Nd isotopic compositions of felsic igneous rocks in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Ernst Hegner

Nd isotopic data from 18 felsic plutonic and volcanic units in Cape Breton Island show variations consistent with other geological and geophysical evidence for at least three distinct terranes. A ca. 1.2 Ga syenite considered to be part of Grenvilleage basement exposed in the northwestern part of the island yields an initial εNd value of +0.4 and a depleted-mantle model age (TDM) of 1.66 Ga, suggesting substantial involvement of older (Archean or Early Proterozoic) crust in its petrogenesis. A TDM of 1.38 Ga indicated by Nd isotopic data for a Devonian granite spatially associated with the syenite is also consistent with the presence of older crust in that part of Cape Breton Island. In contrast, Silurian rhyolite and Devonian granites from the Aspy terrane have TDM ranging from 0.7 to 1.1 Ga and initial εNd between +2.8 and −1.2, and overlap in isotopic characteristics with late Precambrian and Early Ordovician plutons in the Bras d'Or terrane that yield TDM of 0.9–1.1 Ga and initial εNd of +1.4 to −1.8. The relatively small variation in εNd and TDM in these terranes suggests that old crust like that under the Blair River Complex may not be present. Granitic plutons and rhyolite in the Mira terrane of southeastern Cape Breton Island have a range in TDM (0.8–1.2 Ga) similar to that of the Aspy and Bras d'Or terranes, but initial εNd values ranging from +0.8 to +5.0 indicate more juvenile crust. This juvenile crust also appears to be present under southern New Brunswick and eastern Newfoundland and may be characteristic of the Avalon terrane.

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 1039-1052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott D Samson ◽  
Sandra M Barr ◽  
Chris E White

Nd isotopic data are presented for rock units in four terranes within the traditional Avalon Zone of southern New Brunswick. Initial εNd values for igneous rocks within the Caledonia terrane range from -1.6 to +4.6, whereas values for sedimentary rocks range from -8.4 to +3.6. A granite within the Kingston terrane has εNd(438 Ma) = +4.0. Nd isotopic compositions for the Kingston and Caledonia terranes are similar to those of the Mira terrane in Cape Breton Island, the Antigonish Highlands of Nova Scotia, and plutonic rocks of eastern Newfoundland. Each of these regions may be a dismembered part of a single terrane, the Avalon terrane sensu stricto. Initial εNd values for rocks from the Brookville terrane range from -1.3 to +2.8. The Coverdale anorthosite within the Brookville terrane has a present day εNd value of -12.1 and a depleted mantle model age of 1.3 Ga, similar to Mesoproterozoic anorthosites in Laurentia. Clastic sedimentary rocks in the Green Head Group have εNd(750 Ma) values of -2.0 and -10.9. Viewed as a whole, the Brookville terrane is isotopically more evolved than the Caledonia terrane. Initial εNd values for rocks in the New River terrane range from -2.9 to 0.0. The Nd isotopic composition of the Brookville and New River terranes are thus similar to one another and have isotopic character similar to that of the Bras d'Or terrane of Cape Breton Island. It is suggested that all three regions belong to a single terrane (Bras d'Oria).


2014 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Catling ◽  
Donald F. McAlpine ◽  
Christopher I. G. Adam ◽  
Gilles Belliveau ◽  
Denis Doucet ◽  
...  

