Provenance of Ordovician deep-water sandstones, Tourelle Formation, Quebec, and implications for initiation of the Taconic orogeny

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 1579-1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. Hiscott
Keyword(s):  
Source Area ◽  
Heavy Mineral ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Rock Fragments ◽  
Tectonic Model ◽  
Sedimentary Petrography ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Volcanic Source ◽  
External Domain

The Lower Ordovician Tourelle Formation crops out on the Gaspé Peninsula in the allochthonous external domain of the Quebec Appalachians. Coarse sandstone beds dominate this submarine fan deposit, and contain immature detritus (volcanic fragments, radiolarian chert, amphiboles, pyroxenes, chromite) shed from initial uplifts within the Taconic orogenic belt. Pre-Tourelle sediments were eroded directly from a Lower Paleozoic Grenville-type craton and its fringing carbonate bank. Recycling of these sediments provided the bulk of the detritus found in the Tourelle sandstones.Volcanic rock fragments comprise 4% of framework grains. They are intermediate to acid in average composition, contain primary biotite, and record prehnite–pumpellyite grade metamorphism in the source area. This volcanic source also contributed fresh angular plagioclase (albite) to the Tourelle sand fraction. The volcanic source was probably an ensialic arc associated with the closing of the Iapetus Ocean, and is tentatively identified with the Cambrian to Middle Ordovician Tetagouche volcanics of northern New Brunswick.In addition to rounded, recycled grains of zircon, tourmaline, garnet, and sphene, the Tourelle heavy mineral suite contains prismatic hornblende, hypersthene, and clinopyroxene. These minerals may have been derived from arc lavas, their intrusive equivalents, or from an obducted ophiolite sheet. Ophiolite obduction and erosion is preferred because the [Formula: see text] heavy mineral population contains 18% chromite, or 8.2 × 10−4 g Cr/cm3 sandstone. This is 1/15 the chromite concentration of peridotite, an essential component of any ophiolite suite.Provenance criteria for these syn-orogenic sandstones require a plate tectonic model involving southeastward subduction beneath a block of continental crust, and emplacement of ophiolite. Previous models for the Quebec Appalachians are unable to account for detrital composition of Tourelle sands and must undergo major modification.This paper reveals that sedimentary petrography is essential to satisfactory unravelling of orogenic history. Neglect of sediment composition may invalidate tectonic reconstructions based solely on stratigraphic and structural considerations.

Provenance et modèle de dépôt de la Formation de la Rivière Nicolet : flysch taconique du Domaine autochtone et du Domaine externe des Appalaches du Québec

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 855-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Beaulieu ◽  
Jean Lajoie ◽  
Claude Hubert
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
External Domain ◽  
Vertical Evolution ◽  
Sea Fan ◽  
Internal Domain

The composition of the detrital fraction of the Nicolet River Formation suggests that the rocks of the Autochtonous and the External Domains of the Quebec Appalachians were mostly derived from the sedimentary nappes of the External Domain. The contribution from the metamorphic nappes and ophiolites of the Internal Domain was minor but it indicates that the dynamothermal metamorphism had been completed by the end of the Middle Ordovician (C. spiniferus Zone). Piling up of the nappes, each one progressively richer in feldspar, produced a source of high relief subject to subaerial erosion. The vertical evolution observed in the flysch probably results from tectonic activity at the source area rather than from deep-sea fan progradation. The stratigraphic relationships evince that the deposit accumulated in basins controlled by a series of horsts and grabens.

scholarly journals Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Lower Paleozoic Heituao Shale from Tadong Low Uplift of Tarim Basin, China: Implication for Shale Gas Development

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 635
Author(s):  
Shihu Zhao ◽  
Yanbin Wang ◽  
Yong Li ◽  
Honghui Li ◽  
Zhaohui Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Tarim Basin ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Mature Stage ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Development Potential ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Average Value

