scholarly journals A Paleomagnetic Analysis of the Tangier Dyke in Meguma Terrane of Nova Scotia

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
E I Tanczyk
Keyword(s):  
1997 ◽  
Vol 109 (10) ◽  
pp. 1279-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Benn ◽  
Richard J. Horne ◽  
Daniel J. Kontak ◽  
Geoffrey S. Pignotta ◽  
Neil G. Evans

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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 152 (5) ◽  
pp. 767-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARNE P. WILLNER ◽  
SANDRA M. BARR ◽  
JOHANNES GLODNY ◽  
HANS-JOACHIM MASSONNE ◽  
MASAFUMI SUDO ◽  
...  

Abstract40Ar/39Ar in situ UV laser ablation of white mica, Rb–Sr mineral isochrons and zircon fission track dating were applied to determine ages of very low- to low-grade metamorphic processes at 3.5±0.4 kbar, 280±30°C in the Avalonian Mira terrane of SE Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia). The Mira terrane comprises Neoproterozoic volcanic-arc rocks overlain by Cambrian sedimentary rocks. Crystallization of metamorphic white mica was dated in six metavolcanic samples by 40Ar/39Ar spot age peaks between 396±3 and 363±14 Ma. Rb–Sr systematics of minerals and mineral aggregates yielded two isochrons at 389±7 Ma and 365±8 Ma, corroborating equilibrium conditions during very low- to low-grade metamorphism. The dated white mica is oriented parallel to foliations produced by sinistral strike-slip faulting and/or folding related to the Middle–Late Devonian transpressive assembly of Avalonian terranes during convergence and emplacement of the neighbouring Meguma terrane. Exhumation occurred earlier in the NW Mira terrane than in the SE. Transpression was related to the closure of the Rheic Ocean between Gondwana and Laurussia by NW-directed convergence. The 40Ar/39Ar spot age spectra also display relict age peaks at 477–465 Ma, 439 Ma and 420–428 Ma attributed to deformation and fluid access, possibly related to the collision of Avalonia with composite Laurentia or to earlier Ordovician–Silurian rifting. Fission track ages of zircon from Mira terrane samples range between 242±18 and 225±21 Ma and reflect late Palaeozoic reburial and reheating close to previous peak metamorphic temperatures under fluid-absent conditions during rifting prior to opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Pe-Piper ◽  
Bosko D. Loncarevic

Eight short drill cores have been examined from the continental shelf southwest of Nova Scotia. Four cores recovered granitoid rocks of two types. Ilmenite-bearing granitoid rocks petrographically and geochemically resemble granodiorites of the South Mountain Batholith and granites of the Seal Island Pluton. Magnetite-bearing granitoid rocks are also peraluminous but have no exact analogues onshore in Nova Scotia. Two cores recovered metamorphic rocks in a small area 50 km south of Seal Island. One consits of chlorite–muscovite–quartz schist, geochemically similar to rocks of the Halifax Formation. The second sampled epidote–chlorite–quartz schist similar to metavolcanic rocks of the White Rock Formation. One further core sampled quartzite, and another sampled a metavolcanic rock (possibly erratic).The regional extent of these lithotypes can be inferred from gravity and aeromagnetic data. Regional gravity data suggest the presence of a large granite body off southwestern Nova Scotia. In this area, magnetic anomalies are irregular, apparently reflecting the presence of magnetite-bearing granites. The layer-stripping method of analyzing the magnetic field shows that the area is underlain at depth by high magnetic anomalies. Large near-surface linear magnetic anomalies are used to map the extent of the volcanic rocks of the White Rock Formation. The area is cut by several northwest-trending faults that postdate Acadian folding but predate the earliest Jurassic magmatism of the Shelburne Dyke and North Mountain basalt. The unusual magnetic signature of the area off southwestern Nova Scotia may reflect a different basement; it is possible that Meguma rocks are thrust over the Avalon Terrane. Alternatively, it may be solely the result of magnetite-bearing granites. These granites may be related to a Permian thermal event in southwest Nova Scotia, and they have some petrographic similarity to young granites of the Piedmont Zone of South Carolina.


2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 781-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.H. Reynolds ◽  
C.E. White ◽  
S.M. Barr ◽  
C.M. Muir

Single-grain 40Ar/39Ar ages are reported for detrital white mica, along with conventional step-heating data for whole rocks, from low-grade metasandstone samples from the Goldenville, Halifax, and Rockville Notch groups in the Meguma terrane of southern Nova Scotia. The majority (166) of single grains from 11 samples yielded ages between ca. 615 and 350 Ma, and the remaining 12 grains yielded ages between ca. 1900 and 870 Ma. The late Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic age distributions are consistent with derivation of sediments from the rapidly uplifted flanks of an active rift, where partial to complete resetting of white mica ages occurred at ca. 520–500 Ma, preceding sediment deposition. The ca. 615 Ma ages may be relics of the original detrital white mica that existed in the source rocks prior to the rifting event. Ages from the Upper Silurian White Rock Formation appear to reflect this same ca. 520–500 Ma event, suggesting that sediments in the White Rock Formation were recycled from the Goldenville and Halifax groups. The older Precambrian ages are inferred to represent white mica in the source region, likely Amazonia. The whole-rock age spectra are discordant, with pronounced age gradients and no well-defined age plateaus. Initial gas released from five of the samples at low laboratory extraction temperatures (ca. 450–500 °C) yielded ages of ca. 260–300 Ma, not seen in the single-grain data, whereas gas released at the highest extraction temperatures yielded ages in the range ca. 510–530 Ma, possibly reflecting the principal result obtained from the single-grain data.


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