Mid-Ordovician subduction, obduction, and eduction in western Newfoundland; an eclogite problem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Dewey ◽  
J.F. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
The North ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
Major Strike ◽  
Laurentian Margin

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.

scholarly journals Structural and geochronological constraints on the evolution of the Juréia Massif, Registro Domain, State of São Paulo, Brazil

2007 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudia R. Passarelli ◽  
Miguel A.S. Basei ◽  
Hélcio J. Prazeres-Filho ◽  
Oswaldo Siga-Jr. ◽  
Gergely A.J. Szabó ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Metamorphic Event ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Paulo State ◽  
The North ◽  
Domain State ◽  
Geochronological Constraints ◽  
Shear System

The Juréia Massif, southeastern São Paulo State (Brazil), is part of the Registro Domain, limited to the north by the Cubatão-Itariri Shear System and to the south by the Serrinha Shear Zone. Mostly composed of migmatitic granitegneiss rocks, represents a Paleoproterozoic terrane (1.9-2.2 Ga) strongly deformed during the Neoproterozoic (750-580 Ma). The present tectonic scenario was established at the end of the Neoproterozoic, as a result of collages associated with the formation of Western Gondwana. The Ponta da Juréia, our study area within the Juréia Massif, is constituted by paragneisses (garnet-muscovite-biotite gneisses). The monazite U-Pb age of 750 Ma is related to a main regional metamorphic event that reached the high amphibolite facies, recorded in rocks from the Itatins Complex and Cachoeira Sequence as well, which also belongs to the Registro Domain. The paragneissic rocks of this study are affected by the E-W-trending Serrinha Shear Zone, registering a predominantly dextral movement. Biotite K-Ar ages of 482 ± 12 Ma may represent later movements and reflect the younger ages of reactivation of the major lineaments and juxtaposition of the tectonic blocks involved.

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
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Alkali Feldspar ◽  
Suture Zone ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
The South ◽  
Early Proterozoic ◽  
Felsic Volcanic

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.

A U–Pb geochronological review of the Proterozoic history of the eastern Grenville Province

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 795-829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles F Gower ◽  
Thomas E Krogh
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Grenville Province ◽  
Mafic Magmatism ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Evolution ◽  
Thrust Zone ◽  
Laurentian Margin

The geological evolution of the eastern Grenville Province can be subdivided into three stages. During the first stage, namely pre-Labradorian (> 1710 Ma) and Labradorian (1710–1600 Ma) events, a continental-marginal basin was created and subsequently destroyed during accretion of a magmatic arc formed over a south-dipping subduction zone. Subduction was short-lived and arrested, leading to a passive continental margin. The second stage addresses events between 1600 and 1230 Ma. The passive margin lasted until 1520 Ma, following which a continental-margin arc was constructed during Pinwarian (1520–1460 Ma) orogenesis. Elsonian (1460–1230 Ma) distal-inboard, mafic and anorthositic magmatism, decreasing in age northward, is explained by funnelled flat subduction, possibly associated with an overridden spreading centre. As the leading edge of the lower plate advanced, it was forced beneath the Paleoproterozoic Torngat orogen root between the Archean Superior and North Atlantic cratons, achieving its limit of penetration by 1290 Ma. Static north-northeast-trending rifting then ensued, with mafic magmatism flanked by felsic products to the north and south. Far-field orogenic effects heralded the third stage, lasting from 1230 to 955 Ma. Until 1180 Ma, the eastern Grenville Province was under the distal, mild influence of Elzevirian orogenesis. From 1180 to 1120 Ma, mafic and anorthositic magmatism occurred, attributed to back-arc tectonism inboard of a post-Elzevirian Laurentian margin. Quiescence then prevailed until Grenvillian (1080–980 Ma) continent–continent collision. Grenvillian orogenesis peaked in different places at different times as thrusting released stress, thereby precipitating its shift elsewhere (pressure-point orogenesis). High-grade metamorphism, thrusting and minor magmatism characterized the Exterior Thrust Zone, in contrast to voluminous magmatism in the Interior Magmatic Belt. Following final deformation, early posttectonic anorthositic–alkalic–mafic magmatism (985–975 Ma) and late posttectonic monzonitic–syenite–granite magmatism (975–955 Ma) brought the active geological evolution of this region to a close.

