scholarly journals A Laurentian margin back-arc: The Ordovician Wedowee-Emuckfaw-Dahlonega basin

2015 ◽  
pp. 21-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clinton Barineau ◽  
James F. Tull ◽  
Christopher S. Holm-Denoma
Keyword(s):  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Back Arc

Diachronous Paleozoic accretion of peri-Gondwanan terranes at the Laurentian margin

2018 ◽  
Vol 470 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. F. Waldron ◽  
David I. Schofield ◽  
J. Brendan Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Modern Concept ◽  
Early Devonian ◽  
Provenance Data ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Accreted Terranes ◽  
Wilson Cycle ◽  
Depositional Age ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Timing Of Arrival

AbstractIn the original Wilson cycle, the northern Appalachian–Caledonide orogen resulted from the collision of two continental masses separated by a single ocean. One of these corresponds to the modern concept of Laurentia, but the colliding continent to the east has been variously subdivided into many smaller terranes and domains, including Ganderia, Avalonia and Megumia. Using published stratigraphic evidence and detrital zircon provenance data from units of known depositional age, the timing of arrival of these units at the Laurentian margin between the Early Ordovician and Early Devonian can be constrained. Several of the accreted terranes do not extend over the entire length of the orogen, with the result that the lines separating them change character along strike from terrane-bounding sutures to simple accretionary faults. The Ganderia domain consists of at least four separate terranes that share a common origin on the continental margin of Gondwana, but were separated by back-arc oceanic crust as they crossed the Iapetus Ocean and collided diachronously with the Laurentian margin.

Where is the Iapetus suture in northern New England? A study of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics, Bronson Hill terrane, New Hampshire1This article is one of a series of papers published in this CJES Special Issue: In honour of Ward Neale on the theme of Appalachian and Grenvillian geology.

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Dorais ◽  
Miles Atkinson ◽  
Jon Kim ◽  
David P. West ◽  
Gregory A. Kirby
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Basement Rocks ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Maritime Canada ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Back Arc

The ∼470 Ma Ammonoosuc Volcanics of the Bronson Hill terrane of New Hampshire have back-arc basin basalt compositions. Major and trace element compositions compare favorably to coeval volcanic rocks in the Miramichi Highlands of New Brunswick and the Munsangan and Casco Bay volcanics of Maine, back-arc basin basalts of known peri-Gondwanan origins. Additionally, the Ammonoosuc Volcanics have Nd and Pb isotopic compositions indicative of peri-Gondwanan provenance. Thus, the Ammonoosuc Volcanics correlate with Middle Ordovician, peri-Gondwanan, Tetagouche–Exploits back-arc rocks of eastern New England and Maritime Canada. This correlation indicates that the Red Indian Line, the principle Iapetus suture, lies along the western margin of the Bronson Hill terrane. However, the younger (∼450 Ma) Oliverian Plutonic Suite rocks that intruded the Ammonoosuc Volcanics, forming domes along the core of the Bronson Hill anticlinorium, have Laurentian isotopic signatures. This suggests that the Ammonoosuc Volcanics were thrust westwardly over the Laurentian margin, and that Laurentian basement rocks are present under the Bronson Hill terrane. A plausible explanation for these relationships is that an easterly dipping subduction zone formed the Ammonoosuc Volcanics in the Tetagoughe–Exploits oceanic tract, just east of the coeval Popelogan arc. With the closure of the Iapetus Ocean, this terrane was thrust over the Laurentian margin. Subsequent to obduction of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics, subduction polarity flipped to the west, with the Oliverian arc resulting from a westerly dipping subduction zone that formed under the Taconic Orogeny-modified Laurentian margin.

