A Laurentian margin subduction perspective: Geodynamic constraints from phase equilibria modeling of barroisite greenstones, northern USA Appalachians

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2587-2605
Author(s):  
I.W. Honsberger ◽  
J. Laird ◽  
J.E. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Phase Equilibria ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Continental Arc ◽  
Slab Tear ◽  
Shallow Subduction ◽  
Laurentian Margin

Abstract Phase equilibria modeling of sodic-calcic amphibole-epidote assemblages in greenstones in the northern Appalachians, USA, is compatible with relatively shallow subduction of the early Paleozoic Laurentian margin along the Laurentia-Gondwana suture zone during closure of a portion of the Iapetus Ocean basin. Pseudosection and isopleth calculations demonstrate that peak metamorphic conditions ranged between 0.65 GPa, 480 °C and 0.85 GPa, 495 °C down-dip along the subducted Laurentian continental margin between ∼20 km and ∼30 km depth. Quantitative petrological data are explained in the context of an Early Ordovician geodynamic model involving shallow subduction of relatively young, warm, and buoyant Laurentian margin continental-oceanic lithosphere and Iapetus Ocean crust beneath a relatively warm and wet peri-Gondwanan continental arc. A relatively warm subduction zone setting may have contributed to the formation of a thin, ductile metasedimentary rock-rich channel between the down-going Laurentian slab and the overriding continental arc. This accretionary channel accommodated metamorphism and tectonization of continental margin sediments and mafic volcanic rocks (greenstones) of the Laurentian margin and provided a pathway for exhumation of serpentinite slivers and rare eclogite blocks. Restricted asthenospheric flow in the forearc mantle wedge provides one explanation for the lack of ophiolites and absence of a well-preserved ultra-high-pressure terrane in central and northern Vermont. Exhumation of the subducted portion of the Laurentian margin may have been temperature triggered due to increased asthenospheric flow following a slab tear at relatively shallow depths.

Chapter 3.1b Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands: petrology

2021 ◽  
pp. M55-2018-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip T. Leat ◽  
Teal R. Riley
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Contact Metamorphism ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
High K ◽  
The Antarctic

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.

The Grand Manan Terrane of New Brunswick: Tectonostratigraphy and Relationship to the Gondwanan Margin of the Iapetus Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie R. Fyffe
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Southeastern Margin ◽  
Late Neoproterozoic ◽  
Precambrian Terranes