Morphology of the continental margin

1978 ◽  
Vol 290 (1366) ◽  
pp. 75-85 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Turbidity Currents ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Horizontal Shear ◽  
Passive Margins ◽  
Shelf Slope ◽  
Shear Motion ◽  
Continental Shelf Slope ◽  
Active Continental Margins

The continental margin is the surface morphological expression of the deeper fundamental transition between the thick low density continental igneous crust and the thin high density and chemically different oceanic igneous crust. Covering the transition are thick sediment accumulations comprising over half the total sediments of the ocean, so that the precise morphological boundaries often differ in position from those of the deeper geology. Continental margins are classified as active or passive depending on the level of seismicity. Active continental margins are divided into two categories, based on the depth distribution of earthquakes and the tectonic regime. Active transform margins, characterized by shear and shallow focus earthquakes, result from horizontal shear motion between plates. Active compressional margins are characterized by shallow, intermediate and deep earthquakes along a dipping zone, by oceanic trenches and by volcanic island arcs or mountain ranges depending on whether the margin is oceanocean or ocean-continent. Passive margins, found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, are formed initially by the rifting of continental crust and mark the ocean-continent boundary within the spreading plate. They are characterized by continental shelf, slope and rise physiographic provinces. Once clear of the rifting axis, they cool and subside. Sedimentation can prograde the shelf and load the edge leading to further down warping; changes of sea level lead to erosion by wave action and by ice; ocean currents and turbidity currents redistribute sediments; slumps occur in unstable areas. The passive and sediment-starved margin west of Europe is described where the following factors have been significant: (a) faulting related to initial rifting; (b) infilling and progradation by sediments; (c) slumping; (d) contour current erosion and deposition; (e)canyon erosion.

Age of deformation within the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust zone, southwest Grenville Orogen: constraints on the collision of the Mid-Proterozoic Elzevir terrane

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1155-1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally J. McEachern ◽  
Otto van Breemen
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Marginal Basin ◽  
Structural Nature ◽  
Thrust Zone ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Weak Structure ◽  
Scale Shear

U–Pb zircon and titanite geochronology on syntectonic intrusions from the Ontario Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust zone has constrained the timing of two major periods of northwest-directed ductile thrusting on this crustal-scale shear zone. Initiation of deep-seated uppermost amphibolite facies deformation is constrained to a period before 1190 Ma, over 100 Ma earlier than previous estimates. Major reimbrication of the shear zone took place ca. 1080 – 1060 Ma and was more pronounced in the southwestern segment. The initiation of deformation within the boundary thrust zone coincides with the emplacement of the hanging wall Elzevir terrane of the Central Metasedimentary Belt onto the Mid-Proterozoic Laurentian margin. The structural nature and temporal and kinematic consistency of the reimbrication phase along the 200 km exposed length of the shear zone is thought to be due to within-plate reactivation of the existing, rheologically weak structure, a result of continent–continent collision ca. 1080–1060 Ma during the later stage of the Grenville orogenic cycle.Collision of the Elzevir terrane, interpreted to be an ensialic marginal basin, with the Laurentian margin along the Central Metasedimentary Belt boundary thrust zone is thought to potentially record closure of the marginal basin ca. 1190 Ma. A distinctive tonalitic suite of rocks preserved in the boundary thrust zone may be composed of fragments of the remnant arc to the marginal basin.

Strike-slip terranes and a model for the evolution of the British and Irish Caledonides

1987 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 405-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. W. Hutton
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Slip Zone ◽  
Lake District ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
Boundary Fault ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Major Strike ◽  
Back Arc

AbstractEvidence is presented that many of the major strike faults in the British and Irish Caledonides were active as sinistral strike-slip zones in the end-Silurian to pre-mid-Devonian period. Some, such as the Highland Boundary Fault, moved in this way at an earlier stage in the Ordovician. These data allow the Caledonian rocks lying between the Laurentian miogeocline (whose basement is represented by the Lewisian, Moine and possibly the Dalradian) and the Gondwanaland miogeocline (Midland Platform and Welsh Basin) to be re-analysed as a group of disorganized terranes which originated to the southwest in North America and southwest Europe/Africa prior to the Silurian. The Highland Border Terrane and Northern Belt Terrane are interpreted as duplicated pieces of a mid-Ordovician sequence which was a back are to northwest subduction. The Midland Valley Terrane is interpreted as a slice of Laurentian foreland onto which ophiolites were obducted in the lower Ordovician but which became the basement of a continental margin arc to northwest subduction in the mid-Ordovician. The Cockburnland Terrane is inferred to be part of the same arc repeated and then broken up and dispersed by continuing strike slip. The Connemara Terrane is regarded as an allochthonous piece of the Dalradian miogeocline and the South Mayo Terrane as a remnant of an early Ordovician arc and fore arc which in mid-Ordovician times became a back arc/marginal basin to northwest subduction. The Lake District-Wexford Terrane is part of an arc to southeast subduction under Gondwanaland whose activity climaxed in the mid-Ordovician. The Central Terrane is interpreted as a Silurian overstep assemblage which blankets the junction between Laurentian- and Gondwanaland-derived oceanic terranes, and therefore Iapetus is regarded as an Ordovician ocean which closed prior to the Silurian. The model suggests that at the end of the Silurian, a clockwise-rotating Gondwanaland, having carried Laurentia into collision with Baltica, broke free and created a major sinistral strike-slip zone which disrupted the Ordovician palaeogeography in the British Isles/North American sector of Iapetus.

