Implications of Early Devonian poles from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago for the North American apparent polar wander path

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1802-1809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Dankers

Lower Devonian red beds from the upper member of the Peel Sound Formation at Prince of Wales Island (Canadian arctic) yield two different paleopoles at 25N 099E and at 01N 091E, the first one being older than the second one. The magnetic directions from which the poles are calculated are derived from vector analysis of thermal, chemical, and alternating magnetic field demagnetization results. Normal and reversed polarities are recorded for the northerly pole, whereas the pole at the equator reveals mainly a normal polarity. The position of the pole close to the equator has significant implications for the early Paleozoic apparent polar wander path of the North American craton. It appears that from the Late Cambrian to Early Devonian the craton moved continuously in a counter-clockwise direction that ended abruptly in the Early Devonian when the direction of the motion of the continent was reversed in a very similar manner to what occurred in Late Cambrian times.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie E. Gales ◽  
Ben A. van der Pluijm ◽  
Rob Van der Voo

Paleomagnetic sampling of the Lawrenceton Formation of the Silurian Botwood Group in northeastern Newfoundland was combined with detailed structural mapping of the area in order to determine the deformation history and make adequate structural corrections to the paleomagnetic data.Structural analysis indicates that the Lawrenceton Formation experienced at least two folding events: (i) a regional northeast–southwest-trending, Siluro-Devonian folding episode that produced a well-developed axial-plane cleavage; and (ii) an episode of local north-trending folding. Bedding – regional cleavage relationships indicate that the latter event is older than the regional folding.Thermal demagnetization of the Lawrenceton Formation yielded univectorial southerly and shallow directions (in situ). A fold test on an early mesoscale fold indicates that the magnetization of the Botwood postdates this folding event. However, our results, combined with an earlier paleomagnetic study of nearby Lawrenceton Formation rocks, demonstrate that the magnetization predates the regional folding. Therefore, we conclude that the magnetization occurred subsequent to the local folding but prior to the period of regional folding.While a tectonic origin for local folding cannot be entirely excluded, the subaerial nature of these volcanics, the isolated occurrence of these folds, and the absence of similar north-trending folds in other areas of eastern Notre Dame Bay suggest a syndepositional origin. Consequently, the magnetization may be nearly primary. Our study yields a characteristic direction of D = 175°, I = +43°, with a paleopole (16°N, 131 °E) that plots near the mid-Silurian track of the North American apparent polar wander path. This result is consistent with an early origin for the magnetization and supports the notion that the Central Mobile Belt of Newfoundland was adjacent to the North American craton, in its present-day position, since the Silurian.



1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Buchan ◽  
W. F. Fahrig ◽  
G. N. Freda ◽  
R. A. Frith

Alternating field and thermal demagnetization study of the Lac St-Jean anorthosite and related rock units in the central portion of the exposed Grenville Province reveals two components of magnetization, one of reversed and the other of normal polarity. Both components are thought to have been acquired during the last regional metamorphism, which was sufficiently intense in this area (mostly amphibolite grade) to reset any earlier magnetization. Corresponding paleopoles at 193°W, 8°S (dm = 7.3°, dp = 4.6°) and 213°W, 19°S (dm = 10.5°, dp = 8.5°) lie along the 950–900 Ma segment of the recently calibrated Grenville track of the North American apparent polar wander path, a track that has thus far been defined largely by results from rock units of the western Grenville.



1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Buchan ◽  
W. R. A. Baragar

The komatiitic basalts of the Ottawa Islands in eastern Hudson Bay are on strike with and believed to form a continuation of similar units of the Cape Smith Belt 150 km to the northeast. Units sampled in the Ottawa Islands all dip gently to the west and hence are not suitable for an internal fold test of their age of magnetization. However, before correcting for the tilt of the lavas, the dominant magnetization direction (D = 207.6°, I = 61.9°, k = 168, α95 = 3.7°) does not differ significantly from the uncorrected magnetization direction reported from the steeply dipping, northwest-facing units at Cape Smith (D = 218°, I = 60°, k = 47, α95 = 4°). This negative fold test suggests that the remanence at both locations was acquired after folding. Comparison with the North American Precambrian apparent polar wander path implies that overprinting is related to the Hudsonian Orogeny.A second stable magnetization directed to the west with a shallow inclination is superimposed on the dominant component at a number of sampling sites. Its direction is poorly defined and no fold test is possible. However, magnetic evidence suggests that this component was probably acquired as an overprint after the dominant magnetization, perhaps during a mild reheating associated with the Elsonian Orogeny.



