Emplacement and deformation of granite pegmatite dykes in a mid-crustal regime of late-orogenic extension, southwest Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada

1997 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
WERNER P. KLEMENS ◽  
W. M. SCHWERDTNER

The horizontal opening of vertical fractures during emplacement of pegmatite-dyke swarms is an important mid-crustal mechanism of large-scale horizontal extension. This is documented in the south-western Grenville Province, a deeply eroded part of the collisional Grenville orogen. In the Georgian Bay region of central Ontario, Grenville gneisses host c. 990 Ma old, angular dykes which attest not only to horizontal extension but also to vertical thinning. The original dilation dykes probably varied in strike and were statistically vertical. However, many dykes had subhorizontal or inclined segments that were oblique or quasi-concordant to the gneissic foliation in the host rocks. The number of dykes exposed per 0.25 km2 varies on the scale of a few kilometres, and this is indicative of heterogeneous late orogenic extension of the Grenville gneisses. The apparent absence of regional gradients of peak palaeo-pressure, at the present erosion level, suggests that the extension was horizontal and initially unaccompanied by vertical contraction of the host gneisses. Subsequent buckling of the pegmatite dykes led to gentle, open or close folds with vertical enveloping surfaces. The geometric effects of gentle buckling of pegmatite dykes can be difficult to recognize in the field, especially where the late-stage vertical thinning is relatively weak. Among the geometric indicators of buckle-shortened dykes, the characteristic deflection (‘fanning’) of coplanar, inherited folia in gneissic host rocks is most sensitive. Systematic changes in the local degree of vertical shortening are indicative of heterogeneous vertical thinning, and may be associated with pull-apart structures at the horizontal scale of several kilometres.

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (8) ◽  
pp. 807-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J.S. Belton

Recent space observations of cometary nuclei show evidence of internal (cryovolcanic) activity while retaining aspects of their primitive origins. Using discoveries made during the two most recent cometary encounters: EPOXI at 103P/Hartley 2 and Stardust-NExT at 9P/Tempel 1, we test a hypothesis for their physical evolution, which, if true, could provide a unified basis for understanding the relative ages of their surfaces and the causes of a wide range of cometary activity. We show: (i) that the categorization of 103P/Hartley 2 as hyperactive is not a reflection of the extent of activity over the surface of the nucleus for which we find a normal H2O production rate; (ii) that the heterogeneous spatial distribution of CO2 and H2O in the inner comae of 9P/Tempel 1 and 103P/Hartley 2 is best explained by processes associated with cometary activity rather than the presence of primitive compositional heterogeneities in the nucleus; and (iii) that most of the quasi-circular depressions seen on the surface of 9P/Tempel are the result of outburst activity. The apparent absence of circular depressions and large scale layering on 103P/Hartley 2 present a challenge to the evolutionary hypothesis although the small size of its nucleus may ultimately provide an explanation.


1962 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Oboukhov

The spectrum of atmospheric turbulence is very broad by comparison with spectra in wind tunnels. We introduce the notion of small-scale and large-scale turbulence. Small-scale turbulence consists of a set of disturbances, the scales of which do not exceed the distance to the wall and for which the hypothesis of three-dimensional isotropy is valid in a certain rough approximation. Large-scale turbulence is essentially anisotropic; the horizontal scale in the atmosphere is much larger than the vertical one, the latter being confined to a certain characteristic height H. The horizontal scale varies widely according to the external conditions and characteristics of the medium.


2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 291-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Martignole ◽  
A J Calvert ◽  
R Friedman ◽  
P Reynolds