Distinct Taconic, Salinic, and Acadian deformation along the Iapetus suture zone, Newfoundland Appalachians

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1567-1585 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Zagorevski ◽  
C R van Staal ◽  
V J McNicoll
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zones ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Fold Belt ◽  
Deformation History ◽  
Structural Mapping ◽  
Taconic Orogeny ◽  
Deformation Event ◽  
Subsequent Deformation ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Back Arc

Structural mapping in central Newfoundland has identified seven distinct phases of deformation (D1 to D7), the most significant of which are D1, D2, and D4. D1 involved the formation of a Middle and Late Ordovician south-southeast-directed thrust belt and concomitant development of mylonite and phyllonite. A Late Ordovician to Early Silurian D2 thrust and fold belt overprints D1 mylonitic deformation and is the most distinctive deformation event in the study area. Late Silurian to Devonian D4 is responsible for folds and north-northwest-directed dextral thrust and reverse faults that overprint D1 to D3 structures. D4 structures in central Newfoundland include the Exploits–Gander boundary. Subsequent deformation is generally of local significance only. The arc–back-arc complexes making up the various terranes in central Newfoundland are predominantly juxtaposed along D1 shear zones, which include the Red Indian Line. Our data indicate that terrane boundaries initiated during D1 may have protracted deformation histories spanning several deformation events. This has important implications for the interpretation of terrane boundaries in Newfoundland, as D1 terrane boundaries may be interpreted as D2 or D4 shear zones depending on the intensity of overprinting or reactivation. The deformation history proposed in this paper corresponds closely to that of established Appalachian orogenic cycles. D1 is correlated with the Ordovician Taconic orogeny and involved accretion of arc–back-arc complexes to the Laurentian margin. D2 and D4 are correlated with the Ordovician–Silurian Salinic and Silurian–Devonian Acadian orogenies, which involved the subsequent accretion of the Ganderia and Avalonia microcontinents to the Laurentian margin, respectively.

Lithostratigraphy and geochemistry of the Cottrells Cove Group, Buchans – Roberts Arm volcanic belt: new constraints for the paleotectonic setting of the Notre Dame Subzone, Newfoundland Appalachians

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Dec ◽  
H. Scott Swinden ◽  
R. Greg Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Belt ◽  
Island Arc ◽  
Upper Ordovician ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Uplift And Erosion ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Volcaniclastic Deposits

New sedimentological, geochemical, and geochronological data from the Cottrells Cove Group in central Newfoundland provide important constraints on the nature of the Notre Dame Subzone, its tectonic setting, and the history of the Laurentian margin during the Early Ordovician. The Cottrells Cove Group forms the eastern extension of the Roberts Arm Group and correlates with the Chanceport Group on New World Island. It is represented by two volcano-sedimentary formations that occur in a complex thrust stack. The Fortune Harbour Formation consists of calc-alkalic, island-arc lavas, followed by a 1250 m thick succession of volcaniclastic deposits, radiolarian cherts, and calc-alkalic, mafic flows, which were deposited in a back-arc, basin-plain setting. The volcaniclastic deposits include felsic tuff, which has a U–Pb zircon age of 484 ± 2 Ma and an inheritance component of 2517 ± 26 Ma. These new U–Pb and Nd-isotope data suggest that the island-arc–back-arc volcanism and sedimentation in the Notre Dame Subzone developed in the vicinity of continental margin and approximately 10 Ma earlier than has previously been established. The Moores Cove Formation is undated but contains boulders of calc-alkalic basalt and is presumed to be at least in part younger than the Fortune Harbour Formation. Tholeiitic lavas, together with associated radiolarian cherts and volcaniclastic deposits, constitute the basal part of the Moores Cove Formation and may have been deposited in a back-arc environment synchronously with some parts of the Fortune Harbour Formation. They are conformably followed by an over 1200 m thick, coarsening-upward succession of lower-slope and submarine-fan deposits. The polymictic flysch, containing clasts of island-arc basalt, accompanied by other volcanic, plutonic, ultramafic, and sedimentary detritus, may record Middle or Upper Ordovician uplift and erosion of obducted arc–back-arc, volcano-sedimentary sequences and their ophiolitic substrate.

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.

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