Recently gathered stratigraphic and U–Pb geochronological data indicate that the pre-Triassic rocks of the Grand Manan Terrane on the eastern side of Grand Manan Island can be divided into: (1) Middle Neoproterozoic (late Cryogenian) quartzose and carbonate sedimentary sequences (The Thoroughfare and Kent Island formations); (2) a Late Neoproterozoic (early Ediacaran) volcanic-arc sequence (Ingalls Head Formation); and (3) Late Neoproterozioc (mid- Ediacaran) to earliest Cambrian (early Terreneuvian) sedimentary and volcanic-arc sequences (Great Duck Island, Flagg Cove, Ross Island, North Head, Priest Cove, and Long Pond Bay formations). A comparison to Precambrian terranes on the New Brunswick mainland (Brookville and New River terranes) and in adjacent Maine (Islesboro Terrane) suggests that the sedimentary and volcanic sequences of the Grand Manan Terrane were deposited on the continental margin of a Precambrian ocean basin that opened during the breakup of Rodinia in the Middle Neoproterozoic (Cryogenian) and closed by the Early Cambrian (Terreneuvian) with the final assembling of Gondwana. Rifting associated with the initial opening of the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean began in the Late Neoproterozoic (late Ediacaran) and so overlapped in time with the closing of the Precambrian Gondwanan ocean. The southeastern margin of the Iapetus Ocean is defined by thick sequences of quartz-rich Cambrian sediments (within the St. Croix and Miramichi terranes of New Brunswick) that were largely derived from recycling of Precambrian passive-margin sedimentary rocks preserved in the Grand Manan and Brookville terranes of New Brunswick and in the Islesboro Terrane of Maine. These Precambrian terranes are interpreted to represent dextrally displaced basement remnants of the Gondwanan continental margin of Iapetus, consistent with the model of a two-sided Appalachian system proposed by Hank Williams in 1964 based on his work in Newfoundland.SOMMAIREDes données stratigraphiques et géochronologiques U–Pb obtenues récemment indiquent que les roches prétriasiques du terrane de Grand Manan du côté est de l’île Grand Manan peuvent être répartis en: 1) séquences sédimentaires quartzeuses et carbonatées du Néoprotérozoïque moyen (Cryogénien tardif) (formations de Thoroughfare et de Kent Island); 2) séquence d’arc volcanique du Néoprotérozoïque tardif (Édiacarien précoce) (formation d’Ingalls Head); 3) séquences sédimentaires et d’arc volcanique du Néoprotérozoïque tardif (milieu de l’Édiacarien) au tout début du Cambrien (Terreneuvien précoce) (formations de Great Duck Island, Flagg Cove, Ross Island, North Head, Priest Cove et Long Pond Bay). Une comparaison avec des terranes du Précambrien dans la partie continentale du Nouveau-Brunswick (terranes de Brookville et New River) et dans le Maine adjacent (terrane d’Islesboro) semble indiquer que les séquences sédimentaires et volcaniques du terrane de Grand Manan se sont déposées sur la marge continentale d’un bassin océanique précambrien qui s’est ouvert durant la fracturation de la Rodinia au Néoprotérozoïque moyen (Cryogénien) et s’est fermé au Cambrien précoce (Terreneuvien) avec l’assemblage final du Gondwana. La distension continentale associée à l’ouverture initiale de l’océan Iapetus au Paléozoïque a commencé au Néoprotérozoïque tardif (Édiacarien tardif) et a donc partiellement coïncidé avec la fermeture de l’océan précambrien du Gondwana. La marge sud-est de l’océan Iapetus est définie par d’épaisses séquences de sédiments cambriens riches en quartz (dans les terranes de St. Croix et de Miramichi du Nouveau-Brunswick) issus en grande partie du recyclage de roches sédimentaires de la marge continentale passive du Précambrien préservées dans les terranes de Grand Manan et de Brookville au Nouveau-Brunswick et dans le terrane d’Islesboro dans le Maine. Ces terranes précambriens sont interprétés comme la représentation de vestiges, ayant subi un déplacement dextre, du socle de la marge continentale gondwanienne de l’océan Iapetus, ce qui concorde avec le modèle d’un système appalachien à deux côtés proposé par Hank Williams en 1964 sur la base de ses travaux à Terre-Neuve. 

The Newer Granite problem: a geotectonic view

1986 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Soper
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Alkaline Magmatism ◽  
Early Devonian ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
Chemical Studies ◽  
Granite Magmatism ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Slate Belts ◽  
Granite Suite

AbstractThe Siluro–Devonian suite of granitic plutons in the British Caledonides known as the Newer Granites, together with their associated extrusive rocks, represent one of the most extensively researched examples of calc-alkaline magmatism apparently related to orogeny. Although recent chemical studies have credibly interpreted some of the Scottish intrusions and volcanic rocks as part of a continental-margin magmatic arc generated by the subduction of lapetus oceanic lithosphere beneath Laurentia, insurmountable problems of distribution and timing arise when attempts are made to relate the magmatic activity as a whole to a traditional two-plate collision model for the orogeny.Newer Granite magmatism is here discussed in the context of more mobilistic models for the post-Grampian evolution of the British Caledonides which involve E–W closure between Laurentia and Baltica, terminated by collision in the Silurian, followed by the northward accretion of Gondwana-derived terranes in the early Devonian. The former produced the Main Caledonian tectonometamorphism of the Northern Highlands of Scotland, the latter the Late Caledonian deformation of the slate belts in the paratectonic Caledonides. These models imply much more complex convergence geometries which can, in principle, account for the whole Newer Granite suite as a series of subduction-generated magmatic arcs overlapping in space and time.The model proposed involves three late Caledonian magmatic arcs in addition to the Ordovician ‘Borrowdale arc’ which is not considered in this paper. One is related to Laurentia–Baltica convergence with westward subduction beneath the Scottish sector of the Laurentian margin in the Ordovician and Early Silurian, which generated the early members of the Newer Granite suite in the Highlands; a second is related to northward Silurian–early Devonian subduction at the Solway Line, which generated the younger Newer Granites and volcanic rocks north of the Highland Border; and a third, related to northward accretion of the Armorican terrane in early Devonian time, produced intrusive and extrusive magmatism as far south as Southeast Ireland and the English Midlands.

