Strike-slip juxtaposition of ca. 2.72 Ga juvenile arc and >2.98 Ga continent margin sequences and its implications for Archean terrane accretion, western Superior Province, Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 895-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Percival ◽  
V McNicoll ◽  
A H Bailes
Keyword(s):  
Strike Slip ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Arc Magmatism ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Lake Winnipeg ◽  
Red Lake ◽  
The North ◽  
Winnipeg River ◽  
Terrane Accretion

The North Caribou terrane of the western Superior Province attained continental thickness (~35 km) by 2997 Ma. It records a subsequent 300 million years history of continental fragmentation, arc magmatism, and terrane accretion. At Lake Winnipeg the ~2978 Ma Lewis–Storey quartzite–komatiite–iron formation assemblage marks Mesoarchean breakup. Unlike the relatively continuous 2980–2735 Ma stratigraphic record of the Red Lake and Birch–Uchi greenstone belts to the east, little of this interval is recorded at Lake Winnipeg. Rather, two belts of younger, juvenile rocks are tectonically juxtaposed: the Black Island assemblage of isotopically depleted, 2723 Ma basalt, and calc-alkaline andesite; and Rice Lake greenstone belt of basalt, calc-alkaline andesite, and dacite (2731–2729 Ma). Collectively these terranes represent a short-lived island-arc–back-arc system that docked with the southwestern North Caribou margin along a northwest-trending, dextral, transpressive, D1 suture. This zone is marked by the highly deformed coarse clastic Guano Island sequence (<2728 Ma) that contains detritus of North Caribou affinity and is interpreted as a strike-slip basin deposit. Younger clastic sequences, including the Hole River (<2708 Ma), San Antonio (<2705 Ma), and English River (<2704 Ma) assemblages, occur in east–west belts that may have been deposited during the terminal collision (D2, D3) between the North Caribou terrane and continental crust of the Winnipeg River terrane to the south. Several terrane docking events within a framework of north-dipping subduction and continental arc magmatism appear necessary to explain structural and stratigraphic relationships in the 2735–2700 Ma interval.

Stratigraphy, structure, and geochronology of the 3.0–2.7 Ga Wallace Lake greenstone belt, western Superior Province, southeast Manitoba, Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 929-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Sasseville ◽  
K Y Tomlinson ◽  
A Hynes ◽  
V McNicoll
Keyword(s):  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Crustal Contamination ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Lake Winnipeg ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Margin ◽  
Plume Magmatism

In western Superior province, the North Caribou terrane (NCT) constitutes a Mesoarchean proto-continent heavily overprinted by Neoarchean magmatism and deformation resulting from the western Superior Province accretion. Locally, along the southern margin of the NCT, Mesoarchean (~3.0 Ga) rift sequences are preserved. These sequences are of key importance to our understanding of the early tectonic evolution of continental crust. The Wallace Lake greenstone belt is located at the southern margin of the NCT and includes the Wallace Lake assemblage, the Big Island assemblage, the Siderock Lake assemblage, and the French Man Bay assemblage. The Wallace Lake assemblage exposes one of the best-preserved Mesoarchean rift sequences along the southern margin of the NCT. The volcano-sedimentary assemblage (3.0–2.92 Ga) exposes arkoses derived from the uplift of a tonalite basement in a subaqueous environment, capped by carbonate and iron formation. Mafic to ultramafic volcanic rocks exhibiting crustal contamination and derived from plume magmatism cap this rift sequence. The Wallace Lake assemblage exhibits D1 Mesoarchean deformation. The Big Island assemblage comprises mafic volcanic rocks of oceanic affinity that were docked to the Wallace Lake assemblage along northwest-trending D2 shear zones. The timing of volcanism and docking of the Big Island assemblage remain uncertain. The Siderock Lake and French Man Bay assemblages were deposited in strike-slip basins related to D3 and D4 stages of movement of the transcurrent Wanipigow fault (<2.709 Ga). Regionally, the Wallace Lake assemblage correlates with the Lewis–Story Rift assemblage observed in Lake Winnipeg, whereas the Big Island assemblage appears to correlate with the Black Island assemblage observed in the Lake Winnipeg area. Thus, the North Caribou terrane appears to preserve vestiges of a Mesoarchean rifted succession together with overlying Neoarchean allochthonous, juvenile, volcanic successions over a considerable distance along its present-day southern margin.