Tarim Basin is the largest Petroliferous basin in China, while its shale gas development potential has not been fully revealed. The organic-rich black shale in middle Ordovician Heituao Formation from Tadong low uplift of Tarim Basin has been considered as an important source rock and has the characteristic of large thickness, high organic matter content and high thermal maturity degree. To obtain its development potential, geochemical, mineralogical and mechanics research is conducted based on Rock-Eval pyrolysis, total organic carbon (TOC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and uniaxial compression experiments. The results show that: (1) the TOC content ranges between 0.63 and 2.51 wt% with an average value of 1.22 wt%, the Tmax values are 382–523 °C (average = 468.9 °C), and the S2 value is relatively low which ranges from 0.08 to 1.37 mg HC/g rock (averaging of 0.42 mg HC/g rock); (2) the organic matter of Heituao shale in Tadong low uplift show poor abundance as indicated by low S2 value, gas-prone property, and post mature stage (stage of dry gas). (3) Quartz is the main mineral component in Heituao shale samples, accounting for 26–94 wt% with an average of 72 wt%. Additionally, its Young’s modulus ranges from 20.0 to 23.1 GPa with an average of 21.2 GPa, Poisson’s ratio ranges between 0.11 and 0.21 (average = 0.15); (4) the fracability parameter of brittleness index (BI) ranges between 0.28 and 0.99 (averaging of 0.85), indicating good fracability potential of Heituao shale of Tadong low uplift and has the potential for shale gas development. This study reveals the shale gas accumulation potential in middle Ordovician of the Tarim Basin, and beneficial for future exploration and production practice.

Middle Ordovician Table Head Group of western Newfoundland: a revised stratigraphy

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 1007-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin F. Klappa ◽  
Paul R. Opalinski ◽  
Noel P. James
Keyword(s):  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Head Group ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Ordovician ◽  
Head Formation ◽  
New Formation

Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of early Middle Ordovician strata from western Newfound land is formally revised. The present Table Head Formation is raised to group status and extended to include overlying interbedded terrigenoclastic-rich calcarenites and shales with lime megabreccias. Four new formation names are proposed: Table Point Formation (previously lower Table Head); Table Cove Formation (previously middle Table Head); Black Cove Formation (previously upper Table Head); and Cape Cormorant Formation (previously Caribou Brook formation). The Table Point Formation comprises bioturbated, fossiliferous grey, hackly limestones and minor dolostones; the Table Cove Formation comprises interbedded lime mudstones and grey–black calcareous shales; the Black Cove Formation comprises black graptolitic shales; and the Cape Cormorant Formation comprises interbedded terrigenoclastic and calcareous sandstones, siltstones, and shales, punctuated by massive or thick-bedded lime megabreccias. The newly defined Table Head Group rests conformably or disconformably on dolostones of the Lower Ordovician St. George Group (an upward-migrating diagenetic dolomitization front commonly obscures the contact) and is overlain concordantly by easterly-derived flysch deposits. Upward-varying lithologic characteristics within the Table Head Group result from fragmentation and subsidence of the Cambro-Ordovician carbonate platform and margin during closure of a proto-Atlantic (Iapetus) Ocean.

scholarly journals A missing link in the peri-Gondwanan terrane collage: the Precambrian basement of the Moroccan Meseta and its lower Paleozoic cover

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Letsch ◽  
Mohamed El Houicha ◽  
Albrecht von Quadt ◽  
Wilfried Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Precambrian Geology ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Cambrian ◽  
Paleozoic Rocks ◽  
Rifted Margin

This article provides stratigraphic and geochronological data from a central part of Gondwana’s northern margin — the Moroccan Meseta Domain. This region, located to the north of the Anti-Atlas area with extensive outcrops of Precambrian and lower Paleozoic rocks, has hitherto not received much attention with regard to its Precambrian geology. Detrital and volcanic zircon ages have been used to constrain sedimentary depositional ages and crustal affinities of sedimentary source rocks in stratigraphic key sections. Based on this, a four-step paleotectonic evolution of the Meseta Domain from the Ediacaran until the Early Ordovician is proposed. This evolution documents the transition from a terrestrial volcanic setting during the Ediacaran to a short-lived carbonate platform setting during the early Cambrian. The latter then evolved into a rifted margin with deposition of thick siliciclastic successions in graben structures during the middle to late Cambrian. The detritus in these basins was of local origin, and a contribution from a broader source area (encompassing parts of the West African Craton) can only be demonstrated for postrifting, i.e., laterally extensive sandstone bodies that seal the former graben. In a broader paleotectonic context, it is suggested that this Cambrian rifting is linked to the opening of the Rheic Ocean, and that several peri-Gondwanan terranes (Meguma and Cadomia–Iberia) may have been close to the Meseta Domain before drifting, albeit some of them seem to have been constituted by a distinctly different basement.

