Geochronology of the Buchans, Roberts Arm, and Victoria Lake groups and Mansfield Cove Complex, Newfoundland

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1175-1184 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Dunning ◽  
B. F. Kean ◽  
J. G. Thurlow ◽  
H. S. Swinden
Keyword(s):  
Local Field ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Mobile Belt ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
Form Part

Volcanic groups of the Central Mobile Belt of the Newfoundland Appalachians have previously been subdivided into "early" and "late" arc sequences, separated in time by a quiescent Caradocian stage defined in some areas by fossil-bearing black shales.New U–Pb zircon ages of [Formula: see text] and 473 ± 2 Ma for rhyolites of the Buchans and Roberts Arm groups, respectively, show them to be correlative early Ordovician sequences. These ages serve to refute both the previous Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron ages of 447 Ma and the idea that these groups were "late arc" sequences. These new ages corroborate evidence from late Arenig – early Llanvirn conodonts in the Buchans Group and calibrate this fossil occurrence.A new U–Pb zircon age of 479 ± 3 Ma from plagiogranite of the Mansfield Cove Complex immediately west of the Roberts Arm Group shows that this plutonic body is only slightly older than the adjacent volcanic rocks and not Hadrynian as previously supposed. Local field relationships suggest this body may represent part of a disrupted ophiolite. It is coeval with the ophiolitic Annieopsquotch Complex along a strike to the south and may form part of a belt of rocks derived from early Ordovician ocean floor that is discontinuously exposed along the western boundary of the Buchans – Roberts Arm Belt.Zircons from rhyolite at the northeast termination of the Tulks Hill volcanics, part of the extensive Victoria Lake Group, give an age of [Formula: see text]. This dated sequence contains limestone previously dated as Llanvirn–Llandeilo by conodonts. This part of the group is therefore younger than the Buchans Group, and the designations "early" and "late" arc are not appropriate. The thrusting that juxtaposed these groups is no longer constrained to be of Silurian age but could have been middle to late Ordovician. Precambrian zircons included in the Victoria Lake Group rhyolite could have been incorporated from associated sedimentary rocks and suggest that the group may have formed in a tectonic setting transitional between oceanic and continental and received detritus from several sources.

scholarly journals Petrological and Tectonostratigraphic Evidence for a Mid Ordovician Rift Pulse on the Arabian Peninsula

GeoArabia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Heiko Oterdoom ◽  
Mike A. Worthing ◽  
Mark Partington
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Mafic Rocks ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Clastic Sediments ◽  
Step Heating ◽  
Well Data ◽  
Uplift And Erosion

ABSTRACT During late Early Ordovician times an increase in the rate of subsidence in the Ghaba Salt Basin and western South Oman Salt Basin is suggested by the thick sequence of continental clastics of the Ghudun Formation. After a phase of rift-shoulder uplift and erosion, related to a renewed pulse of extension which may have initiated diapiric growth of salt structures in the Ghaba Salt Basin, sedimentation resumed again in the Mid Ordovician. During this period, the center of deposition shifted to the Saih Hatat area in North Oman. This paper documents seismic and well data, field investigations and petrological study of potassic mafic rocks from the Huqf area which were intruded in the eastern side of the Ghaba Salt Basin. A Mid Ordovician age of 461 ± 2.4 million years has been established for these rocks by the Argon-Argon step heating method. Analogy with the petrology and setting of similar potassic mafic rocks from the Rio Grande Rift in the western United States of America suggests that they were intruded into the shoulder of an intra-continental rift. The data provide the first clear evidence of a pulse of rift-shoulder uplift in the Huqf area during the Mid Ordovician. The 3-kilometer-thick Mid to Late Ordovician clastic sediments of the Amdeh Formation in North Oman, together with the occurrence of abnormally thick sedimentary sequences and volcanics in the Tabas Graben in Iran, are consistent with a period of break-up of eastern Gondwana. Together, the Ghaba-Saih Hatat and Tabas Basins are considered to be part of a failed rift arm. These observations further improve our regional knowledge of the Early to Late Ordovician tectonic setting of Oman and will assist in unlocking the hydrocarbon potential of classical rift-related structures consisting of early-rift Early Ordovician sand-prone reservoirs sealed by syn-rift Mid to Late Ordovician marine shales.