Results of deep seismic reflection survey along a 375 km long transect of the Grenville Province in western Quebec are combined with a review of geological observations and published isotopic ages. The seismic profile offers a remarkably clear image of the crust-mantle boundary and a good definition of the various crustal blocks. Crust about 44 km thick beneath the Grenville Front zone thins abruptly to ca. 36 km southeastward, perhaps the result of extension on southeast-dipping surfaces extending to the Moho. Other zones of relatively thin crust, although less pronounced, occur where Proterozoic crust overlies Archean crust, and beneath the Morin anorthosite complex. The thickest crust is found at the extreme southeast of the transect, east of the Morin anorthosite. From northwest to southeast, three main crustal subdivisions are (1) deformed Archean rocks with southeast-dipping reflectors in the Grenville Front zone, (2) an Archean parautochthon with northwest-dipping reflectors extending to the lower crust, and (3) an overlying three-layer crust interpreted as accreted Proterozoic terranes. The boundary between (2) and (3) is a major, southeast-dipping, crustal-scale ramp (Baskatong ramp) interpreted to have accommodated strain during and after accretion. U-Pb and Pb-Pb ages on detrital zircons show that metasedimentary rocks of the allochthons (Mont-Laurier, Réservoir Cabonga, and Lac Dumoine terranes) range from Archean to as young as 1.21 Ga. A single zone with 1.4 Ga old Sm-Nd model ages appears to lack Archean components and may be considered as a fragment of juvenile Mesoproterozoic crust pinched in a shear zone (Renzy shear zone) that could be raised to the status of terrane (Renzy terrane). In the allochthons, U-Pb ages of metamorphic zircon and monazite cluster around 1.17 Ga (Mont-Laurier and Réservoir Cabonga terrane) and 1.07 Ga (Renzy and Lac Dumoine terrane) and are interpreted to record late and post-accretion crustal reworking, a common feature of the Grenville orogen. A final high-grade metamorphic event (ca. 1.0 Ga) documented only in the parautochthon and the Grenville Front zone records large-scale, piggyback-style thrusting of allochthonous slabs onto the parautochthon. The age of transcurrent displacement following peak metamorphism affecting both the allochthons and the parautochthon decreases northwestward from 1.07 to 1.00 Ga. Dating thus shows that Grenvillian deformation in western Quebec occurred in pulses over an interval of 180 million years, with a tendency to propagate from the inner part of the orogen toward the Grenville Front. Reworked migmatites from the parautochthon cooled from the ca. 1.0 Ga peak of metamorphism through about 450°C (Ar closure in hornblende) at ca. 0.96 Ga with calculated cooling rates of about 6°C per million years, and unroofing rates of 0.33 km per million years. The cooling-unroofing history of the allochthons is not so straightforward, probably due to tectonic disturbances related to allochthon emplacement. Cooling through 450°C occurred between 1.04 and 1.01 Ga, at least 50 million years earlier than cooling in the parautochthon; this contrast agrees with the northwestward propagation of the orogen.


2020 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 01001
Author(s):  
Antonio Gens ◽  
Ramon B. de Vasconcelos ◽  
Sebastià Olivella

Recently, there is a tendency to explore the possibility of increasing the maximum design temperature in deep geological repositories for high-level nuclear waste and spent fuel. In the paper, a number of issues related to the use of higher temperatures are reviewed. Both bentonite barriers and argillaceous host rocks are addressed. An application involving the modelling of a large-scale field test conducted at a maximum temperature of 140ºC is presented. It is shown that currently available theoretical formulations and computer codes are capable to deal with temperatures above 100ºC and to reproduce satisfactorily the thermally-induced overpressures in the rock.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Vargas ◽  
Jorge L. Chau ◽  
Harikrishnan Charuvil Asokan ◽  
Michael Gerding

Abstract. We describe in this study the analysis of small and large horizontal scale gravity waves from datasets composed of images from multiple mesospheric nightglow emissions as well as multistatic specular meteor radar (MSMR) winds collected in early November 2018, during the SIMONe–2018 campaign. These ground-based measurements are supported by temperature and neutral density profiles from TIMED/SABER satellite in orbits near Kühlungsborn, northern Germany (54.1° N, 11.8° E). The scientific goals here include the characterization of gravity waves and their interaction with the mean flow in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and their relationship to dynamical conditions in the lower and upper atmosphere. We obtain intrinsic parameters of small and large horizontal scale gravity waves and characterize their impact in the mesosphere region via momentum flux and flux divergence estimations. We have verified that a small percent of the detected wave events are responsible for most of the momentum flux measured during the campaign from oscillations seen in the airglow brightness and MSMR winds. From the analysis of small-scale gravity waves in airglow images, we have found wave momentum fluxes ranging from 0.38 to 24.74 m2/s2 (0.88 ± 0.73 m2/s2 on average), with a total of 586.96 m2/s2 (sum over all 362 detected waves). However, small horizontal scale waves with flux > 3 m2/s2 (11 % of the events) transport 50 % of the total measured flux. Likewise, wave events having flux > 10 m2/s2 (2 % of the events) transport 20 % of the total flux. The examination of two large-scale waves seen simultaneously in airglow keograms and MSMR winds revealed relative amplitudes > 35 %, which translates into momentum fluxes of 21.2–29.6 m/s. In terms of gravity wave–mean flow interactions, these high momentum flux waves could cause decelerations of 22–41 m/s/day (small-scale waves) and 38–43 m/s/day (large-scale waves) if breaking or dissipating within short distances in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. The dominant large-scale waves might be the result of secondary gravity excited from imbalanced flow in the stratosphere caused by primary wave breaking.