Structural analysis of the Miniss River and related faults, western Superior Province: post-collisional displacement initiated at terrane boundaries

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 1031-1054
Author(s):  
K M Bethune ◽  
H H Helmstaedt ◽  
V J McNicoll
Keyword(s):  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
The North ◽  
Winnipeg River ◽  
Granitoid Rocks ◽  
Restraining Bend ◽  
Dextral Strike Slip ◽  
Fundamental Boundary

Mountain building in the western part of the Archean Superior Province culminated with the formation of regional strike-slip faults. This paper reports on the kinematics and timing of several major faults at the juncture between the Uchi, English River, Winnipeg River, and western Wabigoon subprovinces. Sinistral-oblique mylonitization along the northeast-striking Miniss River fault occurred at 2681 [Formula: see text] Ma. This involved ~40 km of sinistral offset and a scissor-like motion whereby vertical displacement increased southwestward toward a restraining bend near Sioux Lookout. To the north, the Miniss River fault is intersected by the east-striking, dextral strike-slip Sydney Lake – Lake St. Joseph fault; the latter merges along strike with the Pashkokogan fault. Restoration of respective displacements indicates that the faults formed sequentially, not simultaneously in response to tectonic indentation. Dextral strike-slip motion along the Sydney Lake – Lake St. Joseph (– Pashkokogan) fault was instigated at ≤2670 Ma and drove greenschist-grade, dextral reactivation of the southwest segment of the Miniss River fault. U–Pb geochronology suggests that the latter coincides with an older terrane-boundary fault that juxtaposed ca. 2735 Ma juvenile, western Wabigoon arc complexes against ca. 3.05 Ga granitoid rocks of the Winnipeg River terrane. The Sydney Lake – Lake St. Joseph (– Pashkokogan) fault similarly demarcates a fundamental boundary between Uchian volcanoplutonic rocks and the English River accretionary prism. Strike-slip faults in this region therefore initiated at terrane boundaries and in some cases evolved so as to transect and displace these boundaries to accommodate further shortening during final stages of Archean orogenesis.

Caledonian strike-slip terrane accretion in W. Ireland: insights from very low-grade metamorphism (illite–chlorite crystallinity and b0parameter)

2009 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. N. RICE ◽  
D. M. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
The South ◽  
Intermediate Pressure ◽  
The North ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Shelf Sediments ◽  
Terrane Accretion ◽  
Back Arc

AbstractAnalysis of pelites with detrital white-micas in the Clew Bay–Galway Bay segment of the Irish Caledonides indicates that b0data from whole-rock and < 2 μm fractions generally show differences smaller than the errors of the method, irrespective of (001) illite crystallinity values, probably due to metamorphic recrystallization. Intermediate pressure metamorphism of the Ordovician–Silurian Clew Bay Group indicates slow subduction, allowing partial thermal re-equilibration before exhumation. In contrast, the Croagh Patrick Group Laurentian shelf-sediments underwent high-pressure alteration, suggesting rapid subduction/exhumation, synchronous with strike-slip faulting. The Murrisk Group, which underwent high-intermediate pressure metamorphism in an Ordovician back-arc, forms a separate terrane to the Croagh Patrick Group to the north and also to the Ordovician Lough Nafooey and Tourmakeady groups and Rosroe Formation in the south, in which low-intermediate pressure alteration occurred. These, together with the Silurian North Galway Group, may have undergone heating due to movement over or deposition on the hot Gowlaun Detachment as the Connemara Dalradian was exhumed. The South Connemara Group also underwent a high-pressure alteration, consistent with its inferred subduction environment. Evidence of contact alteration, due to known or inferred buried late- to post-Caledonian granitoid plutons, has been found in the Clew Bay, Louisburg–Clare Island, Croagh Patrick, Murrisk and South Connemara groups. These show evidence of lower-pressure alteration than the surrounding country-rocks.

Sedimentary and structural evidence for 2.7 Ga continental arc–oceanic-arc collision in the Savant–Sturgeon greenstone belt, western Superior Province, Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (7) ◽  
pp. 995-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Sanborn-Barrie ◽  
T Skulski
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Superior Province ◽  
Geophysical Surveys ◽  
Winnipeg River ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Oceanic Rocks

