Search

The Bras d'Or terrane of central Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, contains a well-preserved record of the Ediacaran to early Cambrian evolution of Ganderia, a Gondwana-derived terrane in the northern Appalachian orogen. A complex assemblage of low- to high-grade metasedimentary rocks has varied detrital zircon signatures from laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U-Pb zircon dating, but combining three or more samples yielded representative age spectra that support correlation of the low- and high-grade metasedimentary rocks throughout the Bras d'Or terrane and the corresponding Ganderian Brookville terrane of southern New Brunswick. In quartzite samples from the McMillan Flowage Formation in the northwestern Bras d'Or terrane, the youngest detrital zircons have ages >900 Ma, in contrast to previously studied psammitic and semipelitic samples from correlative units in the eastern Bras d'Or terrane in which youngest detrital ages are 620-600 Ma. Both quartzite and semipelitic samples from the McMillan Flowage Formation contain Neoproterozoic dates from zircon rims, which reflect metamorphic overgrowths during peak metamorphism at ca. 550 Ma, providing a robust age for peak metamorphism in the Bras d'Or terrane that supports similar, albeit sparse, ages reported previously from monazite and titanite samples. This metamorphism is coeval with the emplacement of voluminous dioritic to granitic plutons that occur throughout the Bras d'Or terrane and form in an Andean-type continental margin subduction zone. New U-Pb zircon ages presented here from plutons in the northern Bras d'Or terrane, combined with previously published ages, are consistent with subduction-related magmatism and associated metamorphism between ca. 575 and 540 Ma. Key words: U-Pb geochronology, Appalachian metamorphism, Bras d'Or terrane, Cape Breton Island, McMillan Flowage Formation, detrital zircon, plutonic ages, Introduction The Bras d'Or terrane of central Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Fig. 1), consists of mainly Ediacaran and Cambrian metamorphic and plutonic rocks overlain unconformably by Carboniferous sedimentary rocks [...]

The MacCodrum Formation is a classical 'lower' Cambrian unit in southeastern Cape Breton Island stratigraphy, described since the 1800s. The age of this formation and its correlation with other Avalonian Cambrian units in eastern Newfoundland and southern New Brunswick have remained uncertain through numerous revisions. Here we present U-Pb CA-TIMS ages from an ash bed in the basal part of the MacCodrum Formation in its type-section on MacCodrum Brook that fix the maximum time of deposition at 531.86 [+ or -] 0.34 Ma. Organic-walled microfossils sampled throughout the MacCodrum Formation type-section yield acritarch taxa identifying the Asteridium-Comasphaerdium Zone, whereas the first acritarchs of the Skiagia-Fimbriaglomerella Zone appear in the overlying Canoe Brook Formation in other sections. The radiometric age and acritarch zonation place the MacCodrum Formation in the upper Fortunian, Cambrian Stage 2. Among trace fossils in the MacCodrum Formation, the meandering trace fossil Didymaulichnus dailyi comb. nov. is of particular note and morphologically identical to the type material from the lower part of the Ratcliffe Brook Formation in New Brunswick. The new radiometric and biostratigraphic data presented here provide the first firm constraints on the age of the MacCodrum Formation and enable more precise correlation with sections in southern New Brunswick and eastern Newfoundland. Key words: acritarch, trace fossils, Cambrian, U-Pb zircon, Avalonia, correlation, Introduction Cambrian rocks in southeastern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Fig. 1), have been visited and described by geologists since the 1800s (e.g., Fletcher 1878; Matthew 1903; Hutchinson 1952; Landing [...]

Key words: acritarchs, trace fossils, Cambrian, U-Pb zircon, Avalonia, correlation, We thank Landing and Geyer for their Discussion of our paper, thus drawing further attention to its significance. We do not wish to engage in a detailed 'they say--we say' [...]

