Sediment sources and dispersion as revealed by single-grain 40Ar/39Ar ages of detrital muscovite from Carboniferous and Cretaceous rocks in mainland Nova ScotiaGeological Survey of Canada contribution 20090289.

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 957-970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Reynolds ◽  
Georgia Pe-Piper ◽  
David J.W. Piper
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Sediment Sources ◽  
The South ◽  
Lower Carboniferous ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Single Grain ◽  
Meguma Terrane

Single-grain ages of detrital muscovite from 15 sand(stone) samples from the Lower Carboniferous Horton Group and the Lower Cretaceous Chaswood Formation of central Nova Scotia were used to infer the nature of the Early Carboniferous unroofing of the Meguma terrane and the reworking of Carboniferous rocks in the Early Cretaceous. In the western Windsor Basin, a sample from the oldest Horton Group rocks yielded ages principally between ca. 400 and 380 Ma, suggesting that most of the muscovite present came from the metamorphic rocks of the Meguma terrane but was variably reset by the intrusion of the South Mountain Batholith at ca. 380 Ma. Other samples in this part of the basin show partial post-depositional resetting. Younger Horton Group metamorphic rocks in the eastern Windsor Basin contain many grains with ages of ca. 370–360 Ma, suggesting derivation from the central core of the South Mountain Batholith or the Musquodoboit Pluton. Horton Group sandstones from the western part of the St. Marys Basin contain muscovite derived from the Liscomb Complex along with metamorphic muscovite variably reset by the intrusion of this complex. In general, our data suggest predominant northward dispersion of muscovite from the Meguma terrane to the Horton Group and a lack of axial transport along the Horton grabens through central Nova Scotia, a pattern compatible with tectonic models in which the Meguma terrane is ramped over the Avalon terrane. Muscovite ages obtained for the Chaswood Formation compare well with those from the Horton Group rocks in the western St. Marys Basin. These rocks may have been exposed to rapid erosion by reactivation of the Cobequid–Chedabucto fault zone in the Early Cretaceous and the resulting sediments were perhaps transported to depositional sites along northeast-trending faults. Unlike the detrital monazites in these rocks, there is no evidence that any of the detrital muscovites came from distal sources outside the Meguma terrane.

Syn-Acadian emplacement model for the South Mountain batholith, Meguma Terrane, Nova Scotia: Magnetic fabric and structural analyses

1997 ◽  
Vol 109 (10) ◽  
pp. 1279-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Benn ◽  
Richard J. Horne ◽  
Daniel J. Kontak ◽  
Geoffrey S. Pignotta ◽  
Neil G. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Magnetic Fabric ◽  
The South ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Meguma Terrane

40Ar/39Ar dating in the Lochaber–Mulgrave area, northern mainland Nova Scotia: implications for timing of regional metamorphism and sediment provenance in the Late Devonian – Early Carboniferous Horton Group

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 987-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
P H Reynolds ◽  
S M Barr ◽  
C E White ◽  
P J Ténière
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Regional Metamorphism ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
The South ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Meguma Terrane ◽  
Fusion Analysis

40Ar/39Ar dating of whole-rock samples and muscovite separates using age spectrum analysis, and of single muscovite grains using total fusion analysis, yields new insights into the timing of regional metamorphism and sediment provenance in the Late Devonian – Early Carboniferous Horton Group in the Lochaber–Mulgrave area of Nova Scotia. The time of regional metamorphism is constrained to ca. 340–335 Ma by whole-rock spectra from well-cleaved slate and shale samples from the lowermost Clam Harbour River and overlying Tracadie Road formations of the Horton Group. This ca. 340–335 Ma event may have been the result of burial and deformation of the Horton Group by older volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Guysborough Group, which were overthrust from the south as the result of development of a positive flower structure at a restraining bend along the Cobequid–Chedabucto fault system, the boundary between the Meguma and Avalon terranes. Detrital muscovite ages of ca. 410–380 and ca. 500 Ma were obtained from single-grain analysis and from spectral analysis of separated grains. Whole-rock spectra for two samples from a mylonitic metasedimentary unit in the Cape Porcupine Complex yielded plateau ages of 364 ± 4 and 367 ± 4 Ma, providing a likely source for ca. 370–360 Ma detrital muscovite, ages that may be reflected in some of the age spectrum data. However, the Meguma terrane to the south is the most likely source for most of the detrital muscovite.

