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Mass accumulation rates, tracer element ratios, enrichment factors, excess measures, and centred log-ratios are elemental measures used in paleolimnological studies when more than one source (e.g. pollution and/or erosion) contributes an element of interest to the sediment archive, or when the closure constraint results in spurious correlations between element concentrations. To determine which measures perform best, we created a model to simulate sediment archives with known inputs from multiple sources. We then calculated each measure and evaluated performance based on whether or not the measure preserved the timing and/or magnitude of mass input from a single source (e.g. pollution). We found that mass accumulation rates performed well when there was a low concentration of the target element in the erosional source, tracer element ratios performed well when erosion was constant, and excess measures performed well when erosion was variable. Enrichment factors did not preserve the magnitude of mass input between simulations with different erosional compositions, and tracer element ratios performed poorly when erosion was not constant. We confirmed these results using real elemental geochemistry from two lakes near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the data from which suggested that the composition of the erosional source is likely to change over time. Collectively, our data suggest that although elemental measures are useful interpretive tools, each method has specific numerical and geochemical assumptions that must be evaluated prior to its use. Assumptions of each measure used in a study should be made clear, and concentration profiles should always be made available to the reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amygdaloidal basaltic flows of the Ashfield Formation were encountered in two drill holes in areas of positive aeromagnetic anomalies in the Carboniferous River Denys Basin in southwestern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. One sample of medium-grained basalt yielded a plateau age of 201.8 ± 2.0 Ma, similar to the U-Pb and 40Ar/39Ar crystallization ages from basaltic flows and dykes in the Newark Supergroup. A second sample of zeolite-bearing basalt yielded a discordant age spectrum and a younger age of ca. 190 Ma, which is interpreted to date a widespread hydrothermal event related to zeolite formation. Whole-rock chemical data show that the Ashfield Formation basalt is low-Ti continental tholeiite, consistent with its within-plate tectonic setting. Chemically, it resembles basaltic flows in the Mesozoic Fundy and Grand Manan basins exposed in southern Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick and elsewhere in Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). The age and geochemical data from the Ashfield Formation provide the first evidence for early Mesozoic CAMP volcanism in Cape Breton Island and demonstrate that the event was more widespread in Nova Scotia than previously thought, which has implications for its continuity and extent elsewhere within CAMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Brookville terrane represents ca. 650Ma passive margin of Puncoviscana Ocean. [•] Formed on Proto-Andean-Caribbean edge of Amazonia. [•] Dominated by Meso- and Paleoproterozoic detrital zircon ages. [•] Active margin in Late Neoproterozoic-Cambrian. [•] Separated in mid-Cambrian to become the foundation of Ganderia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Detailed geological mapping of the Goldenville and Halifax groups in metropolitan Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, resulted in two-fold subdivision of both groups. The Goldenville Group was divided into the metasandstone (feldspathic wacke)-dominated Taylors Head formation and the overlying, metasiltstone-dominated, Mn-rich Beaverbank formation. The Halifax Group was divided into the Cunard formation, dominated by sulphide-rich slate, and the overlying Bluestone formation, consisting of mainly metasiltstone and metasandstone. Lithogeochemical and petrological studies resulted in the characterization of the Beaverbank, Cunard, and Bluestone formations as potential acid-producing units with pyrrhotite as the main iron-sulphide mineral. The presence of acid rock drainage (ARD) is governed by bulk-rock chemical composition and mineral assemblage. To test the predictability of ARD production, a portable XRF instrument was used to obtain relatively inexpensive whole-rock and sulphur data that were used in conjunction with conventional XRF analyses and acid-base accounting tests. Results from the three methods compare favourably. Use of the portable XRF instrument facilitates a timely and cost-effective approach to predicting ARD but does not replace the legally mandated acid-base accounting procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Examines the evolution of the Kingston orogenic belt in New Brunswick. Formation of a continental margin volcanic arc; Collision between the Kingston arc and a continental block; Complexity of the central part of the orogen.

