Tectono-stratigraphic evolution of the Early Proterozoic Wisconsin magmatic terranes of the Penokean Orogen

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2145-2158 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Sims ◽  
W. R. Van Schmus ◽  
K. J. Schulz ◽  
Z. E. Peterman

The Early Proterozoic Penokean Orogen developed along the southern margin of the Archean Superior craton. The orogen consists of a northern deformed continental margin prism overlying an Archean basement and a southern assemblage of oceanic arcs, the Wisconsin magmatic terranes. The south-dipping Niagara fault (suture) zone separates the south-facing continental margin from the accreted arc terranes. The suture zone contains a dismembered ophiolite.The Wisconsin magmatic terranes consist of two terranes that are distinguished on the basis of lithology and structure. The northern Pembine–Wausau terrane contains a major succession of tholeiitic and calc-alkaline volcanic rocks deposited in the interval 1860–1889 Ma and a more restricted succession of calc-alkaline volcanic rocks deposited about 1835 – 1845 Ma. Granitoid rocks ranging in age from about 1870 to 1760 Ma intrude the volcanic rocks. The older succession was generated as island arcs and (or) closed back-arc basins above the south-dipping subduction zone (Niagara fault zone), whereas the younger one developed as island arcs above a north-dipping subduction zone, the Eau Pleine shear zone. The northward subduction followed deformation related to arc–continent collision at the Niagara suture at about 1860 Ma. The southern Marshfield terrane contains remnants of mafic to felsic volcanic rocks about 1860 Ma that were deposited on Archean gneiss basement, foliated tonalite to granite bodies ranging in age from about 1890 to 1870 Ma, and younger undated granite plutons. Following amalgamation of the two arc terranes along the Eau Pleine suture at about 1840 Ma, intraplate magmatism (1835 Ma) produced rhyolite and anorogenic alkali-feldspar granite that straddled the internal suture.

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent C. Condie ◽  
Craig A. Shadel

The Green Mountain Formation of early Proterozoic age in the Sierra Madre Range of southeastern Wyoming comprises a bimodal mafic and felsic volcanic assemblage. The rocks, which are chiefly breccias, agglomerates, flows, and volcaniclastic sediments, represent both subaerial and submarine eruptions and in part were redeposited in fluvial and nearshore marine environments. Volcanic rocks are clearly calc-alkaline in character and share a large number of geochemical features in common with continental-margin arcs or evolved oceanic-arc systems.The low Mg numbers and Ni contents of the basalts require 30–40% olivine fractional crystallization, and the high contents of the most incompatible elements, high (La/Sm)N ratios, and low Zr/Nb ratios require an undepleted or enriched mantle source. Geochemical data are consistent with an origin for the felsic volcanics and associated Encampment River granodiorite by shallow fractional crystallization of calc-alkaline basalt in a tectonic setting similar to modern arc systems. The near absence of andesites may reflect the retention of andesitic magma in crustal reservoirs during fractional cyrstallization.


1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1319-1328 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. N. Badham

The Camsell River – Conjuror Bay area is a pendant of Aphebian intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks, lying in a granitic complex, and is part of the Great Bear batholith. This batholith complex has been interpreted as being the orogenic belt of the Coronation geosyncline.Twenty-four analyses of volcanic and plutonic rocks are presented; these show that, in spite of alteration, the rocks can be classified as comagmatic and part of an alkali-rich calc-alkaline suite. The suite is chemically similar to younger suites from continental-margin orogenic belts. These similarities support proposals that the Coronation geosyncline was of Andean type and that the magmas may have been generated by subduction.


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.


2004 ◽  
Vol 175 (5) ◽  
pp. 443-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodolfo A. Tamayo* ◽  
René C. Maury* ◽  
Graciano P. Yumul ◽  
Mireille Polvé ◽  
Joseph Cotten ◽  
...  

