Geophysical Investigations East of the Magdalen Islands, Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence

1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1504-1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Watts

Detailed gravity and magnetic surveys confirm seismic refraction evidence of a deep (8–10 km) Carboniferous infilled sedimentary basin (the Magdalen basin) between the Magdalen Islands and Newfoundland. The basin margins are associated with gravity and magnetic 'highs' indicating shallow depths (1–3 km) to pre-Carboniferous basement rocks east of the Magdalen Islands and between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland. The central Magdalen basin is associated with a large amplitude gravity 'low' (50–60 mgal). This can be partly explained by a 2–4 km thickness of low density Late Mississippian sediments overlain by 1–2 km of Upper Pennsylvanian or younger sediments. The western Magdalen basin is associated with large amplitude (20–40 mgal) circular and elongate gravity 'lows'. Detailed interpretations suggest they are caused by low density evaporite structures. The circular 'lows' are interpreted as salt diapirs. The elongate 'lows' are interpreted as structures in the crest of Mississippian/Pennsylvanian anticlines similar to occurrences of Windsor Group evaporites in northern Nova Scotia. The western Magdalen basin may represent one of the largest areas of salt accumulation in Eastern Canada.

2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-17
Author(s):  
Terry Power ◽  
John Gilhen

Based on current knowledge of the ecology and distribution of Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina), both in eastern Canada and elsewhere, we conclude this species is native to Cape Breton Island. Seventy-two reports of Snapping Turtle from Cape Breton (1999–2017) indicate a range centred in the area south of Bras d’Or Lake. Date of oviposition ranged from 19 June to 10 July (median = 26 June) among 26 nests observed during 2012–2014. Clutch size for these nests was 23–65 eggs (mean = 46) and among 25 protected nests average rate of hatchling emergence was 21.5%. Time from oviposition to emergence of hatchlings (n = 256) was 75–120 days (mean = 87.2; SD = 9.0) among 20 nests. First emergence ranged from 9 September to 20 October (75–114 nest days; mean = 90) and last emergence ranged from 13 September to 28 October (86–120 nest days; mean = 100). Duration of emergence ranged from one day (i.e., synchronous emergence; five nests) to 37 days (mean = 11 days). The number of days on which hatchlings emerged at a nest ranged from one to nine days (mean = 4 days). Maximum carapace length was 25.0–31.8 mm (mean = 29.0 mm) and maximum carapace width was 23.5–30.0 mm (mean = 27.0 mm) for 256 hatchlings that emerged from 20 protected nests. Mass of hatchlings was 4.9–9.9 g (mean = 7.8 g).


1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 2546-2550 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. O. Hammill ◽  
G. B. Stenson ◽  
R. A. Myers

Systematic visual aerial surveys were flown in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence during March 1990 and 1991 to estimate hooded seal (Cystophora cristata) pup production. In 1990, the main whelping patch, occupying an area of 264 km2, was located near Cape Breton Island. One hundred and five pups were counted on 17 transects, resulting in a mean density of 1.74 pups∙kim−2 and an estimated pup production of 1638 (SE = 466). In 1991, a large whelping patch was located to the west of the Magdalen Islands, a second off the coast of Prince Edward Island, and a small patch was later found south of the Magdalen Islands. The two major patches were surveyed, resulting in a pup production estimate of 1564 (SE = 101). During the 1991 surveys, an estimated 71–93% of the pups were on the ice. Correcting for the distribution of births results in a minimum 1991 pup production estimate of 2006 (SE = 190) for the Gulf of St. Lawrence.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Sonya A. Dehler ◽  
Louis Zsámboki