The Margaree pluton extends for >40 km along the axis of the Ganderian Aspy terrane of northern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The pluton consists mainly of coarse-grained megacrystic syenogranite, intruded by small bodies of medium-grained equigranular syenogranite and microgranite porphyry, all locally displaying rapakivi texture. The three rock types have similar U-Pb (zircon) ages of 363 [+ or -] 1.6, 364.8 [+ or -] 1.6, and 365.5 [+ or -] 3.3 Ma, respectively, consistent with field and penological evidence that they are coeval and comagmatic. The rare earth elements display parallel trends characterized by enrichment in the light rare earth elements, flat heavy rare earth elements, moderate negative Eu anomalies, and, in some cases, positive Ce anomalies. The megacrystic and rapakivi textures are attributed to thermal perturbation in the magma chamber caused by the mixing of mafic and felsic magma, even though direct evidence of the mafic magma is mainly lacking at the current level of exposure. Magma evolution was controlled by fractionation of quartz, K-feldspar, and Na-rich plagioclase in molar proportions of 0.75:0.12:0.13. The chemical and isotopic (Sm-Nd) signature of the Margaree pluton is consistent with the melting of preexisting continental crust that was enriched in heat-producing elements, likely assisted by intrusion of mantle-derived mafic magma during Late Devonian regional extension. The proposed model involving magma mixing at shallow crustal levels in a cryptic silicic-mafic magma chamber during post-Acadian extension is consistent with models for other, better exposed occurrences of rapakivi granite in the northern Appalachian orogen. Key words: rapakivi, megacrysts, U-Pb zircon, Devonian, crystal fractionation, PER diagrams. Le pluton de Margaree s'etale sur plus de 40 km le long de l'axe du terrane ganderien d'Aspy du nord de l'île du Cap-Breton (Nouvelle-Ecosse). Le pluton est principalement constitue de syenogranite megacristique à grains grossiers, recoupe par de petits corps de syenogranite equigranulaire à grains moyens et de porphyre microgranitique, qui presentent tous une texture rapakivi. Les trois types de roche donnent des âges U-Pb sur zircons semblables de 363 [+ or -] 1,6, 364,8 [+ or -]1,6 et 365,5 [+ or -] 3,3 Ma, respectivement, ce qui concorde avec des observations petrologiques et de terrain indiquant qu'ils sont contemporains et comagmatiques. Les terres rares presentent des spectres paralleles caracterises par un enrichissement des terres rares legeres, des tronçons des terres rares lourdes plats, des anomalies negatives moderees d'Eu et, dans certains cas, des anomalies de Ce positives. Les textures megacristique et rapakivi sont attribuees à une perturbation thermique dans la chambre magmatique causee par le melange de magmas mafique et felsique, bien que des preuves directes de la presence d'un magma mafique soient generalement absentes au niveau d'exposition actuel. L'evolution du magma etait controlee par la cristallisation fractionnee du quartz, du feldspath potassique et du plagioclase riche en Na dans des proportions molaires de 0,75:0,12:0,13. Les signatures chimique et isotopique (Sm-Nd) du pluton de Margaree concordent avec la fusion de croûte continentale preexistante qui etait enrichie en elements thermogenes, vraisemblablement aidee par l'intrusion de magma mafique derive du manteau durant l'extension regionale au Devonien tardif. Le modele propose qui comprend le melange de magmas à des niveaux crustaux peu profonds dans une chambre magmatique siliceuse-mafique cryptique durant l'extension post-acadienne concorde avec les modeles proposes pour d'autres cas mieux exposes de granite rapakivi dans le nord de l'orogene des Appalaches. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: rapakivi, megacristaux, U-Pb sur zircons, Devonien, cristallisation fractionnee, diagramme de Pearce., Introduction Rapakivi granite sensu stricto is characterized by the presence of plagioclase-mantled K-feldspar, independent of K-feldspar morphology or origin (Ramo and Haapala 1995). The debate over the formation of rapakivi [...]