Tectonic significance of the Carboniferous Big Pond Basin, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2000-2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwight C. Bradley ◽  
Lauren M. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Pull Apart Basin ◽  
Tectonic Significance ◽  
Basin Margin ◽  
Faulted Basin

Detailed mapping in southeastern Cape Breton Island has revealed a strike-slip origin for the small Carboniferous outlier at Big Pond. Topographically low Carboniferous sedimentary rocks occur between splays of a previously unrecognized, northeast-trending set of high-angle faults, the Big Pond fault system. The section is dominated by fanglomerates, which coarsen toward the faulted basin margins and which were deposited and (or) reworked by currents flowing toward the basin's center and along its axis. We interpret the fanglomerates as syntectonic. Interbedded limestones of Visean age (Windsor B Subzone) provide age control for the upper part of the 300 m section and, by inference, for at least some of the fault motion. Dextral motion on the Big Pond fault system is indicated by (1) slickenside stepping directions on minor faults, which juxtapose basement against basement and which parallel the main northeast-striking fault; (2) northeast-striking mesoscale faults within the basin, which produce dextral offsets; and (3) shear and extension fractures in fanglomerate clasts along the northeast-striking basin margin faults, which reveal dextral and down-to-basin motion. The location of the basin at a right step in the through-going dextral fault system implies that it is a pull-apart basin. We suggest that during Visean times, southern Cape Breton Island was cut by several such dextral wrench faults and associated sedimentary basins and that the tectonic climate was similar to that recognized by previous workers in Newfoundland and New Brunswick. No evidence was found in support of the paleomagnetically based hypothesis for sinistral strike slip during this time.

scholarly journals Pull-apart basin tectonic model is structurally impossible for Kashmir basin, NW Himalaya

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Strike Slip ◽  
Strike Slip Fault ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Nw Himalaya ◽  
Tectonic Model ◽  
Pull Apart Basin ◽  
Piggyback Basin ◽  
Kashmir Basin ◽  
Dextral Strike Slip Fault ◽  
Dextral Strike Slip

Abstract. Kashmir Basin in NW Himalaya is considered a Neogene-Quatermary piggyback basin that was formed as result of the continent-continent collision of Indian and Eurasian plates. This model however is recently challenged by a pull-apart basin model, which argues that a major dextral strike-slip fault through Kashmir basin is responsible for its formation. And here it is demonstrated that the new tectonic model is structurally problematic, and conflicts with the geomorphology, geology, and tectonic setting of Kashmir basin. It also conflicts, and contradicts with the various structural features associated with a typical dextral strike-slip fault system where it shows that such a major structure cannot pass through the middle of the basin. It is demonstrated that such a structure is structurally, and kinematically impossible, and could not exist.

Geology and tectonic development of the Bras d'Or suspect terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 1371-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Raeside ◽  
Sandra M. Barr
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Early Cambrian ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
Southeastern Part ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Late Proterozoic ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Tectonic Development ◽  
Eastern Highlands

The Bras d'Or Terrane is defined in Cape Breton Island and consists of four distinctive components, (i) Low-pressure, regionally metamorphosed aluminous and calcareous gneiss of the Proterozoic Bras d'Or metamorphic suite is restricted to the southeastern part of the terrane. (ii) Late Proterozoic clastic-volcanic-carbonate units (Blues Brook, Malagawatch, McMillan Flowage, and Benacadie Brook formations, and Barachois River and Bateman Brook metamorphic suites) occur throughout the terrane and are generally at low metamorphic grades, although sillimanite grade has locally been achieved, (iii) A suite of 555–565 Ma calc-alkalic dioritic to granitic plutons was emplaced at pressures ranging from about 900 to less than 100 MPa. (iv) Early Ordovician granitic plutonism and Ordovician 40Ar/39Ar ages record regional heating.The Bras d'Or Terrane docked with the Mira Terrane to the southeast no earlier than the Ordovician. Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary rocks of the Mira Terrane appear locally to be thrust over the Bras d'Or Terrane. Mississippian sedimentary rocks overlap both terranes. The present boundary, the Macintosh Brook Fault, is mainly a Carboniferous feature. Docking with the Aspy Terrane to the northwest occurred along the Eastern Highlands shear zone and is constrained by a 375 Ma stitching pluton, the Black Brook Granitic Suite. Docking may have been initiated as early as 415 Ma, as indicated by reset 40Ar/39Ar ages near the boundary. The three Proterozoic components of the Bras d'Or Terrane have been recognized in the Brookville Terrane of southern New Brunswick, and Late Proterozoic gneiss, Late Proterozoic – early Cambrian calc-alkalic plutons and Ordovician granitic plutons have been reported in parts of the Hermitage Flexure of southern Newfoundland. The Bras d'Or Terrane may therefore be a regionally significant component of the northern Appalachian Orogen.

A note on post-Mississippian thrust faulting in northwestern Cape Breton Island

1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 2937-2941 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Crystalline Rocks ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Thrust Faulting ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Clastic Sedimentary

Thrust faulting, apparently of major proportions, has been observed at five localities in northwestern Cape Breton Island and inferred at several more. The thrust blocks of Precambrian crystalline rocks and Horton Group clastic sedimentary rocks have over-ridden Windsor Group (Viséan–Namurian) rocks but not Riversdale Group rocks (Westphalian). Thrusting can be explained by sliding of material from an elongate horst extending from northern Cape Breton Island to southwestern Newfoundland which rose throughout Tournaisian and Viséan time.