Geochemistry of the northern Cache Creek terrane and implications for accretionary processes in the Canadian Cordillera

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph M. English ◽  
Mitchell G. Mihalynuk ◽  
Stephen T. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Minor Component ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Ocean Basin ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Basaltic Rocks ◽  
Subducting Plate ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Collisional Orogenesis

The northern Cache Creek terrane in the Canadian Cordillera includes a subduction complex that records the existence of a late Paleozoic – Mesozoic ocean basin and provides an opportunity to assess accretionary processes that involve the transfer of material from a subducting plate to an upper plate. Lithogeochemical data from basaltic rocks indicate that the northern Cache Creek terrane is dominated by two different petrogenetic components: (1) a dominant suite of subalkaline intrusive and extrusive rocks mostly of arc affinity and (2) a volumetrically less significant suite of alkaline volcanic rocks of within-plate affinity. The subalkaline intrusive and extrusive rocks constitute a section of oceanic lithosphere that is interpreted to have occupied a fore-arc position during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic before it was accreted during collisional orogenesis in the Middle Jurassic. Alkaline volcanic rocks in the northern Cache Creek terrane are stratigraphically associated with carbonate strata that contain Tethyan fauna that are exotic with respect to the rest of North America; together, they are interpreted as remnants of oceanic seamounts and (or) plateaux. The volcanic rocks are a minor component of the carbonate stratigraphy, and it appears that the majority of the volcanic basement was either subducted completely at the convergent margin or underplated at greater depth in the subduction zone. In summary, accretion in the northern Canadian Cordillera occurred principally by the accretion of island arcs and emplacement of fore-arc ophiolites during collisional orogenesis. The transfer of oceanic sediments and the upper portions of oceanic seamounts from the subducting plate to an accretionary margin accounts for only small volumes of growth of the upper plate.

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.

Silurian and late Ordovician K-bentonites as a record of late Caledonian volcanism in the British Isles

1995 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Fortey ◽  
R. J. Merriman ◽  
W. D. Huff
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Trace Element Geochemistry ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Element Geochemistry ◽  
Arc Volcanism ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Continental Arc

AbstractSilurian and late Ordovician K-bentonites of the British Isles provide a record of prolonged volcanism during the convergence of terranes associated with closure of the Iapetus and Tornquist Oceans. In the Southern Uplands–Longford-Down and Midland Valley terranes, they range from late Caradoc to Telychian, withfurther early Homerian occurrences. South of the Iapetus suture, in Eastern Avalonia, the range is Hirnantianto early Ludlow in northern England and early Telychian to earliest Ludfordian in the Welsh Borderland and English Midlands. In both cases, the distributions indicate that volcanism was more long-lived and probably more extensive than is depicted in current plate tectonic reconstructions. Average intervals between K-bentonites are estimated, based on Harland et al. (1990), as: c. 65000 years at Dob's Linn (late Aeronian to early Telychian); c. 39000 years in the Cautley area (Telychian); c. 51000 years in a borehole at Walsall (late Llandovery to Sheinwoodian). Trace element geochemistry suggests mostly subalkaline dacitic to rhyolitic magmas in which LILE-enrichment accompanies variable enrichment in crustally derived elements (Ta, Nb). The geochemistry suggests comparison with continental arc volcanism of ‘withinplate, attenuated lithosphere’ character. Ta–Nb enrichment and an absence of Eu anomalies from REE profiles are consistently present northof the Iapetus suture, but trace element patterns are less consistent south of the suture where negative Eu anomalies are generally present. Discriminant function analysis successfully distinguishes Llandovery, Wenlockand Ludlow K-bentonites from south of the Iapetus suture, and Llandovery K-bentonites from north and south ofthe suture. Those from north of the Iapetus suture probably originated in volcanism along the southern marginof Laurentia before final closure of the Iapetus Ocean. Those from south of the suture may have been derived from volcanism associated with late destruction of Iapetus and Tornquist oceanic crust, although an alternative involving volcanism at the southern margin of Eastern Avalonia or Baltica may accord better with the distribution of K-bentonites and the geographical trend of the fragmentary outcrops of Silurian volcanic rocks from southern Ireland to Belgium.

