The significance of radiometric ages from the Gulquac Lake area of New Brunswick

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 2046-2052 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Fyffe ◽  
R. F. Cormier

Radiometric dating of igneous rocks in the Gulquac Lake area of west-central New Brunswick confirms that rhyolitic volcanism and shallow granitic intrusive activity were closely associated in time. Rb–Sr whole rock isochrons yield an age of 409 ± 35 Ma for the volcanic rocks and 409 ± 25 Ma from the intrusive rocks (λ = 1.42 × 10−11 year−1). Structural relationships in the area show that emplacement of the granite coincided with an episode of intense faulting and uplift of sillimanite-grade Cambro–Ordovician terrain.The combined radiometric data indicate a minimum age for the Silurian–Devonian boundary of 409 ± 20 Ma.

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M Ansdell ◽  
Karen A Connors ◽  
Richard A Stern ◽  
Stephen B Lucas

Lithological and structural mapping in the east Wekusko Lake area of the Flin Flon Belt, Trans-Hudson Orogen, suggested an intimate relationship between magmatism, fluvial sedimentation, and initiation of fold and thrust belt deformation. Conventional U-Pb geochronology of volcanic rocks in fault-bounded assemblages provides a minimum age of 1876 ± 2 Ma for McCafferty Liftover back-arc basalts, and ages of between 1833 and 1836 Ma for the Herb Lake volcanic rocks. A rhyolite which unconformably overlies Western Missi Group fluvial sedimentary rocks has complex zircon systematics. This rock may be as old as about 1856 Ma or as young as 1830 Ma. The sedimentary rocks overlying this rhyolite are locally intercalated with 1834 Ma felsic volcanic rocks, and yield sensitive high resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb and Pb-evaporation detrital zircon ages ranging from 1834 to 2004 Ma. The Eastern Missi Group is cut by an 1826 ± 4 Ma felsic dyke, and contains 1832-1911 Ma detrital zircons. The dominant source for detritus in the Missi Group was the Flin Flon accretionary collage and associated successor arc rocks. The fluvial sedimentary rocks and the Herb Lake volcanic rocks were essentially coeval, and were then incorporated into a southwest-directed fold and thrust belt which was initiated at about 1840 Ma and active until at least peak regional metamorphism.


1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Cormier

The Coldbrook Group of southern New Brunswick is composed almost entirely of volcanic rocks and has been assigned a Precambrian age on the basis of field relationships. Rocks of the group are overlain by fossiliferous Lower Cambrian beds of the Saint John Group.Rubidium-strontium total-rock analyses of 46 samples of Coldbrook Group volcanic rocks have been carried out. Analysis of the data indicates the probable presence of two different isochron ages. One of these is apparently defined by those rocks in which the ratio 87Rb/86Sr is low, with values less than about 1.0. This isochron yields an age of 750 ± 80 million years, with an initial ratio 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7054 ± 0.0010. The other isochron is defined by rocks in which the value of the ratio 87Rb/86Sr is higher, with values greater than about 1.0. The age calculated from the second isochron is 370 ± 38 million years, with an indicated initial value for the ratio 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7135 ± 0.0010.The 750 million year age is interpreted to represent the time of extrusion of the Coldbrook volcanics. The 370 million year age appears to be secondary and related to metamorphism of the Coldbrook Group. This age is correlated with the Acadian orogeny, which strongly deformed this part of the northern Appalachians in Middle to Late Devonian time.


Author(s):  
F. W. Chandler ◽  
R. W. Sullivan ◽  
K. L. Currie

ABSTRACTA zircon age of 429 + 6, −5 Ma on felsic volcanic rocks of the Springdale Group, a sequence of bimodal volcanic rocks and redbeds, establishes a Llandovery age for this group. Similar sequences from other parts of the Dunnage and Humber zones of Newfoundland also give Llandovery fossil or radiometric ages, demonstrating temporal correlation among lithologically similar sequences in these zones.Distinctive sequences of bimodal, subaerial rhyolite and basalt with associated subaerial to shallow marine sedimentary rocks within the Avalon and Meguma zones of Nova Scotia give fossil or radiometric ages demonstrably or arguably very close to the age of the Springdale Group. These sequences suggest an overlap assemblage fixing the minimum age of accretion of the Avalon and Meguma zones to North America. The age and the magmatic and sedimentary character of the assemblage are compatible with origin on or from continental crust, implying that the Iapetus ocean was closed prior to Early Silurian time. If these considerations are correct, the Devonian Acadian orogeny must involve either thermal and mechanical readjustments subsequent to the closing of the Iapetus ocean, or a completely separate episode of plate motion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 163-187
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Susan C. Johnson ◽  
Greg R. Dunning ◽  
Chris E. White ◽  
Adrian F. Park ◽  
...  

