A paleogeographical review of the peri-Gondwanan realm of the Appalachian orogen1This 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. 259-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C. Pollock ◽  
James P. Hibbard ◽  
Cees R. van Staal
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Early Carboniferous ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Rheic Ocean ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Eastern Edge ◽  
Dextral Strike Slip

The eastern edge of the Appalachian orogen is composed of a collection of Neoproterozoic – early Paleozoic domains, Avalonia, Carolinia, Ganderia, Meguma, and Suwannee, which are exotic to North America. Differences in the geological histories of these peri-Gondwanan domains indicate that each separated independently from Gondwana, opening the Rheic Ocean in their wake. Cambrian departure of Ganderia and Carolina was followed by the Ordovician separation of Avalonia and Silurian separation of Meguma. After separation in the early Paleozoic, these domains constituted the borderline between the expanding Rheic Ocean and contracting Iapetus Ocean. They were transferred to Laurentia by early Silurian closure of Iapetus and Devonian–Carboniferous closure of the Rheic Ocean during the assembly of Gondwana and Laurentia into Pangaea. The first domain to arrive at Laurentia was Carolinia, which accreted in the Middle Ordovician during the Cherokee orogeny. Salinic accretion of Ganderia occurred shortly thereafter and was followed by the Acadian accretion of Avalonia. The Acadian orogeny was immediately followed by Middle Devonian – Early Carboniferous accretion of Meguma and possibly Suwannee which led to the Fammenian orogeny. The episodicity of orogeny suggests that the present location of these domains parallels their order of accretion. However, each of these crustal blocks was translated along strike by large-scale Late Devonian – Carboniferous dextral strike–slip motion. The breakup of Pangaea occurred outboard of the Paleozoic collision zones that accreted Carolinia, Ganderia, Avalonia, Meguma, and Suwannee to Laurentia, leaving these terranes appended to North America during the Mesozoic opening of the Atlantic.

Origin and orogenic role of the Chain Lakes massif, Maine and Quebec

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
C C Gerbi ◽  
S E Johnson ◽  
J N Aleinikoff
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Metamorphic Event ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Volcanic Sequence ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
New Interpretation

The Chain Lakes massif has long been an enigmatic component of the Appalachian orogen, but new structural, microstructural, and geochronological information provides the basis for the following new interpretation of the massif and its history. In the early Paleozoic, sediments and volcanic rocks from Laurentia or a Laurentian-derived microcontinent were deposited in a fore-arc basin on the western margin of the Iapetus ocean. Following intrusion of arc-related magmas, the sedimentary–volcanic sequence was heated sufficiently to melt in place, resulting in stratigraphic disaggregation and diatexite formation. We dated monazite growth from this metamorphic event at 469 ± 4 Ma. Although some melt may have left the system, much remained, including water dissolved in the melt. Upon crystallization, this water drove thorough retrogression of the massif, causing pervasive pseudomorphism of porphyroblasts. With cooling and crystallization, the Chain Lakes massif became sufficiently rigid that it was not significantly deformed during the Middle Ordovician through Devonian stages of Appalachian orogenesis involving the arrival of several peri-Gondwanan microcontinents.

Appalachian Orogen in Canada

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 792-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Williams
Keyword(s):  
Continental Margin ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Precambrian ◽  
Northwest Africa ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
History Of ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Andean Type

The Appalachian Orogen is divided into five broad zones based on stratigraphic and structural contrasts between Cambrian–Ordovician and older rocks. From west to east, these are the Humber, Dunnage, Gander, Avalon, and Meguma Zones.The westerly three zones fit present models for the development of the orogen through the generation and destruction of a late Precambrian – Early Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. Thus, the Humber Zone records the development and destruction on an Atlantic-type continental margin, i.e., the ancient continental margin of Eastern North America that lay to the west of Iapetus; the Dunnage Zone represents vestiges of Iapetus with island arc sequences and mélanges built upon oceanic crust; and the Gander Zone records the development and destruction of a continental margin, at least in places of Andean type, that lay to the east of Iapetus.The Precambrian development of the Avalon Zone relates either to rifting and the initiation of Iapetus or to subduction and a cycle that preceded the opening of Iapetus. During the Cambrian Period, the Avalon Zone was a stable platform or marine shelf.Cambrian–Ordovician rocks of the Meguma Zone represent either a remnant of the continental embankment of ancient Northwest Africa or the marine fill of a graben developed within the Avalon Zone.Silurian and younger rocks of the Appalachian Orogen are mixed marine and terrestrial deposits that are unrelated to the earlier Paleozoic zonation of the system. Silurian and later development of the orogen is viewed as the history of deposition and deformation in successor basins that formed across the already destroyed margins and oceanic tract of Iapetus.