The western Superior Province sustained rapid crustal growth in the interval 2.72–2.68 Ga through amalgamation of microcontinental crustal blocks and juvenile oceanic terranes. Recent field, isotopic, and geophysical surveys provide insight on the nature, timing, and scale of this accretionary growth. However, few places offer the rich tectono-stratigraphic and structural detail with which to establish accretion of oceanic and continental blocks as does the Savant–Sturgeon area. Here, 3.4–2.8 Ga continental crust of the Winnipeg River terrane is juxtaposed with 2.775–2.718 Ga juvenile oceanic rocks of the western Wabigoon terrane across a 2.85–2.75 Ga, southwest-facing, continental margin sequence. The continental margin was reactivated at ~2.715 Ga with the establishment of an arc, recorded by 2.715–2.70 Ga tonalite and associated intermediate volcanic rocks. This magmatic activity is interpreted to reflect north- and east-dipping subduction that led to consumption of a small tract of oceanic crust between the Winnipeg River and western Wabigoon terranes, ultimately leading to their amalgamation after 2.703 Ga. The telescoped fore arc also includes continental-derived turbiditic wacke, siltstone, and iron formation (Warclub assemblage) that are in tectonic contact with diverse oceanic rocks of the western Wabigoon terrane. Collision is bracketed between 2.703 Ga (the maximum age of marine fore arc deposits) and ~2.696 Ga (the minimum age of a late-tectonic pluton). Effects include thrust stacking and the development of shallow-plunging folds and bedding-parallel fabrics (D1), overprinted by steeply plunging inclined folds, steep foliations, and shear zones (D2). Collectively, these structures have penetratively reworked the suture between the ancient fore-arc and oceanic rocks in the Savant–Sturgeon area.

scholarly journals Geochronology of the Wrangell Arc: Spatial-temporal evolution of slab-edge magmatism along a flat-slab, subduction-transform transition, Alaska-Yukon

Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Trop ◽  
Jeff A. Benowitz ◽  
Carl S. Kirby ◽  
Matthew E. Brueseke
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Evolution ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Suture Zone ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Arc Magmatism ◽  
Flat Slab ◽  
The North ◽  
Flat Slab Subduction ◽  
The Impact

The Wrangell Arc in Alaska (USA) and adjacent volcanic fields in the Yukon provide a long-term record of interrelations between flat-slab subduction of the Yakutat microplate, strike-slip translation along the Denali–Totschunda–Duke River fault system, and magmatism focused within and proximal to a Cretaceous suture zone. Detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb (n = 2640) and volcanic lithic (DARL) 40Ar/39Ar dates (n = 2771) from 30 modern river sediment samples document the spatial-temporal evolution of Wrangell Arc magmatism, which includes construction of some of the largest Quaternary volcanoes on Earth. Mismatches in DZ and DARL date distributions highlight the impact of variables such as mineral fertility and downstream mixing/dilution on resulting provenance signatures. Geochronologic data document the initiation of Wrangell Arc magmatism at ca. 30–17 Ma along both sides of the Totschunda fault on the north flank of the Wrangell–St. Elias Mountains in Alaska, followed by southeastward progression of magmatism at ca. 17–10 Ma along the Duke River fault in the Yukon. This spatial-temporal evolution is attributable to dextral translation along intra-arc, strike-slip faults and a change in the geometry of the subducting slab (slab curling/steepening). Magmatism then progressed generally westward outboard of the Totschunda and Duke River faults at ca. 13–6 Ma along the southern flank of the Wrangell–St. Elias Mountains in Alaska and then northwestward from ca. 6 Ma to present in the western Wrangell Mountains. The 13 Ma to present spatial-temporal evolution is consistent with dextral translation along intra-arc, strike-slip faults and previously documented changes in plate boundary conditions, which include an increase in plate convergence rate and angle at ca. 6 Ma. Voluminous magmatism is attributed to shallow subduction-related flux melting and slab edge melting that is driven by asthenospheric upwelling along the lateral edge of the Yakutat flat slab. Magmatism was persistently focused within or adjacent to a remnant suture zone, which indicates that upper plate crustal heterogeneities influenced arc magmatism. Rivers sampled also yield subordinate Paleozoic–Mesozoic DZ and DARL age populations that reflect earlier episodes of magmatism within underlying accreted terranes and match magmatic flare-ups documented along the Cordilleran margin.