Origin of megarhythms in flysch sequences of the Quebec Appalachians

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1518-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Lajoie
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Rock Composition ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
Late Cambrian ◽  
External Domain ◽  
Vertical Evolution ◽  
Metamorphic Terranes ◽  
Sea Fan ◽  
Stratigraphic Evolution

The cyclic and positive sequences observed in the External Domain of the Quebec Appalachians between L'IsIet and Grosses Roches have been interpreted as facies of deep-sea fans that result from progradation. In these conglomerate-bearing sequences, the composition of the detritus changes up-section, which suggests that uplift of the source area played an important role in their vertical evolution. In early and (or) Middle Cambrian time, the source consisted of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic terranes. This provenance was rejuvenated in Late Cambrian – Early Ordovician time, and the Lower – Middle Cambrian shelf wa.s uplifted. The stratigraphic evolution of composition observed in these flysch sequences cannot be explained by deep-sea fan progradation.In recent years the general trend in flysch-sequence analysis has been away from tectonic and towards sedimentological interpretations. The stratigraphic evolution of flysch sequences may be due to both tectonic and sedimentary processes. Studies of rock composition, generally neglected by most workers, could be used to make the distinction.

Petrography and geochemistry of the siliciclastic Araba Formation (Cambrian), east Sinai, Egypt: implications for provenance, tectonic setting and source weathering

2015 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOSSAM A. TAWFIK ◽  
IBRAHIM M. GHANDOUR ◽  
WATARU MAEJIMA ◽  
JOHN S. ARMSTRONG-ALTRIN ◽  
ABDEL-MONEM T. ABDEL-HAMEED
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Xrd Analysis ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Rock Fragments ◽  
Geochemical Parameters ◽  
Clastic Sediments ◽  
Chemical Index

AbstractCombined petrographic and geochemical methods are utilized to investigate the provenance, tectonic setting, palaeo-weathering and climatic conditions of the Cambrian Araba clastic sediments of NE Egypt. The ~ 60 m thick Araba Formation consists predominantly of sandstone and mudstone interbedded with conglomerate. Petrographically the Araba sandstones are mostly sub-mature and classified as subarkoses with an average framework composition of Q80F14L6. The framework components are dominated by monocrystalline quartz with subordinate K-feldspar, together with volcanic and granitic rock fragments. XRD analysis demonstrated that clay minerals comprise mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S), illite and smectite, with minor kaolinite. Diagenetic features of the sandstone include mechanical infiltration of clay, mechanical and chemical compaction, cementation, dissolution and replacement of feldspars by carbonate cements and clays. The modal composition and geochemical parameters (e.g. Cr/V, Y/Ni, Th/Co and Cr/Th ratios) of the sandstones and mudstones indicate that they were derived from felsic source rocks, probably from the crystalline basement of the northern fringe of the Arabian–Nubian Shield. The study reveals a collisional tectonic setting for the sediments of the Araba Formation. Palaeo-weathering indices such as the chemical index of alteration (CIA), chemical index of weathering (CIW) and plagioclase index of alteration (PIA) of the clastic sediments suggest that the source area was moderately chemically weathered. On the northern margin of Gondwana, early Palaeozoic weathering occurred under fluctuating climatic conditions.

Stratigraphy in an accretionary prism: the Ordovician rocks in North Down, Ireland

1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine E. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Black Shales ◽  
Ocean Floor ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Lower Palaeozoic

ABSTRACTSediments, mainly sandstones, conglomerates and shales, accumulated in small turbidite fans along the northern arc–trench margin of the Iapetus Ocean from middle Ordovician to Silurian time. These fans, together with the underlying pelagic facies and part of the oceanic crust, were sliced and accreted northward resulting in the Lower Palaeozoic accretionary prism which forms the Scottish Southern Uplands and the Longford-Down inlier in Ireland. North Down is the continuation of the Northern belt of the Southern Uplands of Scotland into Ireland, bounded to the S by the Orlock Bridge fault. Lithological and petrographical comparison with the rest of the Northern belt indicates closer affinities with the Southern Uplands of Scotland than with the western end of the Longford-Down inlier. Major ENE—WSW-trending Caledonian strike faults define five blocks, in which new formations of Caradoc and ? Ashgill age are defined. Pillowed spilitic rock, interpreted as a fragment of the ocean-floor, is only recognised in the Ballygrot block. Pelagic and hemipelagic black shales and cherts are overlain by arenaceous sediments in all blocks.