Stratigraphic significance of Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous miospores from the type area of the Horton Group, Nova Scotia

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 1091-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Thomas Martel ◽  
D. Colin McGregor ◽  
John Utting
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Upper Devonian ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
The South ◽  
Lower Carboniferous ◽  
Northeastern Part ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Type Area ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Maritimes Basin

Late Devonian (late Famennian) miospores have been found in the lowermost 7.3 m of the Horton Group on Harding Brook in the type area, Windsor Subbasin, Nova Scotia, below Tournaisian miospores of the Emphanisporites rotatus – Indotriradites explanatus Zone. Extending the age of the Horton Group in the type area down into the latest Devonian shows that the lowest beds of the ~ 1000 m thick group are coeval with latest Devonian rocks elsewhere in the Maritimes Basin that have been excluded from the Horton Group by some authors. Evidence presented here favours the argument that Late Devonian rocks lithologically similar to the Horton Group, deposited on the Acadian unconformity, should be included in that group. Miospore evidence indicates a minimum age of about 355 Ma for exhumation of the northeastern part of the South Mountain Batholith.

Polyphase late Paleozoic tectonothermal evolution of the southwestern Meguma Terrane, Nova Scotia: evidence from 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1242-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Dallmeyer ◽  
J. D. Keppie
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Shear Deformation ◽  
Contact Metamorphism ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Stress System ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Dextral Shear ◽  
Meguma Terrane

40Ar/39Ar incremental-release ages of hornblende, muscovite, and biotite from a variety of granitic stocks and host metamorphic rocks suggest a complex late Paleozoic tectonothermal evolution for the southwestern Meguma Terrane. Regional D1 folding with cleavage formation under greenschist – lower amphibolite facies, M1 metamorphic conditions, occurred at ca. 400–410 Ma and was followed by emplacement of a series of granitic stocks ranging in age between ca. 375 and 315 Ma. These were emplaced at relatively shallow crustal levels and developed contact metamorphic aureoles of variable grade. These are locally superposed on M1 regional metamorphic assemblages and result in a complex isograd pattern. 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages suggest episodes of contact metamorphism occurred at (1) 360–375 Ma (possibly related to emplacement of the South Mountain Batholith or temporal equivalents), (2) 350–356 Ma around the Port Mouton Pluton and northeastern Shelburne Pluton, (3) ca. 315–325 Ma near the Wedgeport Pluton and in several other isolated localities, and (4) ca. 287 Ma along the northern margin of a large, low gravity anomaly located off the southwestern coast of Nova Scotia (inferred to reflect a subsurface pluton). Dextral shear deformation was locally associated with all of these thermal events. It is suggested that the Meguma Terrane experienced a similar stress system throughout the Late Devonian – Permian, with shear deformation localized in areas where increased temperatures resulted in decreased viscosity.

scholarly journals Geophysical and structural signatures of syntectonic batholith construction: the South Mountain Batholith, Meguma Terrane, Nova Scotia

1999 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Benn ◽  
W. R. Roest ◽  
P. Rochette ◽  
N. G. Evans ◽  
G. S. Pignotta
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
The South ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Meguma Terrane

Oxygen isotope evidence for the genesis of Upper Paleozoic granitoids from southwestern Nova Scotia

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Longstaffe ◽  
T. E. Smith ◽  
K. Muehlenbachs
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
South Mountain Batholith ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Ratios ◽  
Upper Paleozoic ◽  
Isotope Evidence ◽  
Alteration Processes

