Provenance of Jurassic sedimentary rocks of south-central Quesnellia, British Columbia: implications for paleogeography

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan T Petersen ◽  
Paul L Smith ◽  
James K Mortensen ◽  
Robert A Creaser ◽  
Howard W Tipper

Jurassic sedimentary rocks of southern to central Quesnellia record the history of the Quesnellian magmatic arc and reflect increasing continental influence throughout the Jurassic history of the terrane. Standard petrographic point counts, geochemistry, Sm–Nd isotopes and detrital zircon geochronology, were employed to study provenance of rocks obtained from three areas of the terrane. Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks, classified by inferred proximity to their source areas as proximal or proximal basin are derived from an arc source area. Sandstones of this age are immature. The rocks are geochemically and isotopically primitive. Detrital zircon populations, based on a limited number of analyses, have homogeneous Late Triassic or Early Jurassic ages, reflecting local derivation from Quesnellian arc sources. Middle Jurassic proximal and proximal basin sedimentary rocks show a trend toward more evolved mature sediments and evolved geochemical characteristics. The sandstones show a change to more mature grain components when compared with Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks. There is a decrease in εNdT values of the sedimentary rocks and Proterozoic detrital zircon grains are present. This change is probably due to a combination of two factors: (1) pre-Middle Jurassic erosion of the Late Triassic – Early Jurassic arc of Quesnellia, making it a less dominant source, and (2) the increase in importance of the eastern parts of Quesnellia and the pericratonic terranes, such as Kootenay Terrane, both with characteristically more evolved isotopic values. Basin shale environments throughout the Jurassic show continental influence that is reflected in the evolved geochemistry and Sm–Nd isotopes of the sedimentary rocks. The data suggest southern Quesnellia received material from the North American continent throughout the Jurassic but that this continental influence was diluted by proximal arc sources in the rocks of proximal derivation. The presence of continent-derived material in the distal sedimentary rocks of this study suggests that southern Quesnellia is comparable to known pericratonic terranes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1006-1020
Author(s):  
F.I. Zhimulev ◽  
E.V. Vetrov ◽  
I.S. Novikov ◽  
G. Van Ranst ◽  
S. Nachtergaele ◽  
...  

Abstract —The Kolyvan’–Tomsk folded zone (KTFZ) is a late Permian collisional orogen in the northwestern section of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The Mesozoic history of the KTFZ area includes Late Triassic–Early Jurassic and Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous orogenic events. The earlier event produced narrow deep half-ramp basins filled with Early–Middle Jurassic molasse south of the KTFZ, and the later activity rejuvenated the Tomsk thrust fault, whereby the KTFZ Paleozoic rocks were thrust over the Early–Middle Jurassic basin sediments. The Mesozoic orogenic events induced erosion and the ensuing exposure of granitoids (Barlak complex) that were emplaced in a within-plate context after the Permian collisional orogeny. Both events were most likely associated with ocean closure, i.e., the Paleothetys Ocean in the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic and the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean in the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous. The apatite fission track (AFT) ages of granitoids from the Ob’ complex in the KTFZ range between ~120 and 100 Ma (the Aptian and the Albian). The rocks with Early Cretaceous AFT ages were exhumed as a result of denudation and peneplanation of the Early Cretaceous orogeny, which produced a vast Late Cretaceous–Paleogene planation surface. The tectonic pattern of the two orogenic events, although being different in details, generally inherited the late Paleozoic primary collisional structure of the Kolyvan’–Tomsk zone.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe C. Martens ◽  
Roberto S. Molina Garza

