Tectonic setting and regional correlation of Ordovician–Silurian rocks of the Aspy terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1769-1779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Rebecca A. Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Arc Setting

Interlayered mafic and felsic metavolcanic rocks and metasedimentary rocks of Ordovician to Silurian age are characteristic of the Aspy terrane of northwestern Cape Breton Island. These rocks were affected by medium- to high-grade metamorphism and were intruded by synkinematic granitoid orthogneisses during Late Silurian to Early Devonian times. They were intruded by posttectonic Devonian granitic plutons and experienced rapid Devonian decompression and cooling. The chemical characteristics of the mafic metavolcanic rocks indicate that they are tholeiites formed in a volcanic-arc setting. The volcanic rocks of the Aspy terrane differ from many other Silurian and Silurian–Devonian successions in Atlantic Canada, which have chemical and stratigraphic characteristics of volcanic rocks formed in extensional within-plate settings, and are somewhat younger than the Aspy terrane sequences. Aspy terrane units are most similar to Ordovician–Silurian volcanic and metamorphic units in southwestern Newfoundland, including the La Poile Group and the Port aux Basques gneiss. Together with other occurrences of Late Ordovician to Early Silurian volcanic-arc units, they indicate that subduction-related compressional tectonics continued into the Silurian in parts of the northern Appalachian Orogen. The complex Late Silurian – Devonian tectonic history of the Aspy terrane may reflect collision with the southeastern edge of a Grenvillian crustal promentory.

Upper Precambrian through Lower Cambrian of Cape Breton Island: faunas, paleoenvironments, and stratigraphic revision

1991 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Landing
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Depositional Sequence ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Small Shelly Fossils ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Local Erosion ◽  
Lake Formation ◽  
Random Block

Latest Precambrian through Early Cambrian tectonic history and stratigraphy are comparable in southeastern Cape Breton Island and the western Placentia–Bonavista axis, southeastern Newfoundland. The lithostratigraphic nomenclature of southeastern Newfoundland is used for this interval in Cape Breton Island. Upper Precambrian volcanic rocks of the Forchu Group (=“Giant Lake Complex,’ designation abandoned) are unconformably overlain by uppermost Precambrian through lowest Cambrian strata termed the “Morrison River Formation’ (designation abandoned). This depositional sequence consists of three formations: 1) red beds through tidalites of the Rencontre Formation (to 279+ m; =“Kelvin Lake Formation,’ designation abandoned); 2) prodeltaic clastics of the Chapel Island Formation (to 260 m); and 3) macrotidal quartzites of the Random Formation (to 71 + m). Post-Random block faulting and 300 m of local erosion took place prior to onlap of the “MacCodrum Formation’ (abandoned). Siliciclastic mudstones of the lower “MacCodrum’ are re-assigned to the middle Lower Cambrian Bonavista Group. Sub-trilobitic faunas from the Bonavista Group include “Ladatheca’ cylindrica from the West Centre Cove Formation(?) and higher diversity faunas (23 species) in the Camenella baltica Zone of the Cuslett and Fosters Point Formations. Trilobite-bearing, upper Lower Cambrian (Branchian Series) strata (Brigus Formation, =upper “MacCodrum’ and overlying “Canoe Brook’ Formations) unconformably overlie the Placentian Series in Cape Breton Island, southeastern Newfoundland, Shropshire, and, probably, eastern Massachusetts. Correlations based on small shelly fossils indicate an earlier appearance of trilobites in Avalon than on the South China Platform. Twenty-six species are illustrated. Halkieria fordi n. sp., the conodont(?) “Rushtonites’ asiatica n. sp., and the zhijinitid(?) Samsanoffoclavus matthewi n. gen. and sp. are described. Ischyrinia? sp. may be the oldest ischyrinoid rostroconch.

Birth of the Avalon arc in Nova Scotia, Canada: geochemical evidence for ∼700–630 Ma back-arc rift volcanism off Gondwana

1998 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. KEPPIE ◽  
J. DOSTAL
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Benioff Zone ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Mafic Rocks ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Oceanic Island Basalts ◽  
Back Arc

Central Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada, is host to ∼700–630 Ma felsic and associated mafic volcanic rocks that are relatively rare in other parts of the Avalon Composite Terrane, occurring elsewhere only in the Stirling Block of southern Cape Breton Island and in parts of eastern Newfoundland. The mafic rocks of central Cape Breton Island are typically intraplate tholeiitic basalts generated by melting of a garnet-bearing mantle source. They lack a continental trace element and εNd imprint although they were emplaced on continental crust; they resemble oceanic island basalts. Contemporaneous volcanism in the Stirling Block is calc-alkaline and formed in a volcanic arc setting. In the absence of evidence for an intervening trench complex or suture, it may be inferred that the central Cape Breton tholeiites formed in a back-arc setting relative to the Stirling Block. This rifting may represent the initial stages of separation of an Avalonian arc from western Gondwana. The arc rifted further between ∼630–610 Ma when the younger Antigonish-Cobequid back-arc basin formed. Subsequently, the extensional arc became convergent, telescoping the back-arc basin. Northwestward migration of calc-alkaline arc magmatism may be related to shallowing of the associated Benioff zone through time.