The Ordovician volcanics of the Elmtree–Belledune inlier and their relationship to volcanics of the northern Miramichi Highlands, New Brunswick

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1430-1447 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Winchester ◽  
C. R. van Staal ◽  
J. P. Langton
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Marginal Basin ◽  
Tectonic Mélange ◽  
Back Arc

An investigation of the geology and chemistry of the basic igneous rocks in the Elmtree and Belledune inliers in northern New Brunswick shows that the bulk of the Middle Ordovician rocks of the ophiolitic Fournier Group are best interpreted as the products of volcanism and sedimentation in an extensive ensimatic back-arc basin southeast of a volcanic arc. The oceanic back-arc-basin igneous rocks form the basement to renewed arc-related basaltic volcanism in late Middle to Late Ordovician time. The Fournier Group is separated from the structurally-underlying, shale-dominated Elmtree Formation of the Tetagouche Group by an extensive tectonic melange, which incorporates lenses of serpentinite, mafic volcanic rocks, and sedimentary rocks of both the Tetagouche and Fournier groups. The mafic volcanic rocks in the Elmtree Formation correlate best with those intercalated with the lithologically similar sediments of the Llandeilian–Caradocian Boucher Brook Formation in the northern Miramichi Highlands. The melange and the present structural amalgamation of the Tetagouche and Fournier groups result from closure of the marginal basin by northward-directed subduction at the end of the Ordovician. Most mafic suites in the Elmtree and Belledune inliers can be chemically correlated with similar suites in the northern Miramichi Highlands, showing that the two areas are not separated by a terrane boundary.

Chronology of crustal growth and recycling in the Paleoproterozoic Amisk collage (Flin Flon Belt), Trans-Hudson Orogen, Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1807-1827 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Stern ◽  
N Machado ◽  
E C Syme ◽  
S B Lucas ◽  
J David
Keyword(s):  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Bulk Composition ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Crust And Upper Mantle ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Magmatic Rocks ◽  
Main Period ◽  
Flin Flon ◽  
Back Arc

U-Pb zircon ages have been compiled for magmatic and sedimentary rocks from the low metamorphic grade portion of the Flin Flon greenstone belt, now recognized as a Paleoproterozoic tectonic collage. The "Amisk collage" formed in two major magmatic periods that were separated by an interval of intraoceanic accretionary tectonics. Pre-accretionary volcanic and plutonic rocks of arc and ocean-floor tectonic affinities have crystallization ages of 1.906-1.901 and 1.888-1.881 Ga; the earlier period was dominated by juvenile tholeiitic arc basalts and related back-arc-basin basalts, and the younger period by juvenile calc-alkaline volcanic rocks and turbidites. Intraoceanic accretion of the diverse tectono-stratigraphic assemblages may have commenced between 1.90 and 1.89 Ga, but the main period was 1.88-1.87 Ga. The post-accretionary period (1.876-1.838 Ga) was characterized by intrusion of juvenile calk-alkaline plutons generated by a successor arc that stitched the diverse pre-accretionary assemblages. Marine to subaerial volcaniclastic and epiclastic units were deposited in successor basins <=1.87 Ga (Schist-Wekusko suite), succeeded by alluvial-fluvial (Missi Group) to marine (Burntwood Group) sediments after 1.85 Ga. Despite the dominance of juvenile magmatic rocks within the collage, U-Pb zircon age and Nd-isotopic data show that older (>2.2-3.0 Ga) basement fragments were present throughout the development of the Amisk collage. An arc-back-arc system close to an Archean craton is proposed as the most likely tectonic setting during formation and accretion of the Amisk collage from 1.90 to 1.84 Ga. Subsequent continental collision during peak orogeny (1.84-1.81 Ga) is interpreted to have delaminated the lower crust and upper mantle of the collage, preferentially preserving crust of intermediate bulk composition.

Petrology of Upper Ordovician – Lower Silurian rocks of the Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 752-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Upper Ordovician ◽  
Marine Transgression ◽  
Lower Silurian ◽  
Clastic Rocks

Upper Ordovician to Lower Silurian rocks in the Antigonish Highlands consist of interlayered basalts, rhyodacites, arkoses, and conglomerates overlain by a thick sequence of marine clastic rocks and minor rhyolites. The stratigraphy documents a marine transgression. The volcanic rocks were deposited in a within-plate, continental, extensional environment. The basalts display alkalic and tholeiitic affinities, and the rhyodacites were formed by anatexis of the crust. The origin of the younger rhyolites is not clear: they are compositionally distinct from the rhyodacites but may be related to them as late-stage differentiates. At present, it is not possible to evaluate whether the tectonic setting and magmatic affinities are regionally or locally controlled.The geological history is very similar to that of Lower Silurian rocks immediately north of the Antigonish Highlands at Arisaig. In the simplest sense, this indicates these areas may have been juxtaposed prior to the Late Ordovician and limits cumulative post-Silurian movement on the boundary (Hollow) fault to about 40 km.