The Peninsular Ranges Batholith: an insight into the evolution of the Cordilleran batholiths of southwestern North America

1988 ◽  
Vol 79 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 105-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. T. Silver ◽  
B. W. Chappell
Keyword(s):  
Baja California ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Basaltic Composition ◽  
Peninsular Ranges ◽  
General Aspects

ABSTRACTThe Peninsular Ranges Batholith of southern and Baja California is the largest segment of a Cretaceous magmatic arc that was once continuous from northern California to southern Baja California. In this batholith, the emplacement of igneous rocks took place during a single sequence of magmatic activity, unlike many of the other components of the Cordilleran batholiths which formed during successive separate magmatic episodes. Detailed radiometric dating has shown that it is a composite of two batholiths. A western batholith, which was more heterogeneous in composition, formed as a static magmatic arc between 140 and 105 Ma and was intrusive in part into related volcanic rocks. The eastern batholith formed as a laterally transgressing arc which moved away from those older rocks between 105 and 80 Ma, intruding metasedimentary rocks. Rocks of the batholith range from undersaturated gabbros through to felsic granites, but tonalite is the most abundant rock throughout. Perhaps better than elsewhere in the Cordillera, the batholith shows beautifully developed asymmetries in chemical and isotopic properties. The main gradients in chemical composition from W to E are found among the trace elements, with Ba, Sr, Nb and the light rare earth elements increasing by more than a factor of two, and P, Rb, Pb, Th, Zn and Ga showing smaller increases. Mg and the transition metals decrease strongly towards the E, with Sc, V and Cu falling to less than half of their value in the most westerly rocks. Oxygen becomes very systematically more enriched in18O from W to E and the Sr, Nd and Pb isotopic systems change progressively from mantle values in the W to a more evolved character on the eastern side of the batholith. In detail the petrogenesis of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith is not completely understood, but many general aspects of the origin are clear. The exposed rocks, particularly in the western batholith, closely resemble those of present day island arcs, although the most typical and average tonalitic composition is distinctly more felsic than the mean quartz diorite or mafic andesite composition of arcs. Chemical and isotopic properties of the western part of the batholith indicate that it formed as the root of a primitive island arc on oceanic lithosphere at a convergent plate margin. Further E, the plutonic rocks appear to have been derived by partial melting from deeper sources of broadly basaltic composition at subcrustal levels. The compositional systematics of the batholith do not reflect a simple mixing of various end-members but are a reflection of the differing character of the source regions laterally and vertically away from the pre-Cretaceous continental margin.

scholarly journals Magmatic flare-up causes crustal thickening at the transition from subduction to continental collision

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos E. Ganade ◽  
Pierre Lanari ◽  
Daniela Rubatto ◽  
Joerg Hermann ◽  
Roberto F. Weinberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Production Rate ◽  
Continental Margin ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Continental Collision ◽  
Crustal Thickening ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
West Gondwana ◽  
Continental Arc ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

AbstractAbove subduction zones, magma production rate and crustal generation can increase by an order of magnitude during narrow time intervals known as magmatic flare-ups. However, the consequences of these events in the deep arc environment remain poorly understood. Here we use petrological and in-situ zircon dating techniques to investigate the root of a continental arc within the collisional West Gondwana Orogen that is now exposed in the Kabyé Massif, Togo. We show that gabbros intruded 670 million years ago at 20–25 km depth were transformed to eclogites by 620 million years ago at 65–70 km depth. This was coeval with extensive magmatism at 20–40 km depth, indicative of a flare-up event which peaked just prior to the subduction of the continental margin. We propose that increased H2O flux from subduction of serpentinized mantle in the hyper-extended margin of the approaching continent was responsible for the increased magma productivity and crustal thickening.

Age of the Grenville dyke swarm, Ontario–Quebec: implications for the timing of lapetan rifting

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Kamo ◽  
T. E. Krogh ◽  
P. S. Kumarapeli
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Dyke Swarm ◽  
Alkaline Complex ◽  
Southeastern Part ◽  
Time Marker ◽  
Continental Breakup ◽  
Iapetus Ocean

U–Pb baddeleyite and zircon ages for three diabase dykes from widely spaced localities within the Grenville dyke swarm indicate a single age of emplacement at [Formula: see text] Ma. The 700 km long Grenville dyke swarm, located in the southeastern part of the Canadian Shield, was emplaced syntectonically with the development of the Ottawa graben. This graben may represent a plume-generated lapetan failed arm that developed at the onset of the breakup of Laurentia. Other precisely dated lapetan rift-related units, such as the Callander Alkaline Complex and the Tibbit Hill Formation volcanic rocks, indicate a protracted 36 Ma period of rifting and magmatism prior to volcanism along this segment of the lapetan margin. The age of the Grenville dykes is the youngest in a progression of precisely dated mafic magmatic events from the 723 Ma Franklin dykes and sills to the 615 Ma Long Range dykes, along the northern and northeastern margins of Laurentia, respectively. Thus, the age for these dykes represents a key time marker for continental breakup that preceded the formation of the Iapetus ocean.

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