scholarly journals Structural modeling and evolution of the piedmont zone in north margin of Qaidam Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 2649-2666
Author(s):  
Li Zongxing ◽  
Wang Dahua ◽  
Wang Xianchao ◽  
Xiao Yongjun ◽  
Peng Bo
Keyword(s):  
Qaidam Basin ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Structural Modeling ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Structural Deformation ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Thrust Faults ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Thrust System ◽  
Basin Margin

The analysis and interpretation of the Dachaidan area, Qaidam Basin, is difficult, owing to the co-location of two groups of thrust faults (N–E faults and N–W faults) there and the area’s complicated structural deformation history. To address this problem, field geological investigation, seismic study, well logging, and drilling data were used to identify the key fault systems and their distribution patterns through the area. By integrating surface and subsurface structural features and seismic and non-seismic data, we carried out studies using structural modeling and analysis of the Dachaidan area. Study results identified two systems of thrust faults (N–W faults and W–E faults). We found that these faults could be categorized into three systems: a basin-margin thrust system, an intro-basin thrust system, and an intro-basin compression and strike-slip fault system. These systems showed different features in different areas and zones. We also constructed interpretation models of different deformation mechanisms in the basin and on basin margins. Three tectonic systems (compression, extension, and strike-slip) were identified, which were further divided into eight structural domains. We also established structure coexistence and distribution patterns. The overall structural character of the area was summarized as the northern and southern parts belonging to different zones, with the western and eastern parts belonging to different systems. By analyzing the SW–NE tectonic evolution sections, we defined the back-propagation structural evolution sequences of thrust nappes (on the basin margin or in the basin) and back-thrust structures (in the basin) as well as their influence on the residual Mesozoic strata.

Altering Avalonia: oxygen isotopes and terrane distinction in the Appalachian peri-Gondwanan realmLaboratory for Stable Isotope Science (LSIS), The University of Western Ontario, Contribution 236.

2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 815-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Potter ◽  
Frederick J. Longstaffe ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Margaret D. Thompson ◽  
Chris E. White
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Igneous Rocks ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Fluid Infiltration ◽  
Geochemical Fingerprint ◽  
Appalachian Orogen ◽  
Late Neoproterozoic ◽  
The University

Distinct 18O depletion is characteristic of a large majority of the 620–550 Ma felsic igneous rocks of Avalonia in the northern Appalachian orogen. Neoproterozoic rocks in the Boston Avalon terrane have the lowest δ18OWR values (≥–3.1‰), followed by the Mira terrane in Cape Breton Island and the Caledonia terrane in New Brunswick (≥–1.2‰), the Avalon terrane in Newfoundland (≥+2.8‰), and the Antigonish Highlands in Nova Scotia (≥+5.3‰). In contrast, this depletion of 18O is observed in very few of the Paleozoic felsic igneous rocks from these Avalonian terranes, and also in very few of the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic felsic igneous rocks from the inboard Ganderian terranes. The low-18O character of the Neoproterozoic igneous rocks is related to regional pervasive, post-magmatic alteration by predominantly meteoric-hydrothermal fluids (δ18OH2O ∼–6‰ to –4‰) at 200–450 °C. The alteration likely occurred during late Neoproterozoic transtensional extension of Avalonia. Large-scale fluid infiltration and circulation within the Avalonian crust accompanied this extension with development of pull-apart sedimentary basins and extension-related magmatism that were the prelude to Cambrian submergence of Avalonia. This regional 18O depletion provides a geochemical fingerprint by which Avalonia can be distinguished from other peri-Gondwanan terranes. These data suggest that Avalonia existed as a composite terrane on the Gondwanan margin in the Neoproterozoic, separate from Ganderia.

Ore genesis at La Colorada Ag-Zn-Pb deposit in Zacatecas, Mexico

2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 923-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. I. Chutas ◽  
R. O. Sack
Keyword(s):  
Solid Solution ◽  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Ore Genesis ◽  
Fluid Inclusion Data ◽  
Native Silver

AbstractLa Colorada, in Zacatecas State, Mexico is an epithermal Ag-Zn-Pb system hosted in Mesozoic calcareous sedimentary rocks overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks. The dominant vein is associated with a fault system that accommodates Tertiary normal and strike-slip faulting. The ore consists of fahlore [(Cu,Ag)10(Zn,Fe)2(Sb,As)4S13], polybasite [(Ag,Cu)16Sb2S11]–pearceite [(Ag,Cu)16As2S11] solid solution, pyrargyrite [Ag3SbS3]–proustite [Ag3AsS3] solid solution, acanthite-argentite [Ag2S], and native silver; associated sulphides include galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and pyrite. The Ag:Sb of the bulk concentrate from the mine is 1.076 and the Ag:Pb is 0.088. Compositions of the assemblages fahlore + pyrargyrite-proustite + sphalerite, and fahlore + polybasite-pearceite solid solution + (Ag,Cu)2S solid solution + sphalerite encapsulated in quartz and sphalerite indicate a primary depositional temperature of ∼325°C for a depth between 725 and 960 m below the inferred palaeosurface, which is in accord with fluid-inclusion data for higher elevations in the mine.

Eocene sedimentation and volcanism in the Fig Lake Graben, southwestern British Columbia

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1368-1373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek J. Thorkelson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Normal Faulting ◽  
Pull Apart Basin ◽  
Fault Block

The Fig Lake Graben is a narrow, complex Eocene basin that developed along part of the Coldwater fault system in southwestern British Columbia. Its origin as a pull-apart basin is probably related to dextral wrench faulting along the Fraser Fault and low-angle normal faulting of the Okanagan shear zone. Within the graben are Kamloops Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks, the thickness of which implies that one fault block has been downthrown at least 4.5 km. Geochemical interpretation of previously published analyses of Kamloops Group volcanic rocks indicates that magma production was genetically related to both extension and subduction.

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