ABSTRACT Provenance determinations of sediment deposited in circum–Gulf of Mexico basins rely on understanding the geologic elements present in the basement provinces located from northeast Mexico to Honduras. Relevant geologic features of these provinces are herein summarized in text and pictorial form, and they include the Huizachal-Peregrina uplift, western Gulf of Mexico, Huayacocotla, Zapoteco, Mixteca, Xolapa, Juchatengo, Cuicateco, Mixtequita, south-central Chiapas, southeast Chiapas, western Guatemala, central Guatemala, Maya Mountains, and the Chortis block. We recognized basement elements of local character that serve as fingerprints for specific source areas. However, many elements are ubiquitous, such as 1.4–0.9 Ga, high-grade metamorphic rocks that occur both as broad exposures and as inliers in otherwise reworked crust. Xenocrystic and detrital zircon of Mesoproterozoic age is very common and hence not diagnostic of provenance. Neoproterozoic rocks are very scarce in Mexican basement provinces. However, Ediacaran–Cambrian detrital zircon grains are found in Mexican Paleozoic strata; these were possibly derived from distant sources in Gondwana and Pangea. Ordovician–Silurian magmatism is present in approximately half the provinces; magmatic detrital zircon of such age is somewhat informative in terms of provenance. More useful populations are detrital zircon grains with Ordovician–Silurian metamorphic overgrowth, which seem to be mainly sourced from the Mixteca region or the southern Chiapas Massif. Devonian basement has only been discovered in the Maya Mountains of Belize, and detrital zir-on of such age seems to be characteristic of that source. A similar case can be made about Carboniferous zircon and the Acatlán Complex, Middle Pennsylvanian zircon and Juchatengo plutons, and Late Triassic zircon and the basement exposed in central Guatemala. In all these cases, the age and geographic extent of the zircon source are restricted and serve as a distinct fingerprint. Plutons of Permian–Early Triassic age are widespread, and detrital zircon grains from them are rather nonspecific indicators of source area. Future dating of detrital white mica using 40Ar-39Ar could help in recognizing Carboniferous–Triassic schist from more restricted schist occurrences such as west Cuicateco (Early Cretaceous) and central Guatemala (Late Cretaceous).


1980 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
A. Crostella ◽  
T. Barter

Very large gas accumulations were discovered in the Dampier Sub-basin on the Northwest Shelf of Australia during the early 1970's. The majority of the reservoirs are fluvial and marginal marine sandstones within a thick intra-cratonic clastic sequence of Early Triassic to Middle Jurassic age. Parts of this succession have been penetrated by more than 60 wells within the Dampier Sub-basin and the adjacent Beagle and Barrow Sub-basins.Broad regional palaeoenvironmental episodes have been established using oriented core supplemented by seismic, palaeontologic and wireline log data. The earliest episode was an Early to Middle Triassic transgressive-regressive cycle which led to marine and marginal marine deposition, followed during the Middle to Late Triassic by dominantly fluvial deposition. A transgression began in the early Rhaetian, characterised by deltaic, estuarine, lagoonal and coastal sedimentation which gave way to fully marine conditions during the Early Jurassic (Hettangian); this was followed by a regressive cycle.A regional tectonic episode followed which resulted in development of troughs, and brought about associated extensional faulting. Marine conditions which typified the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian) persisted until the beginning of the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) in the Dampier Sub-basin, but passed rapidly to a fluvio-deltaic cycle in the Beagle Sub-basin. Regressive conditions extended gradually westward until sedimentation was interrupted by the onset of major continental break-up toward the end of the Middle Jurassic.The deposition of an alternating sequence of thick shale and sand during mainly restricted marine and continental conditions has provided the area with potential source and reservoir rocks.


Author(s):  
Chengshi Gan ◽  
Yuzhi Zhang ◽  
Yuejun Wang ◽  
Xin Qian ◽  
Yang Wang

