The Hozameen fault system and related Coquihalla serpentine belt of southwestern British Columbia

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1022-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. Ray
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Ultramafic Rocks ◽  
Spreading Ridge ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Directed Movement ◽  
Serpentine Belt ◽  
Back Arc

The Hozameen Fault of southwestern British Columbia is associated with the Coquihalla serpentine belt and separates two distinct crustal units. Northeast of the fault are greenstones of the Early Triassic (?) Spider Peak Formation, which are unconformably overlain by Jurassic to Cretaceous turbidite and successor basin deposits of the Pasayten Trough. The oldest sedimentary rocks in the trough, the Ladner Group, contain a locally developed basal unit that hosts the Carolin mine gold orebody. Southwest of the fault, the Permian to Jurassic Hozameen Group represents a dismembered ophiolite succession comprising ultramafic rocks of the Petch Creek serpentine belt, overlain in turn by greenstone and chert units. The greenstones in the Hozameen Group and the Spider Peak Formation are geochemically distinguishable; the latter represent sodic, ocean-floor, subalkaline basalts formed in a spreading ridge environment, while the former include both arc tholeiites and oceanic island–seamount subalkaline basalts.Farther west, the major Petch Creek Fault separates the Hozameen Group from the Custer–Skagit Gneiss. This fault is locally associated with the Petch Creek serpentine belt and is considered to be a northern extension of the Ross Lake Fault of Washington State.The rocks in the Hozameen Group, Spider Peak Formation, and Pasayten Trough were probably deposited within a single basin that initiated as an extensive, multirifted, marginal back-arc basin and eventually evolved into the steadily narrowing Pasayten Trough.Following Early to Middle Cretaceous closure of the Pasayten Trough, oblique, easterly-directed movement along westerly-dipping thrusts caused the Custer–Skagit Gneiss to override the Hozameen Group, which in turn overrode rocks of the Pasayten Trough farther east; these boundary thrusts formed precursor structures for the Hozameen and Petch Creek faults. Ultramafic basement material underlying the Spider Peak Formation and the Hozameen Group was thrust up the bounding fractures, producing the Coquihalla and Petch Creek serpentine belts, respectively.Large-scale dextral transcurrent displacement, possibly related to movement along the Fraser Fault system, occurred subsequently along the Petch Creek and Hozameen faults. This wrench movement was preceded by the Mid-Eocene (?) intrusion of the Needle Peak pluton and was followed by emplacement of the 16–35 Ma Chilliwack batholith.

The influence of mantle plume in the genesis of the Cache Creek oceanic igneous rocks: implications for the geodynamic evolution of the inner accreted terranes of the Canadian Cordillera

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Tardy ◽  
H Lapierre ◽  
L C Struik ◽  
D Bosch ◽  
P Brunet
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Rare Earth ◽  
Earth Element ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Ultramafic Rocks ◽  
Type 3

West of Prince George, British Columbia, the Cache Creek Terrane is composed of mafic lavas interlayered with both mid-Permian pelagic limestones and Upper Triassic siliceous shales and greywackes. Gabbro, basalt, dolerites, and foliated clinopyroxene-rich ultramafic rocks are exposed within the Pinchi Fault system. The mid-Permian lavas show affinities of oceanic island tholeiites. Among the Triassic lavas, three types of rocks have been distinguished. Type 1 is geochemically similar to the mid-Permian volcanic rocks. Type 2 differs from type 1 by higher TiO2 abundances and convex rare earth element patterns. Type 3 has the highest Zr, Nb, and Ta abundances and the greatest light rare earth element enrichment. The mafic rocks within the Pinchi Fault system are similar to N-type mid-ocean-ridge basalt (N-MORB), and the foliated ultramafic rocks are characterized by very low trace element contents, similar to extremely depleted harzburgites. Permian lavas and Triassic type 1 and igneous rocks from the Pinchi Fault system have the highest εNd(i) ratios (+7.4 to +9.6) and those of type 3 alkali have the lowest ratios (+2.0 to +5.3). The εNd(i) values of type 2 are intermediate between those of type 1 (~+7) and type 3 (~+4.9). This suggests that the Triassic rocks generated from a heterogeneous plume source or the mixing between depleted N-MORB and enriched oceanic island basalt sources. If the mafic igneous rocks sampled in central British Columbia are representative of the preserved parts of an oceanic crust, within the Cache Creek Terrane, then that crust was dominated by oceanic plateau components, perhaps due to the difficulty of subducting thick crust.