Évolution paléogéographique de la marge nord-ouest de l'Afrique du Cambrien à la fin du Carbonifère (du Maroc au Libéria)

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 1121-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Villeneuve ◽  
Jean-Jacques Cornée
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
The West ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
West African Craton ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
Early Devonian ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
The North ◽  
Marine Platform ◽  
General Regression

Paleogeographic reconstructions of Paleozoic time are presented for the northwest margin of the West-African Craton. An extensional regime and a marine transgression were dominant during the Early Cambrian. During the Middle Cambrian, the Rokélides orogen was responsible for the sea regression to the south, while the proto-Atlantic opening was active to the north of the Reguibat shield. A large stable marine platform was present during Early and Middle Ordovician. A general regression and the formation of the West-African Inlandsis took place during the Late Ordovician. During Silurian time, this sea transgressed over most of the African platform. Incipient Hercynian deformations during the Early Devonian produced horsts and grabens in Morocco. At the end of the Devonian and the beginning of the Carboniferous, the sea was restricted to isolated basins and tectonic trenches. Collision between West Africa and North America during the Late Carboniferous transformed the Lower Paleozoic margin into an Hercynian orogenic belt, whose structure is controlled by the presence of crustal blocks, generated as early as the Cambrian, and probably reflecting, in turn, older Panafrican zones of weakness. [Translated by the Journal]

Cambrian and Ordovician linguliform brachiopods from the Shallow Bay Formation (Cow Head Group), western Newfoundland

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean P. Robson ◽  
Brian R. Pratt
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Continental Slope ◽  
Head Group ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Upper Cambrian ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
Brachiopod Fauna ◽  
Shallow Bay

Linguliform brachiopods were recovered from the Upper Cambrian Downes Point Member (lower Sunwaptan) and from the Middle Ordovician Factory Cove Member (Arenig) of the Shallow Bay Formation, Cow Head Group, of western Newfoundland. These rocks are a series of Middle Cambrian to Middle Ordovician conglomerates, lime mudstones, and shales that formed a sediment apron at the base of the lower Paleozoic continental slope of Laurentia. The linguliform brachiopod fauna consists of sixteen species assigned to twelve genera. Three new species are described: Picnotreta lophocracenta, Neotreta humberensis, and Siphonotretella parvaducta.

First evidence of Lower–?Middle Ordovician (Floian–?Dapingian) brachiopods from the Peruvian Altiplano and their paleogeographical significance

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-74
Author(s):  
Jorge Colmenar ◽  
Eben Blake Hodgin
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
South China ◽  
New World ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Island Arcs ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Well Differentiated ◽  
One New Species

AbstractThe lower strata of the Umachiri Formation from the Altiplano of southeast Peru have yielded a brachiopod-dominated assemblage, containing representatives of the brachiopod superfamilies Polytoechioidea, Orthoidea, and Porambonitoidea, as well as subsidiary trilobite and echinoderm remains. Two new polytoechioid genera and species, Enriquetoechia umachiriensis new genus new species and Altiplanotoechia hodgini n. gen. n. sp. Colmenar in Colmenar and Hodgin, 2020, and one new species, Pomatotrema laubacheri n. sp., are described. The presence of Pomatotrema in the Peruvian Altiplano represents the occurrence at highest paleolatitude of this genus, normally restricted to low-latitude successions from Laurentia and South China. Other polytoechioids belonging to Tritoechia (Tritoechia) and Tritoechia (Parvitritoechia) also occur. Identified species of orthoids from the genera Paralenorthis, Mollesella, and Panderina? occur in the Peruvian Cordillera Oriental and in the Argentinian Famatina Range. The only porambonitoid represented is closely related to Rugostrophia latireticulata Neuman, 1976 from New World Island, interpreted as peri-Laurentian. These brachiopod occurrences indicate a strong biogeographic affinity of the Peruvian Altiplano with the Famatina and western Puna regions, suggesting that the brachiopod faunas of the Peruvian Altiplano, Famatina, and western Puna belonged to a well-differentiated biogeographical subprovince during the Early–Middle Ordovician on the margin of southwestern Gondwana. Links with peri-Laurentian and other low-latitude terranes could be explained by island hopping and/or continuous island arcs, which might facilitate brachiopod larvae dispersal from the Peruvian Altiplano to those terranes across the Iapetus Ocean. Brachiopods from the lower part of the Umachiri Formation indicate a Floian–?Dapingian age, becoming the oldest Ordovician fossils of the Peruvian Altiplano.UUID: http://zoobank.org/9670a000-260d-4d75-9261-110854c7afb8

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