Terra Nova ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 363-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan P. Dickin ◽  
David Cooper ◽  
Anlin Guo ◽  
Cara Hutton ◽  
Chris Martin ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 1735-1748 ◽  
Author(s):  
J H Puffer ◽  
M L Gorring

Most of the magnetite deposits of the eastern Grenville Province have been described as precipitates from hydrothermal solutions derived from metamorphic processes, from early, late, or post-Grenville granites, or as metasediments. Granites host many of these deposits, but others, including the historic Edison iron mines of New Jersey, are hosted by potassium-feldspar gneiss, commonly interpreted as meta-arkose. Our new geochemical data indicate, however, that the protolith of the potassium-feldspar gneiss is rhyolite, not arkose. Supporting evidence includes (i) the absence of an underlying potassic provenance for arkosic sediment, (ii) potassium and sodium contents among host rocks that exceed the range of arkose but are consistent with A-type rhyolite, and (iii) a close chemical resemblance of the potassium-feldspar gneiss to an A-type granite (Byram granite) that is closely associated in time and space. As the ore zone through the Edison mines is approached, the K/Na ratio of the host rocks undergoes a distinct increase, consistent with extensive diagenetic alteration of rhyolitic pyroclastics in a hypersaline environment. This alteration provided a local ligand source for subsequent hydrothermal iron mineralization derived from the nearby pre-orogenic Byram granite. These iron concentrations were then remobilized and recrystallized during subsequent Grenville metamorphism. Although some of the magnetite deposits of the New Jersey Highlands display evidence of post-orogenic replacement and an association with undeformed pegmatites, the banded magnetite ore and related pegmatites of the Edison mines are conformable to the foliation of the host rock and are interpreted as metamorphic products of pre-orogenic, granite-derived, hydrothermal iron concentrates.


2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 993-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN DICKIN ◽  
ROBERT NORTH

AbstractNearly 50 new Nd isotope analyses are presented for the Shawanaga region of Georgian Bay, Ontario, to study crustal evolution in the Grenvillian Central Gneiss Belt. Depleted mantle (TDM) Nd model ages are used to map a major Grenvillian tectonic boundary, the Allochthon Boundary Thrust (ABT), which in the Shawanaga area separates gneisses with TDM ages above and below 1.65 Ga. This is lower than the 1.8 Ga age cut-off observed further north, and is attributed to a southward increase in Mesoproterozoic magmatic reworking of an original Palaeoproterozoic continental margin, causing a progressive southward decrease in Nd model ages. Between Shawanaga Island and Franklin Island, Nd isotope mapping yields an ABT trajectory that closely matches published geological mapping, and passes within 100 m of four retrogressed eclogite bodies typically associated with the thrust boundary. This validation of the method gives confidence in the mapped trajectory south of Snake Island, where sparse outcrop inhibits lithological mapping. The new results suggest that published 1.7–1.9 Ga TDM ages in the Lower Go Home domain of the Central Gneiss Belt further south are also indicative of parautochthonous crust. Hence, we propose that the main ramp of the ABT is located in the immediate hangingwall of the Go Home domain, much further south than generally recognized. This has important implications for the large-scale crustal structure of the SW Grenville Province, suggesting that the ABT ramp has a similar curved trajectory to the Grenville Front and the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust.


2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-159
Author(s):  
Jacob W.D. Strong ◽  
Alan P. Dickin

AbstractTo properly understand the tectonic history of the Grenville Province it is necessary to have a reliable, scientifically based understanding of the present-day three-dimensional (3D) structure of the orogen. Based on detailed Nd isotope mapping of surface boundaries and Lithoprobe seismic sections, this study provides the first detailed visualization of the 3D structure of the Grenville gneiss belt in Ontario using the SketchUp software package. The 3D visualization supports a model in which thrust geometry was imposed from the top downwards, controlled by the NW boundary of the Central Metasedimentary Belt that originated as a failed back-arc rift zone. The Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary controlled the trajectory of the Allochthon Boundary Thrust, its underlying tectonic duplex and, ultimately, the Grenville Front. This process of superimposed thrusting explains the large-scale change in the trajectory of the Grenville Front north of Georgian Bay that has been called the ‘Big Bend’. To assist in visualizing the 3D model, a fly-through animation is provided in the supplementary material.


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