Evolution of 3.1 and 3.0 Ga volcanic belts and a new thermotectonic model for the Hopedale Block, North Atlantic craton (Canada)

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
D T James ◽  
S Kamo ◽  
T Krogh
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
Tholeiitic Basalt ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
Block Based ◽  
Felsic Volcanic

A new model for evolution of the Archean Hopedale Block, based on mapping and supporting U–Pb geochronological and geochemical studies, is highlighted by (i) ca. 3.25 Ga emplacement of igneous precursors of Maggo Gneiss; (ii) &gt3.1 Ga, high-grade Hopedalian metamorphism and attendant deformation; (iii) emplacement of the Hopedale mafic dykes; (iv) 3.1 Ga deposition of Hunt River volcanic rocks; (v) ca. 3.0 Ga deposition of Florence Lake volcanic rocks; (vi) 2.88–2.96 Ga, greenschist- to amphibolite-facies Fiordian metamorphism and formation of penetrative, northeast-striking Fiordian structures; and (vii) emplacement of a suite of 2.89–2.83 Ga tonalite to granite intrusions, which partially overlap and locally postdate Fiordian metamorphism and deformation. The Hunt River and Florence Lake volcanic sequences are different in age but similar in most other respects. The former consists mainly of amphibolite-facies mafic metavolcanic rocks and lesser amounts of komatiite flows and metasedimentary and 3105 ± 3 Ma felsic volcanic rocks. The Florence Lake volcanic belt consists mainly of greenschist- to amphibolite-facies mafic metavolcanic rocks, lesser amounts of felsic metavolcanic rocks, dated at 2979 ± 1 and 2990 ± 2 Ma, komatiite flows, and rare metasedimentary rocks. The similarity of rock types, field relationships between different rock types, such as the common association of ultramafic and felsic metavolcanic rocks, and the chemistry of volcanic rocks in both belts suggest a common tectonic setting for each belt. A model involving episodic volcanism, separated by 100 Ma, in ensialic basins is consistent with the dominance of tholeiitic basalt and an abundance of pre-volcanic basement.

Geochemistry and tectonic setting of late Precambrian volcanic and plutonic rocks in southeastern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1147-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Late Precambrian ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Coastal Belt ◽  
Plutonic Rocks ◽  
Mountain Belts

Late Precambrian volcanic–sedimentary belts in the Mira (Avalon) terrane of southeastern Cape Breton Island display differences in rock types, petrochemistry, and age, showing that they did not form contemporaneously above a single northwest-dipping subduction zone, as proposed in earlier models. The oldest rocks are 680 Ma mafic and felsic flows and tuffs, and abundant, mainly tuffaceous, sedimentary rocks in the Stirling belt. They are interpreted to have formed in a trough within or peripheral to a volcanic-arc complex. Northwest of the Stirling belt, the East Bay Hills, Coxheath Hills, and Sporting Mountain belts consist of ca. 620 Ma mafic to felsic subaerial pyroclastic rocks and flows and contemporaneous dioritic to granitic plutons. Both volcanic and plutonic rocks are calc-alkalic to high-K calc-alkalic suites, formed in a continental margin volcanic arc. A correlative 620 Ma plutonic suite intruded the western margin of the Stirling belt, suggesting that subduction may have been toward the present southeast. The ca. 575 Ma Coastal belt, located southeast of the Stirling belt, is significantly younger than the other belts and appears to represent a less evolved calc-alkalic to low-K continental margin volcanic-arc and intra-arc basin formed above a northwest-dipping subduction zone. These various volcanic–sedimentary belts were juxtaposed by lateral movements along major faults in the late Precambrian to form this part of the Avalon composite terrane. Subduction-related, calc-alkalic magmatism at ca. 620 Ma was apparently widespread throughout the Avalon terrane of the northern Appalachian Orogen. However, ca. 680 Ma magmatism like that in the Stirling belt has been documented elsewhere only in the Connaigre Bay Group of Newfoundland. Circa 575 Ma and younger subduction-generated igneous activity like that in the Coastal belt has been recognized in southern New Brunswick, but alkaline magmas were forming in extensional regimes in other areas of the Avalon terrane at that time.

scholarly journals Field relations, age, and tectonic setting of metamorphic and plutonic rocks in the Creignish Hills – North Mountain area, southwestern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris E. White ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Donald W. Davis ◽  
David S. Swanton ◽  
John W.F. Ketchum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Mountain Areas ◽  
Mountain Area ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
The North ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Depositional Age