A new volcanic province: evidence from glacial erratics in western North Greenland

2000 ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Dawes ◽  
Bjørn Thomassen ◽  
T.I. Hauge Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Common Component ◽  
Volcanic Province ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Surficial Deposits ◽  
North Greenland

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Dawes, P. R., Thomassen, B., & Andersson, T. H. (2000). A new volcanic province: evidence from glacial erratics in western North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 186, 35-41. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v186.5213 _______________ Mapping and regional geological studies in northern Greenland were carried out during the project Kane Basin 1999 (see Dawes et al. 2000, this volume). During ore geological studies in Washington Land by one of us (B.T.), finds of erratics of banded iron formation (BIF) directed special attention to the till, glaciofluvial and fluvial sediments. This led to the discovery that in certain parts of Daugaard-Jensen Land and Washington Land volcanic rocks form a common component of the surficial deposits, with particularly colourful, red porphyries catching the eye. The presence of BIF is interesting but not altogether unexpected since BIF erratics have been reported from southern Hall Land just to the north-east (Kelly & Bennike 1992) and such rocks crop out in the Precambrian shield of North-West Greenland to the south (Fig. 1; Dawes 1991). On the other hand, the presence of volcanic erratics was unexpected and stimulated the work reported on here.

The 25 October, 2018 Zakynthos (Greece) earthquake: seismic activity at the transition between a transform fault and a subduction zone.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Papadimitriou ◽  
V Kapetanidis ◽  
A Karakonstantis ◽  
I Spingos ◽  
K Pavlou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Clustering ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Transform Fault ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
The North ◽  
Waveform Modelling

Summary The properties of the Mw = 6.7 earthquake that took place on 25 October 2018, 22:54:51 UTC, ∼50 km SW of the Zakynthos Island, Greece, are thoroughly examined. The main rupture occurred on a dextral strike-slip, low-angle, east-dipping fault at a depth of 12 km, as determined by teleseismic waveform modelling. Over 4000 aftershocks were manually analysed for a period of 158 days. The events were initially located with an optimal 1D velocity model and then relocated with the double-difference method to reveal details of their spatial distribution. The latter spreads in an area spanning 80 km NNW-SSE and ∼55 km WSW-ENE. Certain parts of the aftershock zone present strong spatial clustering, mainly to the north, close to Zakynthos Island, and at the southernmost edge of the sequence. Focal mechanisms were determined for 61 significant aftershocks using regional waveform modelling. The results revealed characteristics similar to the mainshock, with few aftershocks exhibiting strike-slip faulting at steeper dip angles, possibly related to splay faults on the accretionary prism. The slip vectors that correspond to the east-dipping planes are compatible with the long-term plate convergence and with the direction of coseismic displacement on the Zakynthos Island. Fault-plane solutions in the broader study area were inverted for the determination of the regional stress-field. The results revealed a nearly horizontal, SW-NE to E-W-trending S1 and a more variable S3 axis, favouring transpressional tectonics. Spatial clusters at the northern and southern ends of the aftershock zone coincide with the SW extension of sub-vertical along-dip faults of the segmented subducting slab. The mainshock occurred in an area where strike-slip tectonics, related to the Cephalonia Transform Fault and the NW Peloponnese region, gradually converts into reverse faulting at the western edge of the Hellenic subduction. Plausible scenarios for the 2018 Zakynthos earthquake sequence include a rupture on the subduction interface, provided the slab is tilted eastwards in that area, or the reactivation of an older east-dipping thrust as a low-angle strike-slip fault that contributes to strain partitioning.

scholarly journals The nucleation of the Izmit and Düzce earthquakes: Some mechanical logic on where and how ruptures began

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Bouchon ◽  
Hayrullah Karabulut ◽  
Mustafa Aktar ◽  
Serdar Özalaybey ◽  
Jean Schmittbuhl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strike Slip ◽  
Seismic Events ◽  
Fault Geometry ◽  
Brittle Transition ◽  
The North ◽  
Impending Rupture ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
Ductile To Brittle Transition ◽  
Mechanical Logic ◽  
Rupture Speed

Summary In spite of growing evidence that many earthquakes are preceded by increased seismic activity, the nature of this activity is still poorly understood. Is it the result of a mostly random process related to the natural tendency of seismic events to cluster in time and space, in which case there is little hope to ever predict earthquakes? Or is it the sign that a physical process that will lead to the impending rupture has begun, in which case we should attempt to identify this process. With this aim we take a further look at the nucleation of two of the best recorded and documented strike-slip earthquakes to date, the 1999 Izmit and Düzce earthquakes which ruptured the North Anatolian Fault over ∼200 km. We show the existence of a remarkable mechanical logic linking together nucleation characteristics, stress loading, fault geometry and rupture speed. In both earthquakes the observations point to slow aseismic slip occurring near the ductile-to-brittle transition zone as the motor of their nucleation.

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