Pre-Silurian stratigraphy and tectonic significance of the St. Croix Belt, southeastern Maine

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 2459-2469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Ludman

The St. Croix Belt of southeastern Maine and southwestern New Brunswick is part of a distinctive terrane situated between the Avalon platform and Miramichi arc—two important physiographic components of the Late Precambrian – early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. It bears lithologic and stratigraphic similarities to both of those tracts but is identical to neither. Formerly mapped entirely as the Cookson Formation, it is now divided into four formations of Cambrian through Early Orodovician age assigned to the Cookson Group. These rocks record periodic influxes of terrigenous debris into a deep anoxic basin and may have been part of the west-facing continental slope of the Avalonian continental block. The St. Croix Belt has been strongly affected by both pre-Silurian and Early Devonian (Acadian) folding. Facies changes rather than tectonic sutures are used to explain the relationships between the St. Croix Belt and its neighbouring pre-Silurian tracts.

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 792-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Williams

The Appalachian Orogen is divided into five broad zones based on stratigraphic and structural contrasts between Cambrian–Ordovician and older rocks. From west to east, these are the Humber, Dunnage, Gander, Avalon, and Meguma Zones.The westerly three zones fit present models for the development of the orogen through the generation and destruction of a late Precambrian – Early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. Thus, the Humber Zone records the development and destruction on an Atlantic-type continental margin, i.e., the ancient continental margin of Eastern North America that lay to the west of Iapetus; the Dunnage Zone represents vestiges of Iapetus with island arc sequences and mélanges built upon oceanic crust; and the Gander Zone records the development and destruction of a continental margin, at least in places of Andean type, that lay to the east of Iapetus.The Precambrian development of the Avalon Zone relates either to rifting and the initiation of Iapetus or to subduction and a cycle that preceded the opening of Iapetus. During the Cambrian Period, the Avalon Zone was a stable platform or marine shelf.Cambrian–Ordovician rocks of the Meguma Zone represent either a remnant of the continental embankment of ancient Northwest Africa or the marine fill of a graben developed within the Avalon Zone.Silurian and younger rocks of the Appalachian Orogen are mixed marine and terrestrial deposits that are unrelated to the earlier Paleozoic zonation of the system. Silurian and later development of the orogen is viewed as the history of deposition and deformation in successor basins that formed across the already destroyed margins and oceanic tract of Iapetus.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43
Author(s):  
Yuan Peng ◽  
Yongsheng Zhang ◽  
Eenyuan Xing ◽  
Linlin Wang

AbstractThe Zhongwunongshan Structural Belt (ZWSB) locates between the Olongbruk Microblock of North Qaidam and the South Qilian Block in China, and it has important implication for understanding the tectonic significance of North Qaidam. Nowadays, there are few discussion on the Caledonian tectonothermal events of the Zhongwunongshan Structural Belt, and there exist different opinions on provenance and tectonic environment of the Zhongwunongshan Group in the ZWSB and its adjacent North Qaidam. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the detrital zircon geochronological research was carried out on the Zhongwunongshan Group. The detrital zircon U-Pb dating results showed two major populations. The first was Neoproterozoic (966-725 Ma) with a ∈Hf(t) = −15.9 to 9.5, and the other was late Early Paleozoic (460-434Ma) with a ∈Hf(t) = −9.6 to −3.1. In combination with previous research, the dominated provenances were found to be the Neoproterozoic granitic gneiss of the Yuqia-Shaliuhe HP-UHP metamorphic belt and the late Early Paleozoic granite of the Tanjianshan ophiolite-volcanic arc belt in North Qaidam. The Zhongwunongshan Group was deposited in the back-arc sedimentary basin related to the Caledonian collisional orogeny during Middle Silurian-Early Devonian (434-407.9 Ma).


1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 488-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. S. McKerrow ◽  
L. R. M. Cocks

Brachiopod and trilobite faunal distributions indicate that the Iapetus Ocean was still wide enough to inhibit migration in the Middle and Late Ordovician. The presence of Silurian and Lower Devonian calc-alkaline rocks suggests that ocean crust was still being subducted long after the end of the Ordovician and that the Iapetus Ocean did not finally close in Newfoundland until the Acadian Orogeny. The Reach Fault divides successions containing different Lower Palaeozoic faunas; to the west, typical North American faunas occur in New World Island (Cobb's Arm Limestone), while to the east the rocks of the Gander region appear to have been attached to the Avalon Peninsula, with its European Lower Palaeozoic faunas, since the Early Ordovician. It is concluded that the Reach Fault marks the suture where the Iapetus Ocean closed at the end of the Early Devonian. This line probably extends across Newfoundland to the south of Buchans, and links up with the Cape Ray Fault in the southwest of the island. An Ordovician fauna from the Davidsville Group of the Gander area is illustrated for the first time; it is not clearly definitive of any faunal province.