The southeastern (SE) South China Block was mainly influenced by the Paleo-Tethyan and Paleo-Pacific dynamic domains during the Mesozoic. The initial timing of the tectonic transition between these two domains in the SE South China Block still remains debated. The transition would affect the nature of the lithosphere and material provenance of sediments, and, therefore, igneous and sedimentary rocks in the area could record such dynamic processes. In this study, published geochronological and geochemical data of the Triassic and Jurassic igneous rocks and detrital zircon data of contemporaneous sedimentary rocks in the SE South China Block were compiled, aiming to provide constraints on the tectonic transition via tracing the spatial-temporal variations in the nature of the lithosphere and sedimentary provenance signals. The compiled results suggest that the magmatic intensity and volume decreased significantly from the Late Triassic to Early−Middle Jurassic, with an obvious magmatic quiescence between them, and increased from the Early−Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic. The εNd(t) and zircon εHf(t) values of mafic rocks, granitoids, and shoshonitic rocks remarkably increased from the Late Triassic to Early−Middle Jurassic, indicative of variations in the lithospheric mantle and continental crust. Such variations suggest that the initial tectonic transition occurred at the earliest Early Jurassic. Based on the southward paleocurrents from Early Jurassic sandstone, E-W−trending extension of Early−Middle Jurassic mafic and shoshonitic rocks, and similar sedimentary provenances of Late Triassic and Early−Middle Jurassic sedimentary rocks, these features imply that the SE South China Block was not immediately influenced by the Paleo-Pacific domain during the Early−Middle Jurassic. However, from the Early−Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the spatial distribution, geochemical signatures, magmatic intensity, and magmatic volume of igneous rocks and provenance of sedimentary rocks exhibit obvious variations, and the regional fold hinge direction changed from E-W−trending to NE-trending, suggesting significant effects from Paleo-Pacific subduction on the SE South China Block. Thus, the Mesozoic tectonic transition from the Paleo-Tethyan to the Paleo-Pacific dynamic domain in the SE South China Block likely occurred during the Early−Middle Jurassic.


2020 ◽  
pp. 289-311
Author(s):  
Warwick S. Board ◽  
Duncan F. McLeish ◽  
Charles J. Greig ◽  
Octavia E. Bath ◽  
Joel E. Ashburner ◽  
...  

Abstract The Brucejack intermediate-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag deposit, located 65 km north of Stewart, BC, forms part of a well-mineralized, structurally controlled, north-south gossanous trend associated with Early Jurassic intrusions straddling the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic Stuhini-Hazelton Group unconformity in the Sulphurets mineral district. Mining of the deposit commenced in mid-2017 after a long history of exploration dating back to the 1880s. Mineralization is hosted in deformed Lower Jurassic island-arc volcanic rocks of the Hazelton Group exposed on the eastern limb of the Cretaceous McTagg anticlinorium. High-grade Au-Ag mineralization was formed from ~184 to 183 Ma in association with a telescoped, multipulsed magmatic-hydrothermal system beneath an active local volcanic center. Precious metal mineralization occurs as coarse aggregates of electrum and silver sulfosalts in steeply dipping, E- to SE-trending quartz-carbonate vein stockwork zones cutting low-grade intrusion-related phyllic alteration. Epithermal vein development is interpreted to have occurred during the waning stages of Early Jurassic sinistral transpression in a compressive arc environment, followed by a limited Cretaceous deformation overprint.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 958-976
Author(s):  
Xu Zhongjie ◽  
Kong Jintao ◽  
Cheng Rihui ◽  
Lan Yizhi ◽  
Wang Liaoliang

AbstractIn order to determine the tectonic regime change of the early Mesozoic in the South China Block, this study analyzed sedimentary rocks in the Middle Jurassic of southwestern Fujian by modal analysis of sandstones, elemental geochemical analysis of mudstones, and detrital zircons U–Pb dating. The results show that the detrital zircons in Southwestern Fujian mainly consist of Paleoproterozoic to early Mesozoic zircons in the Middle Jurassic. Within the Dongkeng profile of the Zhangping Formation, DK5 sample (lower part) showed a major age peak at ca. 1,848 Ma and two secondary age peaks at ca. 235 and 180 Ma, while DK15 sample (middle part) showed a major age peak at ca. 1,876 Ma and two secondary age peaks at ca. 233 and 190 Ma; the age compositions of these two samples’ were similar. Modal analysis of sandstones indicated that sediments of Zhangping Formation might source from arc orogen and recycled orogen, and element geochemical analysis showed that source rocks of Zhangping Formation might be sedimentary rocks and granites. The Indosinian zircons were mainly derived from the Wuyi region, and the Yanshanian zircons were mainly derived from the Nanling region. The major age group changes from ca. 230 to 220 Ma of the Late Triassic – Early Jurassic to ca. 190 to 180 Ma of the Middle Jurassic in Southwestern Fujian, and main sources changed from Indosinian magmatic rocks in the Late Triassic – Early Jurassic to early Yanshanian magmatic rocks in the Middle Jurassic.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Barrett ◽  
Tim Broderick ◽  
Kimberley Chapelle ◽  
Jonah Choiniere ◽  
Steve Edwards ◽  
...  