New U–Pb zircon ages from volcanic, plutonic, and sedimentary units in the Avalonian Caledonia terrane of southern New Brunswick provide better timing constraints in this geologically complex area. Previous ca. 620 Ma ages from the Broad River Group are now corroborated by additional dates from felsic tuff in the Gordon Falls Formation and rhyolite in the former Fairfield (now East Branch Black River) Formation of 620 ± 5 Ma and 622 ± 1.9 Ma, respectively. Combined with ages ranging from ca. 625 Ma to 615 Ma from crosscutting plutons, the data suggest that the minimum age of the Broad River Group is about 615 Ma. A quartzfeldspar porphyry dyke in mafic volcanic rocks of the previously undated Long Beach Formation yielded an igneous crystallization age of 685 ± 10 Ma, the oldest unit yet dated in the Caledonia terrane but similar in age to porphyry in the Stirling belt in the Avalonian Mira terrane of Nova Scotia. The age of the Coldbrook Group was constrained previously by U–Pb (zircon) ages of volcanic rocks between 560 and 550 Ma as well as by similar ages from comagmatic plutons. Five additional samples from both volcanic and plutonic units lie in the same range of 560–550 Ma, including errors, demonstrating that the Coldbrook Group and related plutons formed in less than 10 million years. Such a large volume of mainly felsic magma erupted and emplaced in a short time span suggests a “supereruption/supervolcano” environment such as the late Cenozoic southwestern USA but not yet recognized at ca. 560–550 Ma elsewhere in Avalonia. Two units yielded Paleozoic ages: felsite of the Bloomsbury Mountain Formation with a zircon population at 427 ± 9 Ma, indicating a Silurian maximum emplacement age, and dacite of the Grassy Lake Formation with several zircon grains at 382.8 ± 8.3 Ma, indicating a maximum age of middle Devonian, the first rocks of this age to be identified in the Caledonia terrane.


Author(s):  
L. T. Silver ◽  
B. W. Chappell

ABSTRACTThe Peninsular Ranges Batholith of southern and Baja California is the largest segment of a Cretaceous magmatic arc that was once continuous from northern California to southern Baja California. In this batholith, the emplacement of igneous rocks took place during a single sequence of magmatic activity, unlike many of the other components of the Cordilleran batholiths which formed during successive separate magmatic episodes. Detailed radiometric dating has shown that it is a composite of two batholiths. A western batholith, which was more heterogeneous in composition, formed as a static magmatic arc between 140 and 105 Ma and was intrusive in part into related volcanic rocks. The eastern batholith formed as a laterally transgressing arc which moved away from those older rocks between 105 and 80 Ma, intruding metasedimentary rocks. Rocks of the batholith range from undersaturated gabbros through to felsic granites, but tonalite is the most abundant rock throughout. Perhaps better than elsewhere in the Cordillera, the batholith shows beautifully developed asymmetries in chemical and isotopic properties. The main gradients in chemical composition from W to E are found among the trace elements, with Ba, Sr, Nb and the light rare earth elements increasing by more than a factor of two, and P, Rb, Pb, Th, Zn and Ga showing smaller increases. Mg and the transition metals decrease strongly towards the E, with Sc, V and Cu falling to less than half of their value in the most westerly rocks. Oxygen becomes very systematically more enriched in18O from W to E and the Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systems change progressively from mantle values in the W to a more evolved character on the eastern side of the batholith. In detail the petrogenesis of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith is not completely understood, but many general aspects of the origin are clear. The exposed rocks, particularly in the western batholith, closely resemble those of present day island arcs, although the most typical and average tonalitic composition is distinctly more felsic than the mean quartz diorite or mafic andesite composition of arcs. Chemical and isotopic properties of the western part of the batholith indicate that it formed as the root of a primitive island arc on oceanic lithosphere at a convergent plate margin. Further E, the plutonic rocks appear to have been derived by partial melting from deeper sources of broadly basaltic composition at subcrustal levels. The compositional systematics of the batholith do not reflect a simple mixing of various end-members but are a reflection of the differing character of the source regions laterally and vertically away from the pre-Cretaceous continental margin.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 881-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Greenough ◽  
S. R. McCutcheon ◽  
V. S. Papezik