Abstract The basement complexes of the Philippine archipelago include at least 20 ophiolites and ophiolitic complexes. These complexes are characterised by volcanic sequences displaying geochemical compositions similar to those observed in MORB, transitional MORB-island arc tholeiites and arc volcanic rocks originating from modern Pacific-type oceans, back-arc basins and island arcs. Ocean island basalt-like rocks are rarely encountered in the volcanic sequences. The gabbros from the ophiolites contain clinopyroxenes and plagioclases showing a wide range of XMg and An values, respectively. Some of these gabbros exhibit mineral chemistries suggesting their derivation from basaltic liquids formed from mantle sources that underwent either high degrees of partial melting or several partial melting episodes. Moreover, some of the gabbros display a crystallization sequence where orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene appeared before plagioclase. The major element compositions of coexisting orthopyroxenes and olivines from the mantle peridotites are consistent with low to high degrees of partial melting. Accessory spinels in these peridotites display a wide range of XCr values as well with some of them above the empirical upper limit of 0.6 often observed in most modern mid-oceanic ridge (MOR) mantle rocks. Co-existing olivines and spinels from the peridotites also exhibit compositions suggesting that they lastly equilibrated under oxidizing mantle conditions. The juxtaposition of volcanic rocks showing affinities with modern MOR and island arc environments suggests that most of the volcanic sequences in Philippine ophiolites formed in subduction-related geodynamic settings. Similarly, their associated gabbros and peridotites display mineralogical characteristics and mineral chemistries consistent with their derivation from modern supra-subduction zone-like environments. Alternatively, these rocks could have, in part, evolved in a supra-subduction zone even though they originated from a MOR-like setting. A simplified scenario regarding the early geodynamic evolution of the Philippines is proposed on the basis of the geochemical signatures of the ophiolites, their ages of formation and the ages and origins of the oceanic basins actually bounding the archipelago, including basins presumed to be now totally consumed. This scenario envisages the early development of the archipelago to be largely dominated by the opening and closing of oceanic basins. Fragments of these basins provided the substratum on top of which the Cretaceous to Recent volcanic arcs of the Philippines were emplaced.


2021 ◽  
pp. M55-2018-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip T. Leat ◽  
Teal R. Riley

AbstractThe Antarctic Peninsula contains a record of continental-margin volcanism extending from Jurassic to Recent times. Subduction of the Pacific oceanic lithosphere beneath the continental margin developed after Late Jurassic volcanism in Alexander Island that was related to extension of the continental margin. Mesozoic ocean-floor basalts emplaced within the Alexander Island accretionary complex have compositions derived from Pacific mantle. The Antarctic Peninsula volcanic arc was active from about Early Cretaceous times until the Early Miocene. It was affected by hydrothermal alteration, and by regional and contact metamorphism generally of zeolite to prehnite–pumpellyite facies. Distinct geochemical groups recognized within the volcanic rocks suggest varied magma generation processes related to changes in subduction dynamics. The four groups are: calc-alkaline, high-Mg andesitic, adakitic and high-Zr, the last two being described in this arc for the first time. The dominant calc-alkaline group ranges from primitive mafic magmas to rhyolite, and from low- to high-K in composition, and was generated from a mantle wedge with variable depletion. The high-Mg and adakitic rocks indicate periods of melting of the subducting slab and variable equilibration of the melts with mantle. The high-Zr group is interpreted as peralkaline and may have been related to extension of the arc.


Author(s):  
J.F. Dewey ◽  
J.F. Casey

Abstract. The narrow, short-lived Taconic-Grampian Orogen occurs along the north-western margin of the Appalachian-Caledonian Belt from, at least, Alabama to Scotland, a result of the collision of a series of early Ordovician oceanic island arcs with the rifted margin of Laurentia. The present distribution of Taconian-Grampian ophiolites is unlikely to represent a single fore-arc from Alabama to Scotland colliding at the same time with the continental margin along its whole length; more likely is that there were several Ordovician arcs with separate ophiolites. The collision suture is at the thrust base of obducted fore-arc ophiolite complexes, and obduction distance was about two hundred kilometres. Footwalls to the ophiolites are, sequentially towards the continent, continental margin rift sediments and volcanics and overlying rise sediments, continental shelf slope carbonates, and sediments of foreland flexural basins. The regionally-flat obduction thrust complex between the ophiolite and the rifted Laurentian margin is the collision suture between arc and continent. A particular problem in drawing tectonic profiles across the Taconic-Grampian Zone is several orogen-parallel major strike-slip faults, both sinistral and dextral, of unknown displacements, which may juxtapose portions of different segments. In western Newfoundland, most of the Grenville basement beneath the Fleur-de-Lys metamorphic complex (Neoproterozoic to early Ordovician meta-sediments) was eclogitised during the Taconic Orogeny and separated by a massive shear zone from the overlying Fleur-de-Lys, which was metamorphosed at the same time but in the amphibolite facies. The shear zone continued either to a distal intracontinental “subduction zone” or to the main, sub-fore-arc, subduction zone beneath which the basement slipped down to depths of up to seventy kilometres at the same time as the ophiolite sheet and its previously-subcreted metamorphic sole were being obducted above. Subsequently, the eclogitised basement was returned to contact with the amphibolite-facies cover by extensional detachment eduction, possibly enhanced by subduction channel flow, which may have been caused by slab break-off and extension during subduction polarity flip. Although the basal ophiolite obduction thrust complex and the Fleur-de-Lys-basement subduction-eduction surfaces must have been initially gently-dipping to sub-horizontal, they were folded and broken by thrusts during late Taconian, late Ordovician Salinic-Mayoian, and Acadian shortening.