Magnetic and gravity data from northeastern Cape Breton Island, southwestern Newfoundland, and the intervening Cabot Strait area were compiled and used to generate a series of maps displaying magnetic (filtered total field, first and second derivative) and gravity (Bouguer anomaly onshore, free-air anomaly offshore) information to enhance the anomaly pattern associated with regional geology. With further constraints from previously published seismic reflection interpretations and detailed maps of onshore geology, five two-dimensional subsurface models were generated.  Potential field anomalies in the offshore can be correlated with onshore faults, rock units, and pre-Carboniferous terranes.  In Newfoundland, the Cabot – Long Range Fault separates Grenvillian basement to the northwest from peri-Gondwanan Port aux Basques subzone basement in the southeast and can be traced to the Wilkie Brook Fault on Cape Breton Island.  The Cape Ray Fault/Red Indian Line merges offshore with the Cabot – Long Range Fault so that Notre Dame subzone rocks do not extend across the Cabot Strait area.  The Port aux Basques – Exploits subzone boundary crosses the strait but is likely buried by younger rocks onshore in Cape Breton Island.  Magnetic halos in the Exploits subzone are probably caused by Silurian – Devonian plutons like those in the Burgeo Intrusive Suite. The Exploits – Bras d’Or terrane boundary is located within the Ingonish magnetic anomaly, which was resolved into four overlapping components representing basement sources intruded into metasedimentary rocks and dioritic and granodioritic plutons of the Bras d’Or terrane.  The Bras d’Or terrane can be traced to the Cinq-Cerf block and Grey River areas in southern Newfoundland.  The interpretations suggest that Bras d’Or terrane ‘basement’ may underlie all of Exploits subzone, and that the Aspy terrane of Cape Breton Island is part of that subzone. SOMMAIRELes données magnétométriques et gravimétriques du nord-est de l’île du Cap-Breton, dans le sud-ouest de Terre-Neuve, et de la région du détroit de Cabot contigu, ont été compilées et utilisées pour produire une série de cartes affichant les particularités magnétiques (champ total filtré, dérivé première et seconde) et gravimétriques (anomalie de Bouguer de la côte, anomalie à l’air libre extracôtière) pour ajouter à la compréhension des motifs d’anomalie de la géologie régionale.  En tenant compte des limitations imposées par les interprétations de données de levés de sismique réflexion déjà publiées et de cartes détaillées de géologie continentale, cinq modèles 2D du sous-sol ont été produits.  Des anomalies de champ potentiel en zone extracôtière peuvent être corrélées avec des failles, des unités lithologiques et des terranes pré-carbonifères sur la côte.   Sur l’île de Terre-Neuve, la faille de Cabot-Long Range qui sépare le socle grenvillien au nord-ouest de la sous-zone de socle péri-gondwanienne, de Port-aux- Basques au sud-est, peut être reliée à la faille de Wilkie Brook sur l’île du Cap-Breton.  La faille du Cap Ray et la linéation de Red Indian se fondent au large avec la faille de Cabot – Long  Range, ce qui signifie que les roches de la sous-zone de Notre-Dame ne traversent pas la région du détroit de Cabot.  La limite de la sous-zone de Port aux Basques-Exploits traverse le détroit, mais elle est vraisemblablement enfouie sous des roches plus jeunes sur l’île du Cap-Breton.  Les halos magnétiques dans la sous-zone Exploits sont probablement causés par des plutons siluro-dévoniens comme c’est le cas de ceux de la séquence intrusive de Burgeo.  La limite du terrane Exploits-Bras d’Or est située dans l’anomalie magnétique Ingonish, laquelle s’est révélée être constituée de quatre composantes superposées représentant des sources de socle engoncées dans des roches métasédimentaires, et dans des plutons dioritiques et granodioritiques du terrane de Bras d’Or.  On peut suivre le terrane de Bras d’Or jusque dans les régions du bloc de Cinq-Cerf et de Grey River dans le sud de Terre-Neuve.  Les interprétations permettent de penser que le « socle » du terrane de Bras d’Or pourrait constituer l’assise rocheuse de la sous-zone Exploits, et que le terrane Aspy de l’île du Cap-Breton ferait partie de cette sous-zone.


1968 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Sheridan ◽  
Charles L. Drake

The subsurface geology of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of the continental shelf off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland is interpreted primarily from the results of 37 seismic-refraction profiles. The Gulf of St. Lawrence is underlain by more than 7 km of Carboniferous sediments deposited in an east–west-trending trough. Another important Carboniferous section about 5 km thick is observed northeast of Cape Breton Island in the Laurentian Channel. The Carboniferous trough north of Cape Breton Island swings irregularly east and south around a basement ridge and may hook into the deep east–west-trending Carboniferous trough extending out of Chedabucto Bay. The Gulf sedimentary basin is separated from the trough north of Cape Breton Island by a sharp rise in basement across Cabot Strait.Northeast of Newfoundland the pre-Upper Pennsylvanian basement plunges to deeper than 6 km in the area of the continental slope. A northeast–southwest-trending seaward-opening sediment-filled trough more than 5 km deep is revealed by the configuration of this basement northeast of the Avalon Peninsula.Seismic-refraction profiles across the Gulf of St. Lawrence between western Newfoundland and Quebec show no indication of rifting or the rotation of Newfoundland away from Quebec. Refraction profiles across the northeast rim of the Laurentian Channel indicate that the rim is erosional in origin and that the basement horizons pass continuously beneath.The seaward extension of the zone affected by the Acadian orogeny is characterized by highly metamorphosed basement with higher seismic velocities, 6.0–6.6 km/s, than the surrounding areas. Limited data northeast of Newfoundland indicate that these high velocities decrease gradually and suggest that the influence of the Acadian orogeny dies away about half way across the shelf.The seaward extension of the Taconic orogenic zone is characterized by an intermediate crustal layer, 6.6–7.6 km/s, at depths of 3–12 km. This intermediate layer continues intact all the way to the continental slope northeast of Newfoundland. It was not observed on the Labrador shelf, suggesting that the Appalachians continued straight rather than remaining marginal to North America.It is postulated that the Devonian (Acadian) orogenic belt was not continuous with a corresponding European orogen, but that the Ordovician (Taconic) orogeny may have persisted across into Europe. If this is correct, it implies the existence of a major rift at the Newfoundland slope during middle and late Paleozoic times.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 992-997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Robert P. Raeside ◽  
Otto van Breemen

The northernmost Cape Breton Highlands are underlain by the Blair River Complex, a distinctive assemblage of basement rocks including felsic and mafic gneisses, foliated gabbroic to granitic rocks, anorthosite, and foliated and unfoliated varieties of syenite. Major faults and mylonite zones separate the complex from schists, gneisses, and granitoid rocks typical of the rest of the Cape Breton Highlands. U–Pb dating of zircon from the Lowland Brook syenite of the Blair River Complex indicates a metamorphic age of [Formula: see text] and an igneous age of 1100–1500 Ma. These ages and the distinctive rock assemblage allow the Blair River Complex to be correlated with the Grenvillian rocks in the Long Range Inlier and Indian Head Range Complex of western Newfoundland. This is the first confirmed report of Grenvillian basement in Cape Breton Island, and it places new constraints on correlations between Newfoundland and the northern mainland Appalachians.


Geology ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 554 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. de Vernal ◽  
C. Causse ◽  
C. Hillaire-Marcel ◽  
R. J. Mott ◽  
S. Occhietti

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