Protracted continental collision — evidence from the Grenville OrogenThis article is one of a series of papers published in this Special Issue on the theme Lithoprobe — parameters, processes, and the evolution of a continent.

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hynes ◽  
Toby Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Regional Metamorphism ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Continental Collision ◽  
Northwestern Part ◽  
Grenville Province ◽  
The North ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Lower Crustal ◽  
The Himalaya

The Grenville Orogen in North America is interpreted to have resulted from collision between Laurentia and another continent, probably Amazonia, at ca. 1100 Ma. The exposed segment of the orogen was derived largely from reworked Archean to Paleoproterozoic Laurentian crust, products of a long-lived Mesoproterozoic continental-margin arc and associated back arc, and remnants of one or more accreted mid-Mesoproterozoic island-arc terranes. A potential suture, preserved in Grenvillian inliers of the southeastern USA, may separate rocks of Laurentian and Amazonian affinities. The Grenvillian Orogeny lasted more than 100 million years. Much of the interior Grenville Province, with peak metamorphism at ca. 1090–1020 Ma, consists of uppermost amphibolite- to granulite-facies rocks metamorphosed at depths of ca. 30 km, but areas of lower crustal, eclogite-facies nappes metamorphosed at 50–60 km depth also occur and an orogenic lid that largely escaped Grenvillian metamorphism is preserved locally. Overall, deformation and regional metamorphism migrated sequentially to the northwest into the Laurentian craton, with the youngest contractional structures in the northwestern part of the orogen at ca. 1000–980 Ma. The North American lithospheric root extends across part of the Grenville Orogen, where it may have been produced by depletion of sub-continental lithospheric mantle beneath the long-lived Laurentian-margin Mesoproterozoic subduction zone. Both the Grenville Orogen and the Himalaya–Tibet Orogen have northern margins characterized by long-lived subduction before continental collision and protracted convergence following collision. Both exhibit cratonward-propagating thrusting. In the Himalaya–Tibet Orogen, however, the pre-collisional Eurasian-margin arc is high in the structural stack, whereas in the Grenville Orogen, the pre-collisional continental-margin arc is low in the structural stack. We interpret this difference as due to subduction reversal in the Grenville case shortly before collision, so that the continental-margin arc became the lower plate during the ensuing orogeny. The structurally low position of the warm, extended Laurentian crust probably contributed significantly to the ductility of lower and mid-crustal Grenvillian rocks.

Proterozoic tectonic accretion and growth of western Laurentia: results from Lithoprobe studies in northern Alberta

2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M Ross ◽  
David W Eaton
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Great Slave Lake ◽  
Northern Alberta ◽  
Late Stages

The western Canadian Shield of northern Alberta is composed of a series of continental slivers that were accreted to the margin of the Archean Rae hinterland ca. 1.9–2.0 Ga., preserving a unique record of continental evolution for the interval 2.1–2.3 Ga. This part of Laurentia owes its preservation to the accretionary style of tectonic assembly south of the Great Slave Lake shear zone, which contrasts with indentation–escape processes that dominate the Paleoproterozoic record farther north. The Buffalo Head and Chinchaga domains form the central core of this region, comprising a collage of ca. 2325–2045 Ma crustal elements formed on an Archean microcontinental edifice, and similar age crust is preserved as basement to the Taltson magmatic zone. The distribution of magmatic ages and inferred collision and subduction zone polarity are used to indicate closure of intervening oceanic basins that led to magmatism and emplacement of continental margin arc and collisional belts that formed from ca. 1998 to1900 Ma. Lithoprobe crustal seismic profiles complement the existing geochronologic and geologic databases for northern Alberta and elucidate the nature of late stages of the accretionary process. Crustal-scale imbrication occurred along shallow eastward-dipping shear zones, resulting in stacking of arc slivers that flanked the western Buffalo Head terrane. The seismic data suggest that strain is concentrated along the margins of these crustal slivers, with sparse evidence for internal penetrative deformation during assembly. Post-collisional mafic magmatism consisted of widespread intrusive sheets, spectacularly imaged as regionally continuous subhorizontal reflections, which are estimated to extend over a region of ca. 120 000 km2. The form of such mid-crustal magmatism, as subhorizontal sheets (versus vertical dykes), is interpreted to represent a style of magma emplacement within a confined block, for which a tectonic free face is unavailable.

