scholarly journals Sedimentology, Provenance and Radiometric Dating of the Silante Formation: Implications for the Cenozoic Evolution of the Western Andes of Ecuador

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 929
Author(s):  
Cristian Vallejo ◽  
Santiago Almagor ◽  
Christian Romero ◽  
Jose L. Herrera ◽  
Vanessa Escobar ◽  
...  

The Silante Formation is a thick series of continental deposits, exposed along a trench-parallel distance of approximately 300 km within the Western Cordillera of Ecuador. The origin, tectonic setting, age and stratigraphic relationships are poorly known, although these are key to understand the Cenozoic evolution of the Ecuadorian Andes. We present new sedimentological, stratigraphic, petrographic, radiometric and provenance data from the Silante Formation and underlying rocks. The detailed stratigraphic analysis shows that the Silante Formation unconformably overlies Paleocene submarine fan deposits of the Pilalo Formation, which was coeval with submarine tholeiitic volcanism. The lithofacies of the Silante Formation suggest that the sediments were deposited in a debris flow dominated alluvial fan. Provenance analysis including heavy mineral assemblages and detrital zircon U-Pb ages indicate that sediments of the Silante Formation were derived from the erosion of a continental, calc-alkaline volcanic arc, pointing to the Oligocene to Miocene San Juan de Lachas volcanic arc. Thermochronological data and regional correlations suggest that deposition of the Silante Formation was coeval with regional rock and surface uplift of the Andean margin that deposited alluvial fans in intermontane and back-arc domains.

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1674-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Les Fyffe ◽  
Sandra M. Barr ◽  
Mary Lou Bevier

The Miramichi Highlands of New Brunswick are underlain by subgreenschist- to greenschist-facies sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Cambro-Ordovician Tetagouche Group and by amphibolite-facies paragneisses, amphibolites, and felsic orthogneisses of the Trousers Lake and Sisson Brook suites. New field, geochemical, and geochronologic data for the amphibolites and felsic orthogneisses suggest that they are high-grade metamorphic equivalents of the Tetagouche volcanic rocks and their associated intrusions.Amphibolites in the Miramichi Highlands occur as striped and unstriped varieties that possess chemical characteristics indicative of an igneous origin. However, the two types are compositionally distinct: the striped amphibolites resemble volcanic-arc tholeiites, whereas the unstriped amphibolites are like within-plate tholeiites. The geochemically inferred tectonic origin of these amphibolites is compatible with a recently proposed intracontinental back-arc tectonic setting for the Tetagouche Group.Felsic orthogneisses (Fox Ridge augen granite and Trousers Lake felsic orthogneiss) exhibit concordant contacts with the unstriped amphibolites. U–Pb zircon ages for the Fox Ridge augen granite [Formula: see text] and Trousers Lake felsic orthogneisses [Formula: see text] indicate a Late Ordovician intrusive event. Thus, there is no evidence for Precambrian granite and orthogneiss in the Miramichi Highlands, as had been previously inferred from a correlation with purported Precambrian rocks in the Gander Zone of Newfoundland. The age of the unstriped amphibolites is interpreted as being the same as that of the felsic orthogneisses because these two rock types always exhibit close relationships in the field. The age of the striped amphibolites is less certain, although a correlation with Ordovician basalts of the Tetagouche Group is consistent with their field relationships and tectonic setting.


Author(s):  
Henrik Rasmussen ◽  
Lars Frimodt Pedersen

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Rasmussen, H., & Frimodt Pedersen, L. (1999). Stratigraphy, structure and geochemistry of Archaean supracrustal rocks from Oqaatsut and Naajaat Qaqqaat, north-east Disko Bugt, West Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 181, 65-78. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v181.5114 _______________ Two Archaean supracrustal sequences in the area north-east of Disko Bugt, c. 1950 and c. 800 m in thickness, are dominated by pelitic and semipelitic mica schists, interlayered with basic metavolcanic rocks. A polymict conglomerate occurs locally at the base of one of the sequences. One of the supracrustal sequences has undergone four phases of deformation; the other three phases. In both sequences an early phase, now represented by isoclinal folds, was followed by north-west-directed thrusting. A penetrative deformation represented by upright to steeply inclined folds is only recognised in one of the sequences. Steep, brittle N–S and NW–SE striking faults transect all rock units including late stage dolerites and lamprophyres. Investigation of major- and trace-element geochemistry based on discrimination diagrams for tectonic setting suggests that both metasediments and metavolcanic rocks were deposited in an environment similar to a modern back-arc setting.


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.