 The Creignish Hills and North Mountain areas of southwestern Cape Breton Island consist mostly of Neoproterozoic rocks typical of the Ganderian Bras d’Or terrane. U-Pb ages presented here for detrital zircon in the Blues Brook Formation of the Creignish Hills confirm a depositional age no greater than about 600 Ma. Although it is possible that some components of the formation are much older, similarities in rock types and field relations suggest that this is not the case. It is likely that the equivalent Malagawatch Formation of the North Mountain area, as well as high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Melford Formation and Chuggin Road complex in the Creignish Hills and Lime Hill gneiss complex in the North Mountain area, represent the same or stratigraphically equivalent units as the Blues Brook Formation. The minimum ages of all of these units are constrained by cross-cutting syn- and post-tectonic plutons with ages mostly between 565 and 550 Ma, indicating that sediments were deposited, regionally metamorphosed, deformed, and intruded by plutons in less than 40–50 million years. The assemblage of pelitic, psammitic, and carbonate rocks indicates that a passive margin in a tropical climate was quickly changed to an active Andean-type continental margin in which voluminous calcalkaline dioritic to granitic plutons were emplaced. This sedimentary and tectonic history is characteristic of the Bras d’Or terrane and is shared by its likely correlative, the Brookville terrane in southern New Brunswick. 

Stratigraphy, structure and geochemistry of Archaean supracrustal rocks from Oqaatsut and Naajaat Qaqqaat, north-east Disko Bugt, West Greenland

1999 ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Henrik Rasmussen ◽  
Lars Frimodt Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Trace Element Geochemistry ◽  
Element Geochemistry ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Area North ◽  
Back Arc

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Rasmussen, H., & Frimodt Pedersen, L. (1999). Stratigraphy, structure and geochemistry of Archaean supracrustal rocks from Oqaatsut and Naajaat Qaqqaat, north-east Disko Bugt, West Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 181, 65-78. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v181.5114 _______________ Two Archaean supracrustal sequences in the area north-east of Disko Bugt, c. 1950 and c. 800 m in thickness, are dominated by pelitic and semipelitic mica schists, interlayered with basic metavolcanic rocks. A polymict conglomerate occurs locally at the base of one of the sequences. One of the supracrustal sequences has undergone four phases of deformation; the other three phases. In both sequences an early phase, now represented by isoclinal folds, was followed by north-west-directed thrusting. A penetrative deformation represented by upright to steeply inclined folds is only recognised in one of the sequences. Steep, brittle N–S and NW–SE striking faults transect all rock units including late stage dolerites and lamprophyres. Investigation of major- and trace-element geochemistry based on discrimination diagrams for tectonic setting suggests that both metasediments and metavolcanic rocks were deposited in an environment similar to a modern back-arc setting.

scholarly journals Gold-hosting supracrustal rocks on Storø, southern West Greenland: lithologies and geological environment

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Knudsen ◽  
Jeroen A.M. Van Gool ◽  
Claus Østergaard ◽  
Julie A. Hollis ◽  
Matilde Rink-Jørgensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
West Greenland ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Quartz Veins ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Basic Volcanic ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Different Sources

A gold prospect on central Storø in the Nuuk region of southern West Greenland is hosted by a sequence of intensely deformed, amphibolite facies supracrustal rocks of late Mesoto Neoarchaean age. The prospect is at present being explored by the Greenlandic mining company NunaMinerals A/S. Amphibolites likely to be derived from basaltic volcanic rocks dominate, and ultrabasic to intermediate rocks are also interpreted to be derived from volcanic rocks. The sequence also contains metasedimentary rocks including quartzites and cordierite-, sillimanite-, garnet- and biotite-bearing aluminous gneisses. The metasediments contain detrital zircon from different sources indicating a maximum age of the mineralisation of c. 2.8 Ga. The original deposition of the various rock types is believed to have taken place in a back-arc setting. Gold is mainly hosted in garnet- and biotite-rich zones in amphibolites often associated with quartz veins. Gold has been found within garnets indicating that the mineralisation is pre-metamorphic, which points to a minimum age of the mineralisation of c. 2.6 Ga. The geochemistry of the goldbearing zones indicates that the initial gold mineralisation is tied to fluid-induced sericitisation of a basic volcanic protolith. The hosting rocks and the mineralisation are affected by several generations of folding.