2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1321-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
David TA Symons ◽  
Philippe Erdmer ◽  
Phil JA McCausland

Eocene posttectonic plutons of the Beaver River alkalic complex in southeastern Yukon intruded Devonian–Mississippian and Triassic sandstones in the Foothills of the Canadian Cordillera. A paleomagnetic collection of 27 sites from three separate plutons produced 326 specimens that were analyzed using alternating field and thermal step demagnetization methods. The A component characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) resides in magnetite with normal polarity in the 42.6 ± 0.8 Ma Beaver River pluton, reversed polarity in the 42.1 ± 0.7 Ma Larson Creek East pluton, and both polarities in the 41.3 ± 0.4 Ma Larson Creek West pluton, corresponding with magnetic polarity chrons 20n, 19r, and the boundary between chron 19r and 18n, respectively. The ChRMs of the plutons are indistinguishable (2σ) with a mean for the 42.0 ± 0.5 Ma complex of D = 158.8°, I = –73.1° (N = 21 sites, α95 = 3.0°, k = 116.8). A positive paleomagnetic contact test shows the A component to be primary, and the poorly isolated B component suggests the host rocks for Larson Creek West are Early to Middle Devonian. The paleopole for the Beaver River complex at 79.2°N, 145.8°E (N = 21, dp = 4.8°, dm = 5.4°; Q = 7) is concordant with interpolated 42 Ma reference poles for the North American craton. In contrast, paleopoles from the accreted Intermontane and eastern Coast Belt terranes record clockwise rotations of 24° ± 10° (Eocene) and 13° ± 5° (Oligocene–Pliocene), indicating that the allochthonous Intermontane terranes have been progressively driven ~240 ± 120 km eastwards up and over pericratonic and cratonic North American lower crust by Pacific plate subduction since the mid-Eocene.



1991 ◽  
Vol 96 (B9) ◽  
pp. 14239-14262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto S. Molina-Garza ◽  
John W. Geissman ◽  
Rob Van der Voo ◽  
Spencer G. Lucas ◽  
Steve N. Hayden


Geology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Besse ◽  
Vincent Courtillot ◽  
Didier Vandamme ◽  
A. K. Baksi ◽  
Paul R. Stoddard ◽  
...  


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-299
Author(s):  
Jørgen Taagholt

About 4,000 years ago the first Eskimo tribes reached Northern Greenland after a migration taking some thousands of years from Asia via the Bering Strait, then along the North American coastal areas and over the Canadian Arctic archipelago. They settled primarily in the northernmost part of Greenland, where archaeological finds are the basis of our knowledge of their life. Subsequent waves of immigration resulted in settlements to the south, along Greenland's east and west coasts (Fig. 1).



1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2127-2139 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. A. Symons

The Lower Cretaceous Stephens Island (102 ± 8 Ma) and Captain Cove (109 ± 6 Ma) plutons and the Upper Jurassic Gil Island (136 ± 3 Ma) and Banks Island (144 ± 6 Ma) plutons belong to the western K–Ar age zone of the N 35° W trending Coast plutonic complex southwest of Prince Rupert, B.C. After removal of initial viscous components, AF demagnetization isolates a stable primary remanence at 36 of 49 sites (10 specimens from 5 cores/site) before anhysteretic components are added. All sites have normal polarity which is consistent because their K–Ar ages fall in the predominantly normal Cretaceous and Jurassic Quiet Intervals. The poles for Stephens Island (339° W, 67° N (7°, 10°)), Captain Cove (9° W 72° N (8°, 11°)), and Gil Island (357° N. 70° N (6°, 8°)) lie just north of Britain and are discordant for the North American craton. The tectonic panel including these plutons was tilted [Formula: see text] during the Upper Cretaceous–Paleocene orogeny as the leading edge of the North American plate overrode the subducting oceanic Kula Plate. This interpretation is supported by other arguments including the attitudes of contacts and foliations, plutonic trend directions, distribution of metamorphic grades, and paleomagnetic data from the area to the east. The Banks Island pluton lies in the tectonic panel to the west. Its pole of 210° W, 81° N (33°, 38°) is poorly defined but apparently concordant.





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