Eocene development of the northerly active continental margin of the Southern Neotethys in the Kyrenia Range, north Cyprus

2013 ◽  
Vol 151 (4) ◽  
pp. 692-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALASTAIR H.F. ROBERTSON ◽  
GILLIAN A. McCAY ◽  
KEMAL TASLI ◽  
AŞEGÜL YILDIZ
Keyword(s):  
Debris Flow ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Active Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Late Eocene ◽  
Calcareous Nannofossils ◽  
The North ◽  
Thrust Sheets

AbstractWe focus on an active continental margin related to northwards subduction during the Eocene in which sedimentary melange (‘olistostromes’) forms a key component. Maastrichtian – Early Eocene deep-marine carbonates and volcanic rocks pass gradationally upwards into a thick succession (<800 m) of gravity deposits, exposed in several thrust sheets. The lowest levels are mainly siliciclastic turbidites and debris-flow deposits. Interbedded marls contain Middle Eocene planktonic/benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils. Sandstones include abundant ophiolite-derived grains. The higher levels are chaotic debris-flow deposits that include exotic blocks of Late Palaeozoic – Mesozoic neritic limestone and dismembered ophiolite-related rocks. A thinner sequence (<200 m) in one area contains abundant redeposited Paleogene pelagic limestone and basalt. Chemical analysis of basaltic clasts shows that some are subduction influenced. Basaltic clasts from unconformably overlying alluvial conglomerates (Late Eocene – Oligocene) indicate derivation from a supra-subduction zone ophiolite, including boninites. Taking account of regional comparisons, the sedimentary melange is interpreted to have formed within a flexurally controlled foredeep, floored by continental crust. Gravity flows including large limestone blocks, multiple debris flows and turbidites were emplaced, followed by southwards thrust imbrication. The emplacement was possibly triggered by the final closure of an oceanic basin to the north (Alanya Ocean). Further convergence between the African and Eurasian plates was accommodated by northwards subduction beneath the Kyrenia active continental margin. Subduction zone rollback may have triggered collapse of the active continental margin. Non-marine to shallow-marine alluvial fans prograded southwards during Late Eocene – Oligocene time, marking the base of a renewed depositional cycle that lasted until latest Miocene time.

Evolution of Wangtu Gneissic Complex and its paleogeographic implications in Columbia assembly: insights from geochemistry, geochronology, and computational phase-equilibria study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hifzurrahman ◽  
Pritam Nasipuri ◽  
Mohd Baqar Raza ◽  
Ab Majeed Ganaie
Keyword(s):  
Phase Equilibria ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Granite Gneiss ◽  
The North ◽  
Geochemical Analyses ◽  
Core Part ◽  
Model Phase

&lt;p&gt;A part of Palaeoproterozoic granite-gneiss complex, commonly known as Wangtu Gneissic Complex (WGC), exposed in Wangtu-Karcham-Akpa region along the Sutlej valley, northwest lesser Himalaya, India. The core part of this gneissic complex is exposed as the undeformed granitoid body. The basement of WGC is still more or less in its primeval condition. The Paleoproterozoic thermal evolution of the North Indian Continental Margin is uncertain as the Lesser Himalayan granites are viewed either as a subduction-zone volcanic arc or rift-related magmatism during the Columbia assembly or disintegration process. Integrated mineralogical, geochemical analyses, temperature calculations of Ti solubility in biotite and zircon, and computational phase equilibria modelling of the Wangtu Gneissic Complex (WGC), Himachal Himalaya show a peraluminous existence for most WGC rocks that crystallize at a temperature of ~650&amp;#176;C at a pressure of ~1.0-1.1 GPa. The WGC magmatic zircons' U-Pb ages indicate two significant age groups at 1867 Ma and 2487 Ma.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The U-Pb zircon data and model phase equilibria for metasedimentary rock show the generation of S-type peraluminous magma parental to the WGC, by melting pre-existing supracrustal rocks at ~ 1800 Ma, at temperature ~ 850-900 &amp;#176; C and pressure 1.1-1.2 GPa, identical to P-T conditions found in modern-day subduction zone settings. Also, T&lt;sub&gt;DM&lt;/sub&gt; model ages vary between 3.07 Ga and 2.28 Ga, and f &lt;sup&gt;Sm/Nd&lt;/sup&gt; values (-0.4930 to -0.3510) of the studied samples suggest a contribution of Achaean crust. This study shows that the North Indian Continental Margin was an active subduction zone during the Paleoproterozoic Columbia supercontinent assembly.&lt;/p&gt;

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document