Geochronology of the Twillingate Granite and Herring Neck Group, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland

1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1591-1601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Williams ◽  
R. D. Dallmeyer ◽  
R. K. Wanless
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Linear Array ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Mafic Dike ◽  
Plate Convergence ◽  
Late Cambrian

Zircons from the Twillingate Granite form a linear array with a concordia intercept of 510 + 17 – 16 m.y. Mafic dikes that cut deformed granite along the southern contact of the pluton at New World Island record 40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages of 440 ± 10 and 473 ± 9 m.y. These ages indicate that the mafic dikes are Ordovician, and confirm their correlation with mafic volcanic rocks of the nearby Herring Neck Group. The dates also suggest that Herring Neck volcanism and mafic dike intrusion extended from Early to Late Ordovician. Together with the zircon age, they define a narrow chronologic bracket for intrusion, deformation, and metamorphism of the Twillingate Granite (`~510–475 m.y.).Within the central portion of the Twillingate pluton. a metamorphosed mafic dike cutting massive granite and an amphibolite inclusion within Foliated granite yield similar,40Ar/39Ar hornblende ages of 443 ± 11 and 438 ± 9 m.y. These ages are anomalously young compared with the 473 m.y. age of a mafic dike cutting deformed granite at New World Island. They are interpreted to indicate prolonged metamorphism and/or slower post-meta mo rphic cooling for central portions of the pluton compared to its southern margin.The isotopic ages support the view that the Twillingate Granite and nearby mafic volcanic rocks are collectively part of a single island-arc complex. The granite may have been generated during a period of subduction as sociated with plate convergence and closing of the proto-Atlantic ocean. A 510 m.y. (Late Cambrian) age for the granite suggests that convergence began rather early in the evolution of the Northern Appalachians. In addition, where dated Newfoundland ophiolite suites appear to be younger than, or contemporaneous with some granitic plutons (such as Twillingate), it is likely that they formed in a marginal ocean basin environment behind an older island-arc terrane.Les zircons du granite de Twillingate forment un réseau linéaire avec intercept à 510 + 17 – 16 Ma. Les dykes mafiques qui recoupent le granite déformé le long de la bordure sud du pluton à New World Island donnent des âges 40Ar/39Ar pour la hornblende de 440 ± 10 et de 473 ± 9 Ma. Ces âges indiquent que les dykes mafiques sont Ordoviciens et confirment leurs liens avec des roches mafiques volcaniques du groupe de Herring Neck dans le voisinage. Les dates suggèrent aussi que le volcanisme de Herring Neck et l'intrusion de dykes mafiques se sont produits du début à la fin de l'Ordovicien. Avec les âges des zircons, ils définissent un intervalle de temps assez court pour l'intrusion, la déformation et le métamorphisme du granite de Twillingate (~510–475 Ma).A l'intérieur de la portion centrale du pluton de Twillingate, un dyke mafique métamorphisé recoupant un granite massif et une inclusion d'amphibolite dans un granite foliacé donnent des âges 40Ar/39Ar semblables pour les hornblendes de 443 ± 11 et 438 ± 9 Ma. Ces âges sont anormalement faibles si on les compare avec l'âge de 473 Ma du dyke mafique qui recoupe le granite déformé de New World Island. On les interprète comme indiquant un métamorphisme prolongé et/ou un refroidissement post-métamorphique plus lent pour les portions centrales du pluton par comparaison à sa bordure sud.