Southern Africa provides critical information on Late Triassic–Early Jurassic terrestrial tetrapod faunas. Most of the localities in this region are in South Africa and Lesotho, but preliminary work in Zimbabwe has revealed significant potential. Early Jurassic Zimbabwean localities have yielded the basal sauropodomorph Massospondylus, the early sauropod Vulcanodon and theropod material. Late Triassic localities are also known, but have yielded only fragmentary specimens thus far. In early 2017, a joint South African-Zimbabwean-UK team conducted fieldwork in the upper Karoo-aged deposits along the shores of Lake Kariba, northern Zimbabwe (Mid-Zambesi Basin). We relocated the Vulcanodon type locality on Island 126/127 and found that, contrary to previous reports suggesting a Toarcian age, the quarry was in a horizon pre-dating the onset of Drakensburg volcanism (= Batoka Basalts). It is situated instead within the earlier Lower Jurassic Forest Sandstone. This indicates that Vulcanodon is 10–15 million years older than thought previously, recalibrating several nodes within Sauropoda and indicating extensive overlap between true sauropods and 'prosauropods'. Other new vertebrate localities show that sauropodomorphs are present in the Forest Sandstone and upper Tashinga (Late Triassic) formations, but a grey mudstone facies within the Pebbly Arkose Member of the latter unit yields a more aquatic fauna, including lungfish and phytosaurs, but lacking sauropodomorphs. The phytosaur occurrence is the first in Africa south of the Sahara. Faunal and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sites in this region were deposited under more mesic environments than their lateral equivalents in South Africa.


1971 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
K. J. Bird ◽  
W. F. Coleman ◽  
H. Crocker

Four-arm dipmeter interpretation has been integrated with other wireline logs, lithologic and palaeontologic data, and regional geology to arrive at a history of the deposition in a portion of the North Perth Basin.The Permian sediments were deposited in a moderate to low energy, paralic to marine environment. They were unconformably overlain by a thin transgressive Lower Triassic sand and deepwater marine shale. The Middle Triassic sediments were deposited as a regressive marine sequence under the influence of a strong southwesterly uplift, and culminated in piedmont talus deposits of Upper Triassic age.In the Lower Jurassic this area evolved through a flood-plain environment to a paralic environment with a northeast-southwest oriented coastline and a northern source area. During the Middle Jurassic gentle crustal movements, coupled with an increasingly active northern and eastern source area, resulted in several cycles of nearshore deposition, and finally a marine transgression.Subsequent violent tectonic uplift to the east in the Upper Jurassic produced massive first generation sands which were deposited in a mainly continental environment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 20130095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olja Toljagić ◽  
Richard J. Butler

Pseudosuchia, one of the two main clades of Archosauria (Reptilia: Diapsida), suffered a major decline in lineage diversity during the Triassic–Jurassic (TJ) mass extinction (approx. 201 Ma). Crocodylomorpha, including living crocodilians and their extinct relatives, is the only group of pseudosuchians that survived into the Jurassic. We reassess changes in pseudosuchian morphological diversity (disparity) across this time interval, using considerably larger sample sizes than in previous analyses. Our results show that metrics of pseudosuchian disparity did not change significantly across the TJ boundary, contrasting with previous work suggesting low pseudosuchian disparity in the Early Jurassic following the TJ mass extinction. However, a significant shift in morphospace occupation between Late Triassic and Early Jurassic taxa is recognized, suggesting that the TJ extinction of many pseudosuchian lineages was followed by a major and geologically rapid adaptive radiation of crocodylomorphs. This marks the onset of the spectacularly successful evolutionary history of crocodylomorphs in Jurassic and Cretaceous ecosystems.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document