Chortophaga viridifasciata, Forficula auricularia, Melanoplus stonei, Scudderia furcata furcata, Scudderia pistillata, and Trimerotropis verruculata from Prince Edward Island and Doru taeniatum, Melanoplus punctulatus, Orchelimum gladiator, and Spharagemon bolli from New Brunswick are new provincial records. Other records of interest include the endemic Melanoplus madeleineae from Île d’Entrée in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec; Trimerotropis verruculata from the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec; and Chortophaga viridifasciata, Stethophyma lineatum, and Tetrix subulata, new for Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The ranges of Conocephalus brevipennis, Tetrix arenosa angusta, Tetrix ornata, and Tetrix subulata are significantly extended in New Brunswick. A previously unpublished record from 2003 of Roeseliana roeselii (Metrioptera roeselii) is the earliest report of this European introduction to the Maritimes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 325-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuejun Wang ◽  
Yuzhi Zhang ◽  
Xin Qian ◽  
Vongpaseuth Senebouttalath ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to verify the early Paleozoic accretionary assemblage in the Indochina interior and constrain the Prototethyan tectonic evolution in Southeast Asia, this study presents a set of new U-Pb geochronological, elemental, and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf-O isotopic data for the fifty-two representative granitoids in South Laos. The granitoids from the Kontum terrane, Tam Ky-Phuoc Son tectonic zone, and southern Truong Son igneous zone in South Laos yield the crystallization ages of 464–485 Ma, 455–471 Ma, and 427–446 Ma, respectively, with a northerly younging trend within the Indochina interior. They are mainly monzogranite with A/CNK = 0.96–1.99 and K2O > Na2O, which are marked by enrichment in large-ion lithophile elements and depletion in high field strength elements with remarkable Nb-Ta, Sr-P, and Ti negative anomalies. Their initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios range from 0.70510 to 0.71559, εNd(t) from −9.5 to −3.0, (206Pb/204Pb)i from 18.65 to 19.72, (207Pb/204Pb)i from 15.66 to 15.80, and (208Pb/ 204Pb)i from 38.84 to 39.79. The corresponding zircon ɛHf(t) and δ18O values are in the range of −10.6 to +1.0 and 6.88‰ to 8.94‰, respectively. In addition, their Sr-Nd-Pb and Hf-O isotopic compositions are generally similar with those of time-equivalent granitoids in South Tibet and SW Yunnan, China, and synchronous mafic-intermediate igneous rocks in South Laos, but distinctive from those of the supracrustal sedimentary-derived South China Paleozoic granite and Lincang-Sukhothai S-type granite. The early Paleozoic granitoids in South Laos might have originated from a mixed source of the wedge-derived juvenile crust coupled with supracrustal materials. All these data synthetically suggest the southward subduction of the Tam Ky-Phuoc Son Ocean and the northerly on-growing Ordo-Silurian accretionary orogenesis within the previously defined “single-ancient” Indochina block. The assemblage of the Indochina block might initiate at ca. 430 Ma in the Silurian and terminate in the Early-Middle Devonian.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Reynolds ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Chris E. White

We report single-grain ages for detrital muscovite separated from sandstone samples from five localities in southern New Brunswick and southeastern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and from two quartzite clasts from a quartzite-pebble conglomerate that underlies the sampled sandstone units in New Brunswick. The oldest detrital grains were found in one of the quartzite clasts; their age range, ca. 650−630 Ma, is defined not only by the single-grain analyses but also by spot dating (using a UV laser) within a single large grain, suggesting that these grains came from a single source. The second quartzite clast has a blastomylonitic fabric with muscovite “fish,” and most of the muscovite ages have been partially reset (at ca. 550 Ma) from the original ca. 650–630 Ma ages. The age distribution plots obtained for the sandstone samples suggest the presence of muscovite that still retains the original source age, but most of the grains have been partially reset by the same ca. 550 Ma event that reset muscovite ages in the second quartzite clast. We suggest that the quartzite source that produced the two clasts was also the source of muscovite in the Avalonian Cambrian rocks of Maritime Canada. The original source rock was likely a metamorphic or perhaps granitic rock unit situated relatively proximal to the site of deposition of the quartzite protolith, but the actual source is not known, and locally, no potential candidates are exposed. The resetting event at ca. 550 Ma may be linked to initial stages of regional transtension associated with rifting of Avalonia from Gondwana.