scholarly journals The Kohistan between Gilgit and Chilas, northern Pakistan: regional tectonic implications

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Khan ◽  
M. A. Khan ◽  
M. Q. Jan ◽  
M. Latif
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Northern Pakistan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Volcanic Group ◽  
The North ◽  
Regional Tectonic ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Field Geology

In this paper, we present geological description of an area located between Gilgit and Chilas within the Kohistan terrane. This terrane has been considered an intra-oceanic island arc, formed due to northward subduction of the Neo-tethyan lithospheric plate. At present, it is squeezed between the Karakoram­ Asian and Indian continental plates. Both the contacts are marked by suture zones, that is, Shyok (MKT) in the north and Indus (MMT) sutures in the south, respectively. The investigated area consists of plutonic, metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks, the Chilas Complex, and the Kamila Amphibolite. The metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks are packaged into the Jagfot Group. This group comprises basal turbiditic sediments, intercalated with amphibolites and calc-silicates (the Gilgit Formation), followed upward by the Gashu-Confluence Volcanics = Chait Volcanic Group, and finally the Thelichi Formation = Yasin Group of Aptian-Albian age. The Thelichi Formation comprises a volcanic base (Majne volcanics) and overlying turbidites, local intercalation of marbles, volcaniclastics and lava flows. Greenschist and amphibolite facies are common in the Jaglot Group, and particularly the sillimanite in the Gilgit Formation. A pair of anticline (the Gilgit anticline) and syncline (the Jaglot syncline) make up the structural scenario. On the basis of field geology, we conclude that the entire Jaglot Group and its equivalents, the Yasin Group, Chait Volcanic Group in Kohistan, and Burjila Formation, Bauma Harel Formation and Katzarah Formation in Ladakh show intra-oceanic back-arc basin rather than island arc affinities as suggested in the past.

Geochemistry of the upper Snooks Arm Group basalts, Burlington Peninsula, Newfoundland: evidence against formation in an island arc

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 888-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Jenner ◽  
B. J. Fryer
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Basaltic Rocks ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Back Arc

The Snooks Arm Group of the Newfoundland Appalachians, which includes the Betts Cove ophiolite at its base, has been interpreted as oceanic crust overlain by island arc volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The limited geochemical data available on the upper Snooks Arm Group basalts have been used as evidence for and against their formation in an island arc environment.Reinvestigation of the chemistry of the basaltic rocks of the upper Snooks Arm Group establishes them as large ion lithophile enriched tholeiites. Similar basalts have been found in oceanic islands, on aseismic ridges, and possibly in back-arc basins. Chemically analogous rocks are notably lacking from island arc settings.The geochemistry and geology of the upper Snooks Arm Group suggest that these rocks may have formed in either an oceanic island setting or, as recently suggested by Upadhyay and Neale, as part of a marginal basin. It is not possible to distinguish between these alternate models, although the most similar basaltic rocks occur in the former environment. It is most unlikely that these rocks formed in an early island arc setting and indeed there may be no need for them to be associated with a major subduction zone.