New U–Pb zircon, titanite, and monazite ages reported here, along with existing age data, demonstrate that granitoid bodies in the northwestern segment of the Paleoproterozoic Makkovik Province, Labrador, are of three distinct ages. The redefined Island Harbour Bay plutonic suite consists of varied dioritic to granitic units that were syntectonically emplaced into Archean crust of the Kaipokok domain between ca. 1895 Ma and 1870 ± 2 Ma. This plutonism occurred during the early stages of the Makkovikian Orogeny in an obliquely convergent, Andean continental margin setting. The Hares Islands and Drunken Harbour granites form smaller, discrete plutons that were emplaced in or adjacent to the Island Harbour Bay plutonic suite at 1805 ± 5 Ma and 1791 ± 2 Ma, respectively, during dextral strike-slip deformation that accompanied accretion of an outboard juvenile terrane. Magmatic activity during this period was preferentially sited along active structural zones, but also occurred outside of these zones. The undeformed Blacklers Bight A-type granite was emplaced in the Kaipokok domain at 1716 ± 1 Ma, late in the development of the orogen. A-type granites of this age form a significant component of the southeastern Makkovik Province, and their generation is linked to mafic underplating and heterogeneous regional extension. The new age data support the conclusion of earlier workers that crustal growth via synorogenic and postorogenic plutonism was episodic, and allow, along with field and geochemical data, inferences to be made regarding the tectonic setting of individual plutonic events.Les nouveaux âges U–Pb sur du zircon, de la titanite et de la monazite, rapportés ici avec certaines données d'âge déjà existantes, démontrent que des amas granitoïdes dans le segment nord-ouest de la province de Makkovik, du Paléoprotérozoïque, au Labrador, sont de trois âges distincts. La suite plutonique Island Harbour Bay redéfinie comprend des unités dioritiques à granitiques variées qui ont été mises en place syntectoniquement dans la croûte archéenne du domaine Kaipokok il y a environ 1895 à 1870 ± 2 Ma. Ce plutonisme a eu lieu au cours des premiers stages de l'orogénie makkovikienne dans un environnement de marge continentale andin à convergence oblique. Les granites de Hares Islands et de Drunken Harbour forment de plus petits plutons distincts qui ont été mis en place dans la suite plutonique Island Bay Harbour ou adjacents à cette dernière respectivement à 1805 ± 5 Ma et 1791 ± 2 Ma, au cours d'une déformation dextre qui a accompagné l'accrétion d'un terrane juvénile extérieur. L'activité magmatique au cours de cette période était localisée surtout le long de zones structurales actives mais elle a aussi eu lieu en dehors de ces zones. Blacklers Bight, le granite non déformé de type A, a été mis en place dans le domaine de Kaipokok ca. 1716 ± 1 Ma, soit tard dans le développement de l'orogène. Des granites de type A de cet âge sont une composante significative de la province Makkovik du sud-est et leur génération est liée à une remontée de magma mafique sous les plaques et à une extension hétérogène régionale. Les nouvelles données d'âge supportent les conclusions de travailleurs précédents à savoir que la croissance de la croûte par du plutonisme syn- et post orogénique était épisodique et permettaient, avec les données de terrain et géochemiques, de tirer des conclusions sur l'environnement tectonique d'événements plutoniques individuels.[Traduit par la Rédaction] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article critiques the comments made by Landing et al. on their paper, emphasizing that their interpretation of Cambrian strata in the Caledonian Highlands is flawed and lacks scientific support. It also discusses the issues with forced lithostratigraphic frameworks, the inadequate correlation methods used by Landing et al., and the inaccuracies in their data and interpretations regarding the Cambrian geological record.

Fine-grained metasedimentary rocks of the Halifax Group in southern mainland Nova Scotia can be subdivided into mappable units. In Halifax Peninsula, sulphide-rich hornfels, black slate, metasiltstone, and metasandstone of the Cunard Formation are overlain by grey metasedimentary rocks with abundant cross-laminations and local carbonate and calc-silicate concretions, assigned to the Bluestone Quarry Formation. No fossils are known from the Bluestone Quarry Formation but lithological correlatives elsewhere are Tremadocian. The Bluestone Quarry Formation is here divided into four members. The lowest (Point Pleasant member) contains thin parallel-laminated and cross-laminated metasandstone beds with Bouma Tbcde and Tcde structures, and thicker beds with Bouma 'a' divisions. The Black Rock Beach member lacks the thicker massive beds and is dominated by rippled and cross-laminated metasedimentary rocks. The overlying Chain Rock member, an erosion-resistant ridge-forming unit, is disrupted by folds and boudinage. Bedding is truncated at the upper contact, and the internal structures are overprinted by (and therefore predate) the Neoacadian cleavage. They are interpreted as products of synsedimentary mass transport. Scarce folds in the Chain Rock member and current ripples in the underlying unit are consistent with a N or NW transport direction. The overlying Quarry Pond member consists of thinly bedded coherent metasedimentary rocks that generally resemble those of the Black Rock Beach member. Although there are indications of upward shallowing in equivalent successions elsewhere in the Halifax Group, the presence of a major mass transport deposit in the Bluestone Quarry Formation shows that this part of the Halifax Group was deposited on a submarine paleoslope. The failure of geologists to identify this feature in much-visited outcrops testifies to the difficulty of identifying synsedimentary deformation features that have been overprinted by later tectonic deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between low-grade metasedimentary and high-grade paragneissic Precambrian rock units in the Bras d'Or terrane of central Cape Breton Island is a long-standing geological problem. Wholerock geochemical and Nd isotopic data from representative components of these units in the Kellys Mountain area, the Glen Tosh formation and Kellys Mountain Gneiss, show strong similarity. Major and trace element characteristics suggest that protolith sediments for both units were wackes derived from felsic igneous sources and deposited at an active continental margin. Samarium-Nd isotopic data in combination with previously published detrital zircon ages show that the sediments contained an ancient (ca. 2 Ga) end-member of recycled continental crust mixed with a juvenile component of Late Neoproterozoic age. The similarities suggest that the rocks represent the same sedimentary unit at different grades of metamorphism, implying a major crustal break under the area of mixed dioritic and granitic rocks that separates the gneissic and lower grade rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ca. 620 Ma Huntington Mountain pluton and East Bay Hills Group, which comprise part of the Avalonian Mira terrane, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, are characterized by pervasive propylitic alteration (chlorite, epidote, sericite, and Fe-Ti oxides) and low δ18O values (-3.8 to +6.2‰). This alteration is a product of interaction with hydrothermal fluids of meteoric and/or meteoric-seawater mixed origin at -300 °C over a range of water/rock (w/r) ratios. Locally, the propylitic alteration was further overprinted by quartz-calcite-sericite alteration. Such samples have generally higher δ18OWR values (up to +9.5‰), reflecting interaction with evolved meteoric water at lower temperatures (-200 °C) and very low w/r ratios. The hydrothermal fluids responsible for widespread propylitic alteration of the Huntington Mountain-East Bay Hills complex (and regions beyond) likely entered the crust during initial rifting of the Mira terrane from Gondwana at ca. 575-550 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]