Geochemistry of Sainte-Marguerite volcanic rocks: implications for the evolution of Silurian–Devonian volcanism in the Gaspé Peninsula

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D’hulst ◽  
Georges Beaudoin ◽  
Michel Malo ◽  
Marc Constantin ◽  
Pierre Pilote
Keyword(s):  
Lower Devonian ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Magma Source ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Lower Silurian ◽  
Trace Element Signature ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Gaspe Peninsula ◽  
Gaspé Peninsula

The Lower Devonian Sainte-Marguerite volcanic rocks are part of a Silurian–Devonian volcanic sequence deposited between the Taconian and Acadian orogenies in the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada. The Sainte-Marguerite unit includes basaltic and dacitic lava flows with calc-alkaline and volcanic-arc affinities. Such affinities are also recorded by the trace-element signature in Lower Silurian and most Lower Devonian volcanic units of the Gaspé Peninsula. However, most of the other Silurian–Devonian volcanic rocks occurring in the Gaspé Peninsula have been previously interpreted to have erupted in an intracontinental setting. A back-arc setting for the Gaspé Peninsula between the Taconian and Acadian orogenies could account for these subduction volcanic-arc signatures, though a metasomatized lithospheric mantle magma source, unrelated to subduction, cannot be excluded. Lower Silurian and Lower Devonian volcanic rocks in the central part of the Gaspé Peninsula show an arc affinity, whereas Upper Silurian and Lower to Middle Devonian volcanic rocks, located in the south and north of the Gaspé Peninsula, respectively, show a within-plate affinity. The Lower Devonian Archibald Settlement and Boutet volcanic rocks of the southern and northern Gaspé Peninsula, respectively, show a trend toward a within-plate affinity. This suggests that within-plate volcanism migrated from south to north through time in an evolving back-arc environment and that the subduction signature of Lower Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks results from a source that melted only under the central part of the Gaspé Peninsula.

Geochemistry and origin of Mesoproterozoic metavolcanic rocks from Fisher Massif, Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. V. Mikhalsky ◽  
J. W. Sheraton ◽  
A. A. Laiba ◽  
B. V. Beliatsky
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Active Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Crustal Component ◽  
Basaltic Rocks ◽  
Metavolcanic Rocks ◽  
High K ◽  
Low K

Fisher Massif consists of Mesoproterozoic (c. 1300 Ma) lower amphibolite-facies metavolcanic rocks and associated metasediments, intruded by a variety of subvolcanic and plutonic bodies (gabbro to granite). It differs in both composition and metamorphic grade from the rest of the northern Prince Charles Mountains, which were metamorphosed to granulite facies about 1000 m.y. ago. The metavolcanic rocks consist mainly of basalt, but basaltic andesite, andesite, and more felsic rocks (dacite, rhyodacite, and rhyolite) are also common. Most of the basaltic rocks have compositions similar to low-K island arc tholeiites, but some are relatively Nb-rich and more akin to P-MORB. Intermediate to felsic medium to high-K volcanic rocks, which appear to postdate the basaltic succession, have calc-alkaline affinities and probably include a significant crustal component. On the present data, an active continental margin with associated island arc was the most likely tectonic setting for generation of the Fisher Massif volcanic rocks.

Petrology, age, and tectonic setting of the rapakivi-bearing Margaree pluton, Cape Breton Island, Canada: evidence for a Late Devonian posttectonic cryptic silicic-mafic magma chamber

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 1011-1029
Author(s):  
Gabriel Sombini dos Santos ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Chris E. White ◽  
Deanne van Rooyen
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
Rare Earth Elements ◽  
Magma Chamber ◽  
Magma Mixing ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Mafic Magma ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Cape Breton

The Margaree pluton extends for >40 km along the axis of the Ganderian Aspy terrane of northern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The pluton consists mainly of coarse-grained megacrystic syenogranite, intruded by small bodies of medium-grained equigranular syenogranite and microgranite porphyry, all locally displaying rapakivi texture. The three rock types have similar U–Pb (zircon) ages of 363 ± 1.6, 364.8 ± 1.6, and 365.5 ± 3.3 Ma, respectively, consistent with field and petrological evidence that they are coeval and comagmatic. The rare earth elements display parallel trends characterized by enrichment in the light rare earth elements, flat heavy rare earth elements, moderate negative Eu anomalies, and, in some cases, positive Ce anomalies. The megacrystic and rapakivi textures are attributed to thermal perturbation in the magma chamber caused by the mixing of mafic and felsic magma, even though direct evidence of the mafic magma is mainly lacking at the current level of exposure. Magma evolution was controlled by fractionation of quartz, K-feldspar, and Na-rich plagioclase in molar proportions of 0.75:0.12:0.13. The chemical and isotopic (Sm–Nd) signature of the Margaree pluton is consistent with the melting of preexisting continental crust that was enriched in heat-producing elements, likely assisted by intrusion of mantle-derived mafic magma during Late Devonian regional extension. The proposed model involving magma mixing at shallow crustal levels in a cryptic silicic-mafic magma chamber during post-Acadian extension is consistent with models for other, better exposed occurrences of rapakivi granite in the northern Appalachian orogen.

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