The oxygen isotope ratios for 127 rocks and coexisting minerals from Paleozoic granitoids and clastic metasedimentary rocks of southwestern Nova Scotia have been measured. The whole-rock δ18O values for samples of the South Mountain batholith range from 10.1–12.0‰.But discrete granitoid plutons, located to the south of the South Mountain batholith, have lower δ18O values (7.8–10.4‰). Coexisting minerals from the Nova Scotia granitoids are near isotopic equilibrium, indicating that the whole-rock δ18O values primarily reflect the δ18O of the magma, rather than secondary alteration processes. The Meguma Group clastic metasedimentary rocks that host the Nova Scotia granitoids range in δ18O from 10.1–12.9‰. These clastic metasedimentary rocks show no systematic geographic variation in δ18O. The greenschist facies Meguma Group rocks that host the South Mountain batholith have similar δ18O values to the amphibolite facies equivalents located about the southern discrete plutons. Large scale isotopic exchange between the Meguma Group and the South Mountain batholith, or the southern plutons, is not evident.The relatively high δ18O values of the peraluminous South Mountain batholith (10.1–12.0‰) indicate that it formed by anatexis of 18O-rich clastic metasedimentary rocks. The southern plutons were also derived by partial melting of clastic metasedimentary rocks, but their lower δ18O values reflect exchange of the source material with a low 18O reservoir (mafic magmas?) prior to, or during anatexis.The sheared Brenton pluton is much lower in δ18O (5.0‰) than any of the other rocks, probably because of exchange with low 18O fluids during shearing.

Kennetcook thrust system: late Paleozoic transpression near the southern margin of the Maritimes Basin, Nova Scotia

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W.F. Waldron ◽  
Carlos G. Roselli ◽  
John Utting ◽  
Stanley K. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
Late Paleozoic ◽  
The South ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Southern Margin ◽  
Fault Structures ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Maritimes Basin

A major zone of deformation affects Early Carboniferous rocks in the southern part of the Maritimes Basin of Nova Scotia, close to the boundary between the Avalon and Meguma terranes of the Appalachians. Field relationships at Cheverie indicate thrusting of Tournaisian Horton Group clastics over Viséan Windsor Group carbonates, evaporites, and clastics, a relationship confirmed by the Cheverie #01 well. Mapped relationships to the south indicate that a system of thrusts, here termed the Kennetcook thrust system, climbs upsection to the southeast, becoming a décollement within Windsor Group evaporites. Industry seismic profiles clearly show deformed Windsor Group, and include fold and fault structures indicative of evaporite flow and solution collapse. Below the Windsor Group, half-grabens filled with Horton Group are clearly imaged; offsets at graben-related faults show that these structures were inverted during later shortening. Above the Windsor Group, less deformed rocks of the Pennsylvanian Scotch Village Formation (Cumberland Group) fill minibasins created by the withdrawal or solution of deformed Windsor evaporites. The timing of thrusting is constrained by these relationships and by crosscutting intrusions to a narrow interval around the Mississippian–Pennsylvanian boundary prior to ∼315 Ma. Deformation was probably related to dextral transpression along the former Avalon–Meguma boundary. Depending on how shortening was transmitted to the southeast, up to 1500 km2 of southern mainland Nova Scotia may be underlain by tectonically transported rocks.

Viséan limestones front the Newfoundland Shelf

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1422-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. F. Jansa ◽  
B. Mamet ◽  
A. Roux
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
North American ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
American Continent ◽  
Lower Carboniferous ◽  
The North

Three short cores of Windsor Group carbonates from the northeast Newfoundland Shelf yielded Late Viséan foraminifers of Zones 15 and 16Inf. This most northeastward occurrence of the marine Lower Carboniferous on the American continent has foraminifers identical to those reported from Windsor carbonates exposed in southwestern Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The foraminifera belong to the North American realm and not to the Tethyan realm. The algae are exceptionally well preserved. Except for a single species, they are also 'American' and not Tethyan. This confirms that the proto-Atlantic effectively separates the North American and Euro–African continental blocks in Early Carboniferous time.

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