Chemistry and prehnite–pumpellyite facies metamorphism of calc-alkaline Carboniferous volcanic rocks of southeastern New Brunswick

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1071-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Strong ◽  
W. L. Dickson ◽  
R. K. Pickerill

Mafic pillowed and massive lavas of the Upper Carboniferous West Beach Formation, as exposed in the city of Saint John, southeastern New Brunswick, were metamorphosed under prehnite–pumpellyite facies conditions, possibly between 315 and 370 °C and 1 and 2.5 kbar (105 and 2.5 × 105 kPa). Petrographic and chemical data for 32 samples indicate that this metamorphism was accompanied by significant silicification of some samples and variable chloritization of most. These processes caused relatively minor chemical transfer of most elements other than silica, and calculations from averages assuming constant Al indicate that TiO2, P2O5, Zr, Rb, Nb, Ga, and Y are relatively immobile. However, ratio diagrams show anomalous concentrations of these elements in a few samples and illustrate the inherent flaws of quantitative estimates based on averages. Classifications using these elements in a variety of diagrams clearly and consistently indicate a primitive calc-alkaline nature for the lavas, contrary to what might be expected from their geological setting interbedded with plant-bearing paralic or continental sedimentary rocks.

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 239-273
Author(s):  
Allan Ludman ◽  
Christopher McFarlane ◽  
Amber T.H. Whittaker

Volcanic rocks in the Miramichi inlier in Maine occur in two areas separated by the Bottle Lake plutonic complex: the Danforth segment (Stetson Mountain Formation) north of the complex and Greenfield segment to the south (Olamon Stream Formation). Both suites are dominantly pyroclastic, with abundant andesite, dacite, and rhyolite tuffs and subordinate lavas, breccias, and agglomerates. Rare basaltic tuffs and a small area of basaltic tuffs, agglomerates, and lavas are restricted to the Greenfield segment. U–Pb zircon geochronology dates Greenfield segment volcanism at ca. 469 Ma, the Floian–Dapingian boundary between the Lower and Middle Ordovician. Chemical analyses reveal a calc-alkaline suite erupted in a continental volcanic arc, either the Meductic or earliest Balmoral phase of Popelogan arc activity. The Maine Miramichi volcanic rocks are most likely correlative with the Meductic Group volcanic suite in west-central New Brunswick. Orogen-parallel lithologic and chemical variations from New Brunswick to east-central Maine may result from eruptions at different volcanic centers. The bimodal Poplar Mountain volcanic suite at the Maine–New Brunswick border is 10–20 myr younger than the Miramichi volcanic rocks and more likely an early phase of back-arc basin rifting than a late-stage Meductic phase event. Coeval calc-alkaline arc volcanism in the Miramichi, Weeksboro–Lunksoos Lake, and Munsungun Cambrian–Ordovician inliers in Maine is not consistent with tectonic models involving northwestward migration of arc volcanism. This >150 km span cannot be explained by a single east-facing subduction zone, suggesting more than one subduction zone/arc complex in the region.


Early cratonal development of the Arabian Shield of southwestern Saudi Arabia began with the deposition of calcic to calc-alkalic, basaltic to dacitic volcanic rocks, and immature sedimentary rocks that subsequently were moderately deformed, metamorphosed, and intruded about 960 Ma ago by dioritic batholiths of mantle derivation (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7029). A thick sequence of calc-alkalic andesitic to rhyodacitic volcanic rocks and volcanoclastic wackes was deposited unconformably on this neocraton. Regional greenschistfacies metamorphism, intensive deformation along north-trending structures, and intrusion of mantle-derived (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7028) dioritic to granodioritic batholiths occurred about 800 Ma. Granodiorite was emplaced as injection gneiss about 785 Ma (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7028- 0.7035) in localized areas of gneiss doming and amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism. Deposition of clastic and volcanic rocks overlapped in time and followed orogeny at 785 Ma. These deposits, together with the older rocks, were deformed, metamorphosed to greenschist facies, and intruded by calc-alkalic plutons (87Sr/86Sr = 0.7035) between 600 and 650 Ma. Late cratonal development between 570 and 550 Ma involved moderate pulses of volcanism, deformation, metamorphism to greenschist facies, and intrusion of quartz monzonite and granite. Cratonization appears to have evolved in an intraoceanic, island-arc environment of comagmatic volcanism and intrusion.