scholarly journals The Ocean – Continent Transition Zones Along the Appalachian – Caledonian Margin of Laurentia: Examples of Large-Scale Hyperextension During the Opening of the Iapetus Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 165 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Chew ◽  
Cees R. Van Staal
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Transition Zones ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Late Neoproterozoic ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Orogenic Belts ◽  
Detailed Nature

A combination of deep seismic imaging and drilling has demonstrated that the ocean-continent transition (OCT) of present-day, magma-poor, rifted continental margins is a zone of hyperextension characterized by extreme thinning of the continental crust that exhumed the lowermost crust and/or serpentinized continental mantle onto the seafloor. The OCT on present-day margins is difficult to sample, and so much of our knowledge on the detailed nature of OCT sequences comes from obducted, magma-poor OCT ophiolites such as those preserved in the upper portions of the Alpine fold-and-thrust belt. Allochthonous, lens-shaped bodies of ultramafic rock are common in many other ancient orogenic belts, such as the Caledonian – Appalachian orogen, yet their origin and tectonic significance remains uncertain. We summarize the occurrences of potential ancient OCTs within this orogen, commencing with Laurentian margin sequences where an OCT has previously been inferred (the Dalradian Supergroup of Scotland and Ireland and the Birchy Complex of Newfoundland). We then speculate on the origin of isolated occurrences of Alpine-type peridotite within Laurentian margin sequences in Quebec – Vermont and Virginia – North Carolina, focusing on rift-related units of Late Neoproterozoic age (so as to eliminate a Taconic ophiolite origin). A combination of poor exposure and pervasive Taconic deformation means that origin and emplacement of many ultramafic bodies in the Appalachians will remain uncertain. Nevertheless, the common occurrence of OCT-like rocks along the whole length of the Appalachian – Caledonian margin of Laurentia suggests that the opening of the Iapetus Ocean may have been accompanied by hyperextension and the formation of magma-poor margins along many segments.SOMMAIREDes travaux d’imagerie sismique et des forages profonds ont montré que la transition océan-continent (OCT) de marges continentales de divergence pauvre en magma exposée de nos jours, correspond à une zone d’hyper-étirement tectonique caractérisée par un amincissement extrême de la croûte continentale, qui a exhumé sur le fond marin, jusqu’à la tranche la plus profonde de la croûte continentale, voire du manteau continental serpentinisé.  Parce qu’on peut difficilement échantillonner l’OCT sur les marges actuelles, une grande partie de notre compréhension des détails de la nature de l’OCT provient d’ophiolites pauvres en magma d’une OCT obduite, comme celles préservées dans les portions supérieures de la bande plissée alpine.  Des masses lenticulaires de roches ultramafiques allochtones sont communes dans de nombreuses autres bandes orogéniques anciennes, comme l’orogène Calédonienne-Appalaches, mais leur origine et signification tectonique reste incertaine.  Nous présentons un sommaire des occurrences d’OCT potentielles anciennes de cet orogène, en commençant par des séquences de la marge laurentienne, où la présence d’OCT a déjà été déduites (le Supergroupe Dalradien d’Écosse et d'Irlande, et le complexe de Birchy de Terre-Neuve).  Nous spéculons ensuite sur l'origine de cas isolés de péridotite de type alpin dans des séquences de marge des Laurentides du Québec-Vermont et de la Virginie-Caroline du Nord, en nous concentrant sur les unités de rift d'âge néoprotérozoïque tardif (pour éviter les ophiolites du Taconique).  La conjonction d’affleurements de piètre qualité et de la déformation taconique omniprésente, signifie que l'origine et la mise en place de nombreuses masses ultramafiques dans les Appalaches demeureront incertaines.  Néanmoins, la présence fréquente de roches de type OCT tout le long de la marge Calédonnienne-Appalaches de Laurentia suggère que l'ouverture de l'océan Iapetus peut avoir été accompagnée d’hyper-étirement et de la formation de marges pauvres en magma le long de nombreux segments.

scholarly journals Ordovician mafic magmatism in an Ediacaran arc complex, Sibak, northeastern Iran: the eastern tip of the Rheic Ocean

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (10) ◽  
pp. 1173-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fereshteh Ranjbar Moghadam ◽  
Fariborz Masoudi ◽  
Fernando Corfu ◽  
Seyed Massoud Homam
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Arc Magmatism ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Rheic Ocean ◽  
Late Precambrian ◽  
Sedimentary Sequences ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Clastic Sedimentary

