U-Pb ages and tectonomagmatic relationships of early Ordovician low-Ti tholeiites, boninites and related plutonic rocks in central Newfoundland, Canada |
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| Authors: | Kate MacLachlan Greg Dunning |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland A1B 3X5 Canada e-mail: k34km@morgan.ucs.mun.ca, CA |
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| Abstract: | The Wild Bight Group (WBG) and South Lake Igneous Complex (SLIC) together comprise one of the Ordovician accreted oceanic
terranes of the central mobile belt of the Newfoundland Appalachians. Combined detailed mapping, geochemistry, Sm-Nd isotopic
studies and U-Pb geochronology have shown that sheeted dykes and hornblende diorite and tonalite plutons of the SLIC are genetically
related to a discrete package of volcanic rocks in the WBG. These igneous rocks are geochemically, isotopically and temporally
distinct from volcanic rocks in the rest of the WBG. Plutonic rocks of the SLIC range in age from 486 ± 3 Ma to 489 ± 3 Ma,
and a cross-cutting gabbro dyke gives a minimum age of 486 ± 4 Ma for the related volcanic sequence. Volcanic rocks in the
rest of the WBG sequence are predominantly younger than 472 ± 3 Ma. The older volcanic sequence of the WBG and the SLIC occur
as fault-bounded packages interleaved within the younger WBG sequence. A conformable stratigraphic relationship between the
older and younger sequences of the WBG has not been demonstrated. The mafic rocks of the older package include boninites and
low-Ti, high-Mg tholeiitic island arc basalts which are interpreted to be genetically related, and normal island arc tholeiites
(IAT). The high-Mg mafic rocks are interpreted to have formed in an extensional setting during subduction zone initiation,
and the normal IAT are thought to represent stabilisation of the volcanic front. The associated high-Si, low-K rhyolite and
tonalite are interpreted to be the products of secondary melting at the base of thickened early arc crust. Sm-Nd isotopic
compositions indicate that the characteristic trace element signature of the boninites developed at or near their time of
generation and was not a long lived characteristic of the source region. The boninites and low-Ti tholeiites are interpreted
to have originated from a similar source, which was metasomatized by different subduction-related components. Apparent decoupling
of Sm-Nd geochemical and isotopic compositions suggests that these very depleted rocks may be recording the effect of subduction
zone processes not yet fully understood.
Received: 31 October 1997 / Accepted: 6 May 1998 |
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