Age of volcanic rocks and syndepositional iron formations, Marquette Range Supergroup: implications for the tectonic setting of Paleoproterozoic iron formations of the Lake Superior region

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 999-1012 ◽  
Author(s):  
D A Schneider ◽  
M E Bickford ◽  
W F Cannon ◽  
K J Schulz ◽  
M A Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Lake Superior ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Age Determination ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Continental Rifting ◽  
The South ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Iron Formations ◽  
Northern Michigan

A rhyolite in the Hemlock Formation, a mostly bimodal submarine volcanic deposit that is laterally correlative with the Negaunee Iron-formation, yields a sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon age of 1874 ± 9 Ma, but also contains inherited Archean zircons as old as 3.8 Ga. This precise age determination for the classic Paleoproterozoic stratigraphic sequence of northern Michigan, the Marquette Range Supergroup (MRS), necessitates modification of previous depositional and tectonic models. Our new data indicate that the Menominee Group, previously ascribed to continental rifting during early, pre-collision phases of the Penokean orogenic cycle, is coeval with arc-related volcanic rocks now preserved as accreted terranes immediately to the south and is more aptly interpreted as a foredeep deposit. We interpret these to be second-order basins created by oblique subduction of the continental margin rather than basins formed on a rifting margin. Along with a recently reported age for the Gunflint Formation in Ontario of 1878 ± 2 Ma, our data suggest that an extensive foredeep in the western Lake Superior region was the locus of iron-formation deposition during arc accretion from the south. Further, we interpret the lower MRS (Chocolay Group), a glaciogenic and shallow-marine succession that lies atop Archean basement, to be equivalent to the upper part of the Huronian Supergroup of Ontario and to represent the original continental rifting and passive-margin phase of the Penokean cycle. The upper MRS (Baraga Group) represents deeper marine basins, dominated by turbidites and lesser volcanic rocks, resulting from increased subsidence and continued collision. A stitching pluton, which cuts correlatives of the Hemlock Formation in a thrust sheet, yielded a U–Pb zircon age of 1833 ± 6 Ma, consistent with other post-tectonic plutons in Wisconsin and northern Michigan, indicating that Penokean convergence lasted no longer than ~40 million years.

Parallel geological development in the Dunnage Zone of Newfoundland and the Lower Palaeozoic terranes of southern Scotland: an assessment

1992 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. P. Colman-Sadd ◽  
P. Stone ◽  
H. S. Swinden ◽  
R. P. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Marine Transgression ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
Structural Regime ◽  
Lower Palaeozoic ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Combined Data

AbstractThe Notre Dame and Exploits subzones of Newfoundland's Dunnage Zone are correlated with the Midland Valley and Southern Uplands of Scotland, using detailed comparisons of two key Lower Palaeozoic successions which record similar histories of extension and compression. It follows that the Baie Verte Line, Red Indian Line and Dover Fault are equivalent to the Highland Boundary Fault, Southern Upland Fault and Solway Line, respectively.The Betts Cove Complex and overlying Snooks Arm Group of the Notre Dame Subzone are analogous to the Ballantrae Complex of the Midland Valley, both recording the Arenig evolution and subsequent obduction of an arc and back-arc system. The Early Ordovician to Silurian sequence unconformably overlying the Ballantrae Complex is poorly represented in the Notre Dame Subzone but important similarities can still be detected suggesting corresponding histories of continental margin subsidence and marine transgression.In the Exploits Subzone, Early Ordovician back-arc volcanic rocks are overlain by Llandeilo mudstones and Late Ordovician to Early Silurian turbidites. A similar stratigraphy occurs in the Northern and Central Belts of the Southern Uplands and both areas have matching transpressive structural histories. Deeper erosion in the Exploits Subzone reveals Cambrian and Early Ordovician volcano-sedimentary sequences structurally emplaced on the Gander Zone, and such rocks are probably present beneath the Southern Uplands. Combined data from the Notre Dame Subzone and Midland Valley suggest an Arenig southeast-dipping subduction zone. Early Ordovician volcanic rocks in the Exploits Subzone and Southern Uplands have back-arc basin geochemistry and support the model of the Southern Uplands as a transition from back-arc to foreland basin. Preferential emergence of the Dunnage Zone and contrasts between Exploits Subzone and Southern Uplands turbidite basins are attributed to collision of Newfoundland with a Laurentian promontory and Scotland with a re-entrant. This hypothesis also explains the transpressive structural regime common to both areas.

Permian K-rich volcanic rocks of Devon: petrogenesis, tectonic setting and geological significance

1987 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Thorpe
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Chemical Characteristics ◽  
Geological Significance ◽  
Oblique Subduction ◽  
Enriched Mantle ◽  
Granite Batholith

ABSTRACTPotassium (K)-rich volcanic rocks occur within Permian sedimentary rocks in SW England and are approximately contemporaneous with the emplacement of the Cornubian granite batholith. The volcanic rocks have chemical characteristics of subduction-related magmas and may have been derived by small amounts of partial melting of heterogeneous large-ion lithophile (LIL) enriched mantle with the assemblage olivine–pyroxene–garnet–phlogopite–titanate. The LIL enrichment may have occurred during shallow or oblique subduction of oceanic lithosphere below SW England during the Devonian and Carboniferous. Such LIL-enriched mantle may have contributed some components to the Cornubian granite batholith.