1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1430-1447 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Winchester ◽  
C. R. van Staal ◽  
J. P. Langton

An investigation of the geology and chemistry of the basic igneous rocks in the Elmtree and Belledune inliers in northern New Brunswick shows that the bulk of the Middle Ordovician rocks of the ophiolitic Fournier Group are best interpreted as the products of volcanism and sedimentation in an extensive ensimatic back-arc basin southeast of a volcanic arc. The oceanic back-arc-basin igneous rocks form the basement to renewed arc-related basaltic volcanism in late Middle to Late Ordovician time. The Fournier Group is separated from the structurally-underlying, shale-dominated Elmtree Formation of the Tetagouche Group by an extensive tectonic melange, which incorporates lenses of serpentinite, mafic volcanic rocks, and sedimentary rocks of both the Tetagouche and Fournier groups. The mafic volcanic rocks in the Elmtree Formation correlate best with those intercalated with the lithologically similar sediments of the Llandeilian–Caradocian Boucher Brook Formation in the northern Miramichi Highlands. The melange and the present structural amalgamation of the Tetagouche and Fournier groups result from closure of the marginal basin by northward-directed subduction at the end of the Ordovician. Most mafic suites in the Elmtree and Belledune inliers can be chemically correlated with similar suites in the northern Miramichi Highlands, showing that the two areas are not separated by a terrane boundary.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1329-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Woodsworth ◽  
M. J. Orchard

Six lithologic units, including two newly named formations, were mapped on Randall, Dunira, and nearby islands. The islands are characterized by greenschist-facies metamorphism and westerly directed thrusting. The oldest unit is a Late Mississippian, massive limestone on Ducie Island. The Dunira Formation, composed of thin-bedded limestone and siltstone, is Early and Middle Pennsylvanian in age. It is unconformably overlain by limestone and dolomite of the Upper Triassic Randall Formation. The Randall Formation grades upwards into a green phyllitic unit of Late Triassic(?) age. Rhyolitic and more mafic volcanic rocks may represent a bimodal volcanic suite of Early Jurassic age, based on a U–Pb date of 188 Ma on zircons. These five units correlate with rocks in the Alexander Terrane in southeastern Alaska. The sixth and presumed youngest unit consists of flysch-like sedimentary rocks of probable Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age that may correlate with rocks of the Gravina–Nutzotin belt. The three older units yielded 15 conodont genera from 29 localities. The 13 Paleozoic genera are described and illustrated.


1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. S. Whitehead ◽  
W. D. Goodfellow

The volcanic rocks of the Tetagouche Group are predominantly dacitic to rhyolitic pyroclastics and lavas; mafic alkaline and tholeiitic volcanic rocks are less abundant. Lavas representing the intermediate range (such as andesites) are uncommon.As a consequence of intense Na2O and K2O metasomatism, the mafic volcanic rocks have been classified on the basis of relatively immobile elements such as Ti, Y, Zr, Nb, Ni and Cr.By reference to volcanic suites described elsewhere for varying geologic and tectonic environments, the Tetagouche Group appears to represent two geologic environments. It is proposed that the deposition of tholeiitic and alkaline basalts accompanied the rifting associated with the opening of the Proto-Atlantic, which began during Hadrynian times. However the calc-alkaline felsic volcanic rocks were deposited on the top of the basaltic sequence along a mature island arc system that developed with the closing of the Proto-Atlantic during Middle Ordovician time.


1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. McCutcheon

In the Long Reach area of southern New Brunswick, a new stratigraphic succession has been delineated; it consists of Precambrian (?) volcanic rocks, Cambrian sedimentary, volcanic and hypabyssal rocks, Silurian sedimentary rocks, and Devonian plus Precambrian (?) heterogeneous, granitoid rocks. The northern boundary of this succession is postulated to be a northwestward-directed thrust fault of Acadian age. Other Acadian thrust faults are interpreted in the area and major reverse movement of the same age occurred along the Belleisle Fault.Mafic and felsic volcanic rocks that were previously thought to be either Precambrian or Silurian are demonstrably part of the Lower Cambrian section. Some of the granitoid rocks intrude Silurian strata and therefore cannot be basement to the Cambrian succession. Other granitoid rocks appear to be older and may be Precambrian in age.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 1389-1400 ◽  
Author(s):  
E H Brown ◽  
T J Lapen ◽  
R Mark Leckie ◽  
Isabella Premoli Silva ◽  
Davide Verga ◽  
...  