Mississippian volcanic assemblage conformably overlying Cordilleran miogeoclinal strata, Turnagain River area, northern British Columbia, is not part of an accreted terrane

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1449-1465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Erdmer ◽  
Mitchell G Mihalynuk ◽  
Hubert Gabrielse ◽  
Larry M Heaman ◽  
Robert A Creaser
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
Structural Relationships ◽  
Geochemical Study ◽  
Tectonic Contact ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
T Values

A Paleozoic volcanic assemblage exposed in northern British Columbia, near the Turnagain River, previously considered to be part of an accreted terrane, was reported to be in depositional contact with a part of the Cordilleran miogeocline. This paper presents an integrated field, U–Pb geochronology, Sm–Nd isotopic, and geochemical study across the basal contact of the volcanic assemblage. Strongly evolved εNd(T) values, between –13 and –21, from samples of lower Paleozoic sedimentary rocks exposed below the volcanic rocks, and correlated with Atan – Kechika – Road River – Earn strata of the miogeocline farther east, support a North American miogeoclinal affinity, consistent with previously established regional stratigraphic and structural relationships. Nd isotopic data from the volcanic assemblage contrast significantly with data from the sedimentary rocks and record a mantle source (εNd(T) values between +4.0 and +7.0), consistent with a magmatic arc or back arc; negative Nb anomalies are similarly compatible with either arc- or back-arc-related magmatism. A concordant 339.7 ± 0.6 Ma U–Pb zircon date was obtained from the volcanic assemblage. The mixed gradational contact between the miogeoclinal and volcanic rocks is marked by interlayering of finely laminated grey and green phyllites on the scale of centimetres, with no evidence of a tectonic contact. Bedding at the contact is folded into tight outcrop-scale folds that are intruded by an Early Jurassic (187.5 ± 2.9 Ma) granodiorite. On the basis of all available evidence, the contact is interpreted as a facies transition. The Mississippian volcanic assemblage may link the miogeocline with the early development of an Angayucham – Slide Mountain basin.

Eocene sedimentation and volcanism in the Fig Lake Graben, southwestern British Columbia

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1368-1373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek J. Thorkelson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Normal Faulting ◽  
Pull Apart Basin ◽  
Fault Block

The Fig Lake Graben is a narrow, complex Eocene basin that developed along part of the Coldwater fault system in southwestern British Columbia. Its origin as a pull-apart basin is probably related to dextral wrench faulting along the Fraser Fault and low-angle normal faulting of the Okanagan shear zone. Within the graben are Kamloops Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks, the thickness of which implies that one fault block has been downthrown at least 4.5 km. Geochemical interpretation of previously published analyses of Kamloops Group volcanic rocks indicates that magma production was genetically related to both extension and subduction.

Imbricate architecture of the upper Paleozoic to Jurassic oceanic Cache Creek Terrane, central British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
L C Struik ◽  
P Schiarizza ◽  
M J Orchard ◽  
F Cordey ◽  
H Sano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Spreading Ridge ◽  
Oceanic Plateau ◽  
Upper Paleozoic ◽  
Ophiolite Suite ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
Oceanic Rocks

Upper Paleozoic to Lower Jurassic oceanic rocks of the Cache Creek Terrane near Fort St. James, in central British Columbia, form a stack of thrust sheets cut by steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Paleontologically dated upper Paleozoic strata include bioclastic shallow-water limestone and ribbon chert. Isotopically dated Permian rocks consist of tonalite sills and stocks and rhyolite flows intercalated with basalt flows. Paleontologically dated lower Mesozoic rocks include greywacke, sandstone, siltstone, argillite, ribbon chert, conglomerate, limestone, and basalt tuff. Trembleur Ultramafite unit of the Cache Creek Complex, in places part of an ophiolite suite, forms thrust sheets and klippen that overlie lower Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. Sedimentological, lithochemical, paleontological, petrological, and textural comparisons with other areas and established models demonstrate that Cache Creek Terrane is an accretionary complex, a structurally stacked assemblage of rocks that originated in diverse and disparate oceanic paleoenvironments. These environments include spreading ridge, oceanic plateau, atoll, trench fill, and possibly arc. Internal imbrication of the terrane is as young as Early Jurassic, as determined from fossil evidence, and the minimum age of obduction of the thrust stack westward onto Stikine Terrane is Middle Jurassic, as determined from dating of a crosscutting pluton. Triassic blueschist and eclogite of Cache Creek Terrane are interpreted to have been primarily uplifted to upper crustal levels during Triassic subduction. Cache Creek Terrane, as a remnant of that subduction process, and caught in the collision between Stikine and Quesnel terranes, marks the position of a lithosphere-scale suture zone, the Pinchi Suture.