Lower to Middle Cambrian volcanic rocks occur within the Avalon Zone of southern New Brunswick at Beaver Harbour and in the Long Reach area. The Beaver Harbour rocks are intensely altered, but the major- and trace-element geochemistry indicates that they could be highly evolved (basaltic andesites) within-plate basalts. The mafic flows from the Long Reach area form two chemically and petrologically distinct groups: (1) basalts with feldspar phenocrysts that represent evolved continental tholeiites with some oceanic characteristics; and (2) a group of aphyric basalts showing extremely primitive continental tholeiite compositions, also with oceanic affinities and resembling some rift-related Jurassic basalts on the eastern seaboard. Felsic pyroclastic rocks in the Long Reach area make the suite bimodal. This distribution of rock types supports conclusions from the mafic rocks that the area experienced tension throughout the Early to Middle Cambrian.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 239-273
Author(s):  
Allan Ludman ◽  
Christopher McFarlane ◽  
Amber T.H. Whittaker

Volcanic rocks in the Miramichi inlier in Maine occur in two areas separated by the Bottle Lake plutonic complex: the Danforth segment (Stetson Mountain Formation) north of the complex and Greenfield segment to the south (Olamon Stream Formation). Both suites are dominantly pyroclastic, with abundant andesite, dacite, and rhyolite tuffs and subordinate lavas, breccias, and agglomerates. Rare basaltic tuffs and a small area of basaltic tuffs, agglomerates, and lavas are restricted to the Greenfield segment. U–Pb zircon geochronology dates Greenfield segment volcanism at ca. 469 Ma, the Floian–Dapingian boundary between the Lower and Middle Ordovician. Chemical analyses reveal a calc-alkaline suite erupted in a continental volcanic arc, either the Meductic or earliest Balmoral phase of Popelogan arc activity. The Maine Miramichi volcanic rocks are most likely correlative with the Meductic Group volcanic suite in west-central New Brunswick. Orogen-parallel lithologic and chemical variations from New Brunswick to east-central Maine may result from eruptions at different volcanic centers. The bimodal Poplar Mountain volcanic suite at the Maine–New Brunswick border is 10–20 myr younger than the Miramichi volcanic rocks and more likely an early phase of back-arc basin rifting than a late-stage Meductic phase event. Coeval calc-alkaline arc volcanism in the Miramichi, Weeksboro–Lunksoos Lake, and Munsungun Cambrian–Ordovician inliers in Maine is not consistent with tectonic models involving northwestward migration of arc volcanism. This >150 km span cannot be explained by a single east-facing subduction zone, suggesting more than one subduction zone/arc complex in the region.


1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan L. Green ◽  
Paul Henderson

A suite of hy-normative hawaiites, ne-normative mugearite, and calc-alkaline andesitic rocks from the Garibaldi Lake area exhibits fractionated, slightly concave-upward REE patterns (CeN/YbN = 4.5–15), heavy REE contents about 5–10 times the chondritic abundances, and no Eu anomalies. It is unlikely that the REE patterns provide information concerning partial melting conditions beneath southwestern British Columbia because they have probably been modified substantially by upper crustal processes including crustal contamination and (or) crystal fractionation. The REE contents of the Garibaldi Lake lavas are not incompatible with previous interpretations that (1) the hawaiites have undergone considerable fractionation of olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene; and (2) the individual andesitic suites were derived from separate batches of chemically distinct magma that evolved along different high-level crystallization trends. In general, however, the andesites are characterized by lower light REE contents than the basaltic andesites. These differences in LREE abundances may reflect different amounts of LREE-rich accessory phases, such as apatite, sphene, or allanite, assimilated from the underlying quartz diorites.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Knudsen ◽  
Jeroen A.M. Van Gool ◽  
Claus Østergaard ◽  
Julie A. Hollis ◽  
Matilde Rink-Jørgensen ◽  
...  

A gold prospect on central Storø in the Nuuk region of southern West Greenland is hosted by a sequence of intensely deformed, amphibolite facies supracrustal rocks of late Mesoto Neoarchaean age. The prospect is at present being explored by the Greenlandic mining company NunaMinerals A/S. Amphibolites likely to be derived from basaltic volcanic rocks dominate, and ultrabasic to intermediate rocks are also interpreted to be derived from volcanic rocks. The sequence also contains metasedimentary rocks including quartzites and cordierite-, sillimanite-, garnet- and biotite-bearing aluminous gneisses. The metasediments contain detrital zircon from different sources indicating a maximum age of the mineralisation of c. 2.8 Ga. The original deposition of the various rock types is believed to have taken place in a back-arc setting. Gold is mainly hosted in garnet- and biotite-rich zones in amphibolites often associated with quartz veins. Gold has been found within garnets indicating that the mineralisation is pre-metamorphic, which points to a minimum age of the mineralisation of c. 2.6 Ga. The geochemistry of the goldbearing zones indicates that the initial gold mineralisation is tied to fluid-induced sericitisation of a basic volcanic protolith. The hosting rocks and the mineralisation are affected by several generations of folding.


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