New ages of rocks in the San Juan Islands, northwest Washington, significantly change our understanding of the evolution of the San Juan Islands thrust system. Re-examination of foraminifera-bearing mudstones at Richardson on Lopez Island indicates a late Aptian (112–115 Ma), not late Albian (100 Ma) age as currently presented in the literature. The age brackets of thrusting, marked by these pre-thrusting mudstones and 84-Ma post-thrusting sedimentary rocks, span a much longer period than previously thought, diminishing controls on rates of displacement in the thrust system and the timing of regional deformation in western Washington. New 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of phengite in blueschist-facies meta-volcanic rock, also at Richardson, are 124 ± 0.7 Ma (2σ, late Barremian). These blueschist-facies volcanic rocks are in fault contact with the fossiliferous mudstones. Therefore, the blueschist-facies metamorphism at Richardson, previously inferred to be associated with the thrusting, now appears to have occurred prior to thrusting. Further, the Ar ages demonstrate that blueschist-facies fabric formed earlier than the thrust event and is therefore not directly useful in analyzing the thrusting kinematics. The Richardson 40Ar/39Ar age is similar to isotopic ages found in the eastern San Juan Islands and in the Shuksan blueschist terrane in the northwest Cascades, and thus fits into an emerging regional age pattern of blueschist-facies metamorphism during Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous (up to Barremian) but not late Albian – Cenomanian. If this pattern is more broadly confirmed for the San Juan Islands, all the blueschist-facies metamorphism can be regarded as having formed in subduction zones elsewhere along the continental margin rather than in the anomalous setting of an on-land thrust system, as in the San Juan Islands.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Jia-Hao Jing ◽  
Hao Yang ◽  
Wen-Chun Ge ◽  
Yu Dong ◽  
Zheng Ji ◽  
...  

Abstract Late Mesozoic igneous rocks are important for deciphering the Mesozoic tectonic setting of NE China. In this paper, we present whole-rock geochemical data, zircon U–Pb ages and Lu–Hf isotope data for Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks from the Tulihe area of the northern Great Xing’an Range (GXR), with the aim of evaluating the petrogenesis and genetic relationships of these rocks, inferring crust–mantle interactions and better constraining extension-related geodynamic processes in the GXR. Zircon U–Pb ages indicate that the rhyolites and trachytic volcanic rocks formed during late Early Cretaceous time (c. 130–126 Ma). Geochemically, the highly fractionated I-type rhyolites exhibit high-K calc-alkaline, metaluminous to weakly peraluminous characteristics. They are enriched in light rare earth elements (LREEs) and large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs) but depleted in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs), with their magmatic zircons ϵHf(t) values ranging from +4.1 to +9.0. These features suggest that the rhyolites were derived from the partial melting of a dominantly juvenile, K-rich basaltic lower crust. The trachytic volcanic rocks are high-K calc-alkaline series and exhibit metaluminous characteristics. They have a wide range of zircon ϵHf(t) values (−17.8 to +12.9), indicating that these trachytic volcanic rocks originated from a dominantly lithospheric-mantle source with the involvement of asthenospheric mantle materials, and subsequently underwent extensive assimilation and fractional crystallization processes. Combining our results and the spatiotemporal migration of the late Early Cretaceous magmatic events, we propose that intense Early Cretaceous crust–mantle interaction took place within the northern GXR, and possibly the whole of NE China, and that it was related to the upwelling of asthenospheric mantle induced by rollback of the Palaeo-Pacific flat-subducting slab.


1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 881-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Greenough ◽  
S. R. McCutcheon ◽  
V. S. Papezik

Lower to Middle Cambrian volcanic rocks occur within the Avalon Zone of southern New Brunswick at Beaver Harbour and in the Long Reach area. The Beaver Harbour rocks are intensely altered, but the major- and trace-element geochemistry indicates that they could be highly evolved (basaltic andesites) within-plate basalts. The mafic flows from the Long Reach area form two chemically and petrologically distinct groups: (1) basalts with feldspar phenocrysts that represent evolved continental tholeiites with some oceanic characteristics; and (2) a group of aphyric basalts showing extremely primitive continental tholeiite compositions, also with oceanic affinities and resembling some rift-related Jurassic basalts on the eastern seaboard. Felsic pyroclastic rocks in the Long Reach area make the suite bimodal. This distribution of rock types supports conclusions from the mafic rocks that the area experienced tension throughout the Early to Middle Cambrian.


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