ASTRONOMICAL TUNING OF THE EARLY TRIASSIC INDUAN STAGE IN THE DISTAL MONTNEY FORMATION, NE BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Shen ◽  
◽  
Shane D. Schoepfer ◽  
Charles M. Henderson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Astronomical Tuning ◽  
Montney Formation

Bridge River tephra: revised distribution and significance for detecting old carbon errors in radiocarbon dates of limnic sediments in southern British Columbia

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1454-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf W. Mathewes ◽  
John A. Westgate
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
The South ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Carbon Contamination ◽  
Horseshoe Lake ◽  
Tephra Beds

Ash-grade Bridge River tephra, identified as such on the basis of shard habit, modal mineralogy, and composition of ilmenite, occurs in sedimentary cores from three lakes located to the south of the previously documented plume and necessitates a significant enlargement of the fallout area of that tephra in southwestern British Columbia.These new, more southerly occurrences are probably equivalent to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra, although it can be argued from the evidence at hand that the 14C dates and biotite-rich nature support relationship to a slightly earlier Bridge River event.Large differences exist in the 14C age of sediments immediately adjacent to the Bridge River tephra at these three lake sites; maximum ages of 3950 ± 170 years BP (GX-5549) and 3750 ± 210 years BP (I-10041) were obtained at Phair and Fishblue lakes, respectively, whereas the corresponding age at Horseshoe Lake is only 2685 ± 180 years BP (GX-5757). The two older dates are considered to be significantly affected by old carbon contamination for the bedrock locally consists of calcareous sedimentary rocks and the lacustrine sediments are very calcareous. The 14C date from Horseshoe Lake, which occurs in an area of igneous rocks, appears to be only slightly too old relative to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra.Well-dated tephra beds, therefore, can be very useful in assessing the magnitude of old carbon errors associated with radiocarbon dates based on limnic sediments. Calcareous gyttja deposits beneath Bridge River tephra within the study area exhibit old carbon errors of the order of 1350–1550 years.

Le terrane de Slide Mountain (Cordillères canadiennes) : une lithosphère océanique marquée par des points chauds

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 833-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Tardy ◽  
H Lapierre ◽  
D Bosch ◽  
A Cadoux ◽  
A Narros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Island ◽  
Light Rare Earth ◽  
Isotopic Compositions ◽  
Incompatible Elements ◽  
Depleted Mantle ◽  
Mantle Sources ◽  
British Colombia ◽  
Ultramafic Cumulates ◽  
Back Arc

The Slide Mountain Terrane consists of Devonian to Permian siliceous and detrital sediments in which are interbedded basalts and dolerites. Locally, ultramafic cumulates intrude these sediments. The Slide Mountain Terrane is considered to represent a back-arc basin related to the Quesnellia Paleozoic arc-terrane. However, the Slide Mountain mafic volcanic rocks exposed in central British Colombia do not exhibit features of back-arc basin basalts (BABB) but those of mid-oceanic ridge (MORB) and oceanic island (OIB) basalts. The N-MORB-type volcanic rocks are characterized by light rare-earth element (LREE)-depleted patterns, La/Nb ratios ranging between 1 and 2. Moreover, their Nd and Pb isotopic compositions suggest that they derived from a depleted mantle source. The within-plate basalts differ from those of MORB affinity by LREE-enriched patterns; higher TiO2, Nb, Ta, and Th abundances; lower εNd values; and correlatively higher isotopic Pb ratios. The Nd and Pb isotopic compositions of the ultramafic cumulates are similar to those of MORB-type volcanic rocks. The correlations between εNd and incompatible elements suggest that part of the Slide Mountain volcanic rocks derive from the mixing of two mantle sources: a depleted N-MORB type and an enriched OIB type. This indicates that some volcanic rocks of the Slide Mountain basin likely developed from a ridge-centered or near-ridge hotspot. The activity of this hotspot is probably related to the worldwide important mantle plume activity that occurred at the end of Permian times, notably in Siberia.

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