1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1209-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Dallmeyer ◽  
R. D. Nance

Concentrates of coarse-grained detrital muscovite from the Ratcliffe Brook Formation (lowermost Cambrian) display internally discordant 40Ar/39Ar age spectra. Gas fractions evolved at intermediate and high experimental temperatures record apparent ages of ca. 610–620 Ma. These are interpreted as dating initial cooling through temperatures appropriate for intracrystalline retention of 40Ar and may indicate derivation from mylonite zones developed within proximal late Precambrian granitic rocks. Gas fractions evolved at lower experimental temperatures record patterns of spectra discordance that suggest the constituent grains experienced partial, intracrystalline diffusive loss of 40Ar during a late Paleozoic, low-grade thermal overprint. A muscovite concentrate from pelitic schist beneath the allochthonous, latest Precambrian Cranberry Head granite records a 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 318 ± 1 Ma. This is interpreted as closely dating Late Carboniferous thrust emplacement of the allochthon.


2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 767-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeni E. Savage ◽  
Margaret A. Bradshaw ◽  
Kari N. Bassett

AbstractAnalysis of conglomerates and sandstones of the Sperm Bluff Formation at the base of the Taylor Group (Devonian) between the Mackay Glacier and Bull Pass provides new insights into the nature of initial coarse-grained deposition on basement along the northern side of the McMurdo sedimentary basin. Six lithofacies are recognized in the Sperm Bluff Formation: conglomerate lithofacies, pebbly sandstone lithofacies, cross-bedded sandstone lithofacies, low-angle cross-stratified sandstone lithofacies, bioturbated sandstone lithofacies and interbedded siltstone/sandstone lithofacies. Sedimentary environments ranged from wave-dominated delta, estuary or lagoon to shoreface and inner shelf. The assemblage is thought to reflect changes in sea level. Rhyolite is the most abundant clast type in the coarse lithofacies, but is unknown in outcrop in southern Victoria Land. The rhyolites correlate in age and geochemistry with Cambrian granites in the basement. Coarse beds also contain numerous quartzite clasts, probably derived from the late Precambrian Skelton Group. Palaeocurrents on Mount Suess indicate a strong unimodal flow to the west, but other sites show polymodal palaeoflow. The Sperm Bluff Formation is correlated with Terra Cotta Siltstone, New Mountain Sandstone and Altar Mountain formations based on the lithology of sandstones and their ichnology. A northward onlap during the Early Devonian is indicated.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian F. Windley

The Grenvillian Orogeny was preceded by extensive anorogenic volcanism and plutonism in the period 1500–1300 Ma in the form of rhyolites, epizonal granites, anorthosites, gabbros, alkaline complexes, and basic dykes. An analogue for the mid-Proterozoic anorogenic complexes is provided by the 2000 km by 200 km belt of anorogenic complexes in the Hoggar, Niger, and Nigeria, which contain anorthosites, gabbros, and peralkaline granites and were generated in a Cambrian to Jurassic rift that farther south led to the formation of the South Atlantic. An analogue for the 1 × 106 km2 area of 1500–1350 Ma rhyolites (and associated epizonal granites) that underlie the mid-continental United States is provided by the 1.7 × 106 km2 area of Jurassic Tobifera rhyolites in Argentina, which were extruded on the stretched continental margin of South America immediately preceding the opening of the South Atlantic. The mid-Proterozoic complexes were intruded close to the continental margin of the Grenvillian ocean and were commonly superimposed by the craton-directed thrusts that characterized the final stages of the Grenvillian Orogeny. The bulk of the Keweenawan rift and associated anorogenic magmatism formed about 1100 Ma at the same time as the Ottawan Orogeny in Ontario, which probably resulted from the collision of the island arc of the Central Metasedimentary Belt attached to the continental block in the east with the continental block to the west. The most appropriate modern equivalent would be the Rhine Graben, which formed at the same time as the main Alpine compression.


1982 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. P. Peschken ◽  
D. B. Finnamore ◽  
A. K. Watson

AbstractThe gall fly Urophora cardui (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae), native to Europe, was released at 24 locations across Canada beginning in 1974. It became established in Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick but died out in all but one location in western Canada. Evidence for winter mortality in the west does not explain the failure of these colonies. Although galls, in particular those on the main shoot, reduce the height of Canada thistle, so far the impact on the host weed, Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) (L.) Scop., is slight.


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