The assembly of Gondwana in the Ediacaran was concluded by extensive arc magmatism along its northern margin. Extensional events in the early Paleozoic led to rifting and the eventual separation of terranes, which were later assimilated in different continents and orogens. The Sibak area of northeastern Iran records these events, including late Precambrian volcanic-sedimentary processes, metamorphism, and magmatism. A granite at Chahak in the Sibak Complex yields a zircon U–Pb age of 548.3 ± 1.1 Ma, whereas a spatially associated gabbro has an age of 471.1 ± 0.9 Ma. The latter corresponds to the earliest stages of rifting in the nearby Alborz domain, with the deposition of clastic sedimentary sequences, basaltic volcanism, and, as indicated by indirect evidence, coeval granitic plutonism. The Chahak gabbro is thus one of the earliest witnesses of the rifting processes that eventually led to the development of the Rheic Ocean and were indirectly linked to subduction of Iapetus at the Laurentian margin and the early development of the Appalachian orogen.

The brachiopod Ptychopleurella lapworthi (Davidson) from the Ordovician of Girvan, S.W. Scotland

1986 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 845-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. T. Harper
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
Upper Ordovician ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Identity Recognition ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Northwestern Margin

The small, distinctive, glyptorthinine brachiopod Ptychopleurella Schuchert and Cooper is widely distributed in rocks of early Ordovician to late Silurian age. Several species are known from the Barr and Ardmillan successions (middle-upper Ordovician) of the Girvan district, S.W. Scotland, one of which, ‘Orthis Lapworthi’ Davidson, has not been described in modern terms as there has been some confusion concerning its true identity. Recognition of this species of Ptychopleurella permits comparison with congeners elsewhere, strengthens the correlation of this part of the Girvan Succession with the middle Ordovician of North America, and provides a more complete record of this genus in the slope sedimentary facies of the northwestern margin of the Iapetus Ocean.

Silurian (Llandovery) graptolites from the Bay of Exploits, north-central Newfoundland, and their geological significance

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1534-1540 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Henry Williams ◽  
Brian H. O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
North America ◽  
Generic Level ◽  
North Central ◽  
Geological Significance ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Iapetus Ocean

Only one specimen of a Silurian graptolite has ever been recorded from Newfoundland, and it was not identifiable below generic level. The graptolite assemblage discussed and figured here, from a sequence of turbidites on Upper Black Island, north-central Newfoundland, includes the first positively identified Silurian taxa from the province, and provides the first unequivocal evidence of Silurian oceanic sedimentation in the Dunnage Zone. The graptolite taxa include Rastrites peregrinus (Barrande), Coronograptus? sp. cf. C. gregarius (Lapworth), Monograptus austerus sequens Hutt?, Orthograptus insectiformis (Nicholson), Monograptus spp. indet., "Climacograptus"? sp., and Glyptograptus? sp. This assemblage demonstrates that the strata, previously assigned to the Middle Ordovician Lawrence Harbour Formation, are actually Aeronian (middle Llandovery) in age and that the turbidites considerably postdate both the Lawrence Harbour and Point Leamington formations of the Exploits Subzone. Furthermore, the graptolite fauna is similar to that found in coeval sediments in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia but unlike any assemblages known from elsewhere in North America. This suggests the presence of open oceanic conditions, or deep marginal basins during the Llandovery hosting graptolites with European affinities, and raises the possibility that at least part of the Iapetus Ocean was still open in central Newfoundland during Early Silurian times.

Age and origin of the Boil Mountain ophiolite and Chain Lakes massif, Maine: implications for the Penobscottian orogeny

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 646-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Kusky ◽  
J. S. Chow ◽  
S. A. Bowring
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Ordovician ◽  
Ophiolite Complex ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Mid Ocean Ridge ◽  
Back Arc ◽  
Ocean Ridge ◽  
Age Constraints

The Boil Mountain ophiolite complex of west-central Maine is widely interpreted to mark the Lower Ordovician Penobscottian suture between the Dunnage, Chain Lakes, and Gander terranes. The ophiolite consists of two distinct volcanic groups, including a lower island-arc tholeiite sequence and an upper mid-ocean-ridge basalt sequence. A new Middle Ordovician 477 ± 1 Ma U–Pb age on a tonalite sill that intrudes the lower volcanic–gabbroic sequence is younger than other ca. 500 Ma age constraints for the ophiolite and represents a maximum age for the ophiolite prior to final emplacement over gneissic rocks of the Chain Lakes massif. A comparison of ages and paleogeography of the Boil Mountain ophiolite with ophiolitic sequences in Quebec and Newfoundland indicates that the Taconian and Penobscottian orogenies and ophiolite obduction occurred simultaneously, although on different margins of the Iapetus Ocean. The Taconian ophiolite sequences were obducted onto the Appalachian margin of Laurentia during its collision with the Notre Dame – Bronson Hill belt in the Middle Ordovician, whereas the Boil Mountain ophiolite was obducted onto the Gander margin of Gondwana during its collision with the Exploits subzone – Penobscot arc of the Dunnage terrane in the Lower – Middle Ordovician. We suggest that the lower volcanic–gabbroic sequence of the Boil Mountain ophiolite represents the fore-arc ophiolitic basement to the Penobscot arc. Middle Ordovician rifting of the Penobscottian orogenic collage on the Gander margin formed a new volcanic sequence (Popelogan arc) in front of a growing back-arc basin, and erupted the upper tholeiitic sequence of the Boil Mountain ophiolite in a back-arc-basin setting. The tonalité sill formed during this event by partial melting of the lower volcanic–gabbroic sequence. Spreading in this back-arc basin (Tetagouche basin) brought a fragment of the Gander margin (Chain Lakes massif), along with an allochthonous ophiolitic cover (Boil Mountain complex) across Iapetus, where it collided with the Taconic modified margin of North America in the Late Ordovician and was then intruded by the Ashgillian Attean pluton.