Author(s):  
S. W. Richards ◽  
W. J. Collins

ABSTRACTCombined field and geophysical data show that plutons from the Bega Batholith are elongate, meridional, wedge-shaped bodies which intruded during a period of regional east–west extension in the Palaeozoic eastern Lachlan orogen, eastern Australia. Plutons within the core of the batholith have intruded coeval, syn-rift sediments and co-magmatic volcanics. The batholith is bound by high-temperature, dip-slip faults, and contains several major NE-trending transtensional faults which were active during batholith construction. In the central part of the batholith, the Kameruka pluton is an asymmetric, eastward-thickening, wedge-shaped body with the base exposed as the western contact, which is characterised by abundant, shallow-dipping schlieren migmatites which contain recumbent folds and extensional shear bands. A shallow (<30°), east-dipping, primary magmatic layering in the Kameruka pluton steepens progressively westward, where it becomes conformable to the east-dipping basal migmatites. The systematic steepening of the layering is comparable to sedimentary units formed during floor depression in syn-rift settings. The present authors suggest that the wedge-shaped plutons of the Bega Batholith are the deeper, plutonic expression of a hot, active rift. The batholith was fed and sustained by injection of magma through sub-vertical dykes. Displacement along syn-magmatic, NE-trending faults suggests up to 25 km of arc-perpendicular extension during batholith construction. The inferred tectonic setting for batholith emplacement is a continental back-arc, where modern half-extension rates of 20–40 mm yr−1 are not unusual, and are sufficient to emplace the entire batholith in ∼1 Ma. This structural model provides a mechanism for the emplacement of some wedge-shaped plutons and is one solution to the ‘room problem’ of batholith emplace


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 840-854
Author(s):  
Richard A. Volkert

New geochemical and 40Ar/39Ar hornblende and biotite data from the Grenvillian Trenton Prong inlier provide the first constraints for the identification of lithotectonic units, their tectonic setting, and their metamorphic to post-metamorphic history. Gneissic tonalite, diorite, and gabbro compose the Colonial Lake Suite magmatic arc that developed along eastern Laurentia prior to 1.2 Ga. Spatially associated low- and high-TiO2 amphibolites were formed from island-arc basalt proximal to the arc front and mid-ocean ridge basalt-like basalt in a back-arc setting, respectively. Supracrustal paragneisses include meta-arkose derived from a continental sediment source of Laurentian affinity and metagraywacke and metapelite from an arc-like sediment source deposited in a back-arc basin, inboard of the Colonial Lake arc. The Assunpink Creek Granite was emplaced post-tectonically as small bodies of peraluminous syenogranite produced through partial melting of a subduction-modified felsic crustal source. Prograde mineral assemblages reached granulite- to amphibolite-facies metamorphic conditions during the Ottawan phase of the Grenvillian Orogeny. Hornblende 40Ar/39Ar ages of 935–923 Ma and a biotite age of 868 Ma record slow cooling in the northern part of the inlier following the metamorphic peak. Elsewhere in the inlier, biotite 40Ar/39Ar ages of 440 Ma and 377–341 Ma record partial to complete thermal resetting or new growth during the Taconian and Acadian orogens. The results of this study are consistent with the Trenton Prong being the down-dropped continuation of the Grenvillian New Jersey Highlands on the hanging wall of a major detachment fault. The Trenton Prong therefore correlates to other central and northern Appalachian Grenvillian inliers and to parts of the Grenville Province proper.


Elements ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costas B. Papazachos

The seismotectonic setting of the Aegean Sea, based on information from seismicity, neotectonics and global positioning system studies, is characterized by a sharp transition from a compressional outer arc to a complex back-arc, with an approximate north–south extension along the volcanic arc. Seismicity and 3-D tomography studies reveal the geometry of the subducting slab and image the low-velocity/high-attenuation mantle wedge at depths of 50–80 km beneath the volcanic arc where magma is generated. The 1956 Amorgos M7.5 earthquake and the impact from its seismic shaking and landslide-triggered tsunamis are discussed in the context of the regional seismotectonic setting.


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D’hulst ◽  
Georges Beaudoin ◽  
Michel Malo ◽  
Marc Constantin ◽  
Pierre Pilote

The Lower Devonian Sainte-Marguerite volcanic rocks are part of a Silurian–Devonian volcanic sequence deposited between the Taconian and Acadian orogenies in the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, Canada. The Sainte-Marguerite unit includes basaltic and dacitic lava flows with calc-alkaline and volcanic-arc affinities. Such affinities are also recorded by the trace-element signature in Lower Silurian and most Lower Devonian volcanic units of the Gaspé Peninsula. However, most of the other Silurian–Devonian volcanic rocks occurring in the Gaspé Peninsula have been previously interpreted to have erupted in an intracontinental setting. A back-arc setting for the Gaspé Peninsula between the Taconian and Acadian orogenies could account for these subduction volcanic-arc signatures, though a metasomatized lithospheric mantle magma source, unrelated to subduction, cannot be excluded. Lower Silurian and Lower Devonian volcanic rocks in the central part of the Gaspé Peninsula show an arc affinity, whereas Upper Silurian and Lower to Middle Devonian volcanic rocks, located in the south and north of the Gaspé Peninsula, respectively, show a within-plate affinity. The Lower Devonian Archibald Settlement and Boutet volcanic rocks of the southern and northern Gaspé Peninsula, respectively, show a trend toward a within-plate affinity. This suggests that within-plate volcanism migrated from south to north through time in an evolving back-arc environment and that the subduction signature of Lower Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks results from a source that melted only under the central part of the Gaspé Peninsula.


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