1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Dallmeyer ◽  
J. D. Keppie ◽  
R. D. Nance

Detrital muscovite from lowermost Cambrian sequences exposed in the Avalon Composite Terrane in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick record 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of ca. 625–600 Ma. These are interpreted to date times of cooling in source areas. The regional distribution of coarse-grained detrital muscovite in Lower Cambrian rocks of Avalonian overstep sequences suggests a source region of dimensions considerably larger than any presently exposed in Appalachian segments of the Avalon Composite Terrane. Late Proterozoic tectonic reconstructions locate the Avalon Composite Terrane adjacent to northwestern South America, thereby suggesting a possible source within Late Proterozoic PanAfrican – Brasiliano orogens. Detrital muscovite from clastic sequences of the proximally derived, Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) Horton Group and the more distal Upper Carboniferous (Westphalian D – Stephanian) Pictou Group in Nova Scotia records 40Ar/39Ar spectra that define plateau ages of ca. 390–380 Ma (Horton Group) and and ca. 370 Ma (Pictou Group). Finer grained fractions from samples of the Horton Group display more internally discordant age spectra defining total-gas ages of ca. 397–395 Ma. A provenance for the finer muscovite may be found in southern Nova Scotia where Cambrian–Ordovician turbidites of the Meguma Group display a regionally developed micaceous cleavage of this age. The ca. 390–380 Ma detrital muscovites probably were derived from granite stocks presently exposed in proximal areas of northernmost Cape Breton Island. A more distal source for the ca. 370 Ma detrital muscovites in the Pictou Group is suggested by its original extensive distribution, although a local, possibly recycled, source may also have been present. The presence of only 400–370 Ma detrital muscovite suggests a rapidly exhumed orogenic source with characteristics similar to those of crystalline rocks presently exposed in the Cape Breton Highlands and (or) the Meguma Terrane.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 2422-2435 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Currie

Two contrasting metamorphic terranes can be recognized in northwestern Cape Breton Island. One terrane (Pleasant Bay complex) consists of biotite gneiss and quartzite with minor calc-silicate lenses that were metamorphosed in Late Precambrian time (about 550 Ma) and were subsequently intruded by Silurian salic and mafic plutons that were, in turn, deformed and intruded by granite in Devonian time. The other terrane (Jumping Brook complex) consists of volcanogenic and sedimentary schists of probable Silurian age that were metamorphosed in Devonian time. P–T estimates indicate that the older parts of the Pleasant Bay complex were metamorphosed at about 790 °C and 7 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa) at low to moderate water fugacities during a major intrusive episode. The Jumping Brook complex exhibits a single progressive metamorphic sequence now disrupted by faulting. P–T conditions during this Devonian (370–390 Ma) metamorphism varied from greenschist (300 °C at <3 kbar) to amphibolite (650 °C at 4 kbar) facies. Metamorphism probably occurred in a thermal dome. The data suggest a moderately deformed basement–cover relation between the Pleasant Bay and Jumping Brook complexes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Jetté ◽  
Robert J. Mott

ABSTRACT Environmental conditions (vegetation and climate) of Maritime Canada are reconstructed as a regional contribution to a national synthesis on the paleoenvironment of Canada 6000 yr BP. Ten new sites, including three complete sequences and seven short sequences bracketing the 6 ka period, are added to the existing pollen dataset for this region. The vegetation prevalent 6000 yr BP in New Brunswick was a mixed coniferous-deciduous forest with pine, mostly white pine (Pinus strobus) in the northwest, and a mixed coniferous-deciduous forest with hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in the south and southeast. In the northwest, fir (Abies) replaced pine at high elevations and a boreal forest grew on the New Brunswick Highlands. The dominant vegetation at 6000 yr BP in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia was a mixed coniferous-deciduous forest with hemlock dominating. Cape Breton Island was covered by a mixed coniferous-deciduous forest with pine and/or fir, except for the southern part of the Island where hemlock was probably present. Analysis of the fossil sites indicate that a warm-dry period influenced the composition of the vegetation 6000 yr BP.


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