A tale of both sides of Iapetus – upper Darriwilian (Ordovician) graptolite faunal dynamics on the edges of two continents

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 841-859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Maletz ◽  
Sven Egenhoff ◽  
Martina Böhme ◽  
Robert Asch ◽  
Katarina Borowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Warm Water ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Biostratigraphic Correlation

Ordovician graptolite faunal compositions between the Laurentia and Baltica margins of the Iapetus Ocean differ considerably in the upper Darriwilian (Da 3 – Da 4; upper Middle Ordovician). Detailed investigation of a number of sections in the Table Head and Goose Tickle groups in western Newfoundland and the Elnes Formation of Norway provides important new faunal data for the interval from the Holmograptus lentus Biozone to the Dicellograptus vagus Biozone. The Nicholsonograptus fasciculatus and Pterograptus elegans biozones are introduced for the Table Head and Goose Tickle groups and can be recognized widely in North America. The characteristic, but poorly correlatable, shallow-water endemic faunas of the platform regions (Atlantic and Pacific faunal realms) grade into the cosmopolitan oceanic graptolite faunas (isograptid biofacies) and provide a means to precisely correlate cold-water and warm-water endemic graptolite faunas through transitional zones. The faunal differences between western Newfoundland and Scandinavia are less pronounced than hitherto assumed, and many faunal elements can now be recognized in both regions, allowing for a more precise biostratigraphic correlation. The paleobiogeographic differentiation of both regions has been based on few, but usually extremely common faunal elements, masking the presence of important biostratigraphic marker species.

scholarly journals First direct evidence for a contiguous Gondwana shelf to the south of the Rheic Ocean

Geology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 767-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf L. Romer ◽  
Uwe Kroner
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Oceanic Lithosphere ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Rheic Ocean ◽  
Variscan Orogen

Abstract Sea-level rise after the Hirnantian glaciation resulted in the global inundation of continental shelf areas and the widespread formation of early Silurian black shales. Black shales that were deposited on shelves receiving drainage from earlier glaciated areas have high uranium (U) contents because large-scale glacial erosion brought rocks with leachable U to the surface. In contrast, black shales receiving drainage from non-glaciated areas that had lost leachable U earlier have low U contents. Early Silurian U-rich shales formed only on shelf areas that had not been separated from earlier-glaciated mainland Gondwana by oceanic lithosphere. Therefore, early Silurian U-rich black shales within the Variscan orogen provide direct evidence that these areas had not been separated from mainland Gondwana, but were part of the same, contiguous shelf. This implies that the Rheic Ocean was the only pre-Silurian ocean that opened during the early Paleozoic extension of the peri-Gondwana shelf.

Paleomagnetic reexamination of the Lower Ordovician Wabana and Bell Island Groups of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1055-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Buchan ◽  
J. P. Hodych
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Paleozoic ◽  
Magnetization Direction ◽  
Early Ordovician ◽  
End Point ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Avalon Peninsula

The Wabana and Bell Island Groups of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland contain oolitic hematite beds of Early Ordovician age, dipping ~11° north-northwest. Twenty-one oolitic hematite samples from nine sites were thermally demagnetized in 10 or 11 steps to 660 or 680 °C. At 450 °C, 15 samples from six sites define a stable magnetization direction (D = 21.2°, I = −12.5°, k = 137, α95 = 5.7°) with respect to bedding. The remaining six samples failed to attain the stable end-point, five of them because of growth of much "magnetite," which probably resulted from breakdown of siderite during thermal demagnetization.The paleopole for the Wabana – Bell Island Groups lies at 33°N 102°E (dm = 5.8°, dp = 3.0°). It is compared with other early Paleozoic paleopoles from cratonic North America and the Avalon zone, and its significance for the Iapetus Ocean is discussed.

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