1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf O Maxeiner ◽  
Tom II Sibbald ◽  
William L Slimmon ◽  
Larry M Heaman ◽  
Brian R Watters

This paper describes the geology, geochemistry, and age of two amphibolite facies volcano-plutonic assemblages in the southern Hanson Lake Block and southeastern Glennie Domain of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen of east-central Saskatchewan. The Hanson Lake assemblage comprises a mixed suite of subaqueous to subaerial dacitic to rhyolitic (ca. 1875 Ma) and intercalated minor mafic volcanic rocks, overlain by greywackes. Similarly with modern oceanic island arcs, the Hanson Lake assemblage shows evolution from primitive arc tholeiites to evolved calc-alkaline arc rocks. It is intruded by younger subvolcanic alkaline porphyries (ca. 1861 Ma), synvolcanic granitic plutons (ca. 1873 Ma), and the younger Hanson Lake Pluton (ca. 1844 Ma). Rocks of the Northern Lights assemblage are stratigraphically equivalent to the lower portion of the Hanson Lake assemblage and comprise tholeiitic arc pillowed mafic flows and felsic to intermediate volcaniclastic rocks and greywackes, which can be traced as far west as Wapawekka Lake in the south-central part of the Glennie Domain. The Hanson Lake volcanic belt, comprising the Northern Lights and Hanson Lake assemblages, shows strong lithological, geochemical, and geochronological similarities to lithotectonic assemblages of the Flin Flon Domain (Amisk Collage), suggesting that all of these areas may have been part of a more or less continuous island arc complex, extending from Snow Lake to Flin Flon, across the Sturgeon-Weir shear zone into the Hanson Lake Block and across the Tabbernor fault zone into the Glennie Domain.


1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1018-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. N. Badham

The East Arm of Great Slave Lake is a 2.5–1.7 Ga graben connected to the contemporaneous Wopmay Orogen on the margins of the Archean (2.5 Ga) Slave craton. It contains three major groups of sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The two earlier ones are cut by ~ 1.79 Ga diorites, which outcrop over 220 km along the graben.The diorites were preferentially emplaced as laccoliths into a horizon of megabreccia thought to be the product of evaporite solution and collapse. The diorites are similar down the entire length of the East Arm. Main phases are usually plagioclase–hornblende poryphyritic, but younger and possibly high level phases contain biotite and quartz. The diorites are calc-alkaline but show no obvious chemical trends along the graben. They cannot be related directly to the proposed easterly dipping, late Aphebian subduction zone that generated the Wopmay Orogen.


1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 2583-2594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Ansdell ◽  
T. Kurtis Kyser ◽  
Mel R. Stauffer ◽  
Garth Edwards

The Missi Formation in the Flin Flon Basin forms part of a discontinuous series of molasse-type sediments found throughout the Early Proterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Flin Flon Basin contains a sequence of proximal-fan to braided-stream fluvial conglomerates and sandstones, which unconformably overlie subaerially weathered Amisk Group volcanic rocks. Stratigraphic way-up indicators have been preserved, even though these rocks have undergone greenschist-facies metamorphism and polyphase deformation. The sedimentary rocks are crosscut by intrusive rocks, which provide a minimum age of sedimentation of 1840 ± 7 Ma.Detrital zircons from each of the six stratigraphic subdivisions of the Flin Flon Basin were analyzed using the single-zircon Pb-evaporation technique. Euhedral to slightly rounded zircons dominate each sample, and these zircons give ages of between about 1854 and 1950 Ma. The Missi sediments were thus deposited between 1840 and 1854 Ma. Possible sources for the detrital zircons are Amisk Group felsic volcanic rocks and post-Amisk granitoid rocks and orthogneisses in adjacent domains within the Trans-Hudson Orogen. However, the immature character of the sedimentary rocks, the composition of clasts, the euhedral character of many of the zircons, and the range in ages suggest that most were likely derived from Amisk Group and granitoid rocks in the western Flin Flon Domain. Rounded zircons are uncommon but provide evidence for the reworking of older Proterozoic sedimentary rocks, or a distant Archean or Early Proterozoic granitoid terrane.


2002 ◽  
Vol 203 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Mahoney ◽  
R.A. Duncan ◽  
W. Khan ◽  
E. Gnos ◽  
G.R. McCormick

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