Geochemistry and tectonic discrimination of Late Proterozoic arc-related volcaniclastic turbidite sequences, Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 2273-2282 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Brendan Murphy ◽  
Deborah L. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Late Proterozoic ◽  
Felsic Volcanic ◽  
Clastic Sedimentary ◽  
End Members

The Late Proterozoic (ca. 618–610 Ma) Georgeville Group of northern mainland Nova Scotia lies within the Avalon Composite Terrane and consists of subgreenschist- to greenschist-facies mafic and felsic volcanic rocks overlain by volcaniclastic turbidites that were deposited in an ensialic basin within a rifted volcanic arc. Geochronological data indicate that the volcanic and sedimentary rocks are coeval. The geochemical and isotopic signatures of the sedimentary rocks are attributed to erosion of the coeval Avalonian volcanic rocks that flank the basin and are consistent with synorogenic deposition. There is no evidence of significant chemical contribution from Avalonian basement.Knowledge of the tectonic setting facilitates the testing of published geochemical discriminant diagrams for clastic sedimentary rocks. Discrimination diagrams using ratios such as K2O/Na2O and Al2O3/(CaO + Na2O) give inconclusive results, probably due to elemental mobility during secondary processes. Plots involving MgO, TiO2, and Fe2O3 detect the chemical contribution of mafic detritus, give much tighter clusters of data, and plot between Aleutian- and Cascade-type arc-derived sediments, suggesting a moderate thickness of continental crust beneath the arc.The arc-related signature of the Georgeville sedimentary rocks is clearly recognizable on ternary plots involving inter-element ratios of high field strength elements (e.g., Ti–Y–Zr, Nb–Y–Zr, and Hf–Ta–Th) in which the samples plot as mixing trends between mafic and felsic end members. Diagrams of this type may have widespread application to tectonic discrimination of sedimentary rocks because in most suites these ratios are relatively insensitive to sedimentary and metamorphic processes.

Petrology, age, and tectonic setting of the Seal Island Pluton, offshore southwestern Nova Scotia

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1467-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C Moran ◽  
Sandra M Barr ◽  
Chris E White ◽  
Michael A Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Heavy Rare Earth ◽  
Zircon Age ◽  
Relative Age ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Heavy Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Granitoid Rocks ◽  
Meguma Terrane ◽  
Granite Samples

The Seal Island Pluton outcrops only on small islands located on the continental shelf 45 km south of Nova Scotia, although geophysical data indicate that the pluton is part of large granitoid units that cover thousands of square kilometres farther offshore. Based on the island outcrops, the Seal Island Pluton consists of biotite monzogranite and muscovite–biotite monzogranite of uncertain relative age. Metasedimentary xenoliths combined with characteristic magnetic patterns indicate that the pluton intruded the Cambrian–Ordovician Meguma Group. Compared with the biotite monzogranite, the muscovite–biotite monzogranite is higher in SiO2, more peraluminous, and more depleted in heavy rare-earth elements, and also has lower εNd (–1.39 versus +0.82), possibly the result of more contamination by Meguma Group sedimentary rocks. The biotite monzogranite yielded a Late Devonian U–Pb (zircon) age of 362.8 ± 0.7 Ma. Although the relatively minor petrological differences between the two units do not preclude a co-magmatic relationship, the muscovite–biotite monzogranite could be 10–15 Ma older than the biotite monzogranite, based on its petrological similarities to parts of the onshore ca. 376–372 Ma Shelburne and Port Mouton plutons. Comparison with granite samples in offshore drill core indicates that granitoid rocks similar to those exposed on Seal and surrounding islands form part of large plutons farther offshore in the Meguma terrane. The age and petrochemical data from both onshore and offshore plutons indicate that peraluminous granitoid rocks in the Meguma terrane were derived from similar sources over a span of at least 20 million years. Magma genesis may have been related to mantle upwelling and stepping back of the subduction zone to the southeast subsequent to docking of Meguma terrane with adjacent Avalonia.

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