick Archean lithospheric root, whereas the eastern North China Craton has lost it.

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