新疆乌什塔拉地区中泥盆世火山岩特征及形成环境分析

研究区位于南天山早古生代大洋东段构造带.乌什塔拉地区阿拉塔格组火山岩为超基性—基性岩组合以及中酸性岩组合.其中超基性岩为大洋二辉橄榄岩,基性岩主要为玄武岩,中酸性岩主要有安山岩、英安岩、粗安岩和流纹岩.通过研究分析发现阿拉塔格组火山岩中基性岩产于大洋中脊环境,中酸性火山岩的构造环境应属于活动大陆边缘性质,由于这两套岩石组合均有不同程度的变质变形,以及阿拉塔格组出现的蛇绿岩,可说明这两套火山岩应该不属于同一地区,是由构造拼合而成的.     

Late Archean basement in the Bangenhuken Complex of the Nordbreen Nappe, western Ny-Friesland, Svalbard

The rocks of western Ny-Friesland, northern Svalbard, are part of a tectonostratigraphy including four thrust sheets, each composed mainly of orthogneisses overlain by younger metasedimentary rocks. Previous geochronological studies have shown that the orthogneisses are dominated by ca. 1750 Mya granitoids. This study of a quartz-monzonite in one of the thrust sheets, the Nordbreen Nappe, yields a single-zircon U-Pb ion-microprobe age of 2709 Ø 28 My. This is the oldest rock unit so far reported in the Svalbard Caledonides. However, age-determinations on detrital zircons in the metasediments of western Ny-Friesland have shown that Late Archean rocks were prominent sources. The new ages presented here provide the first evidence of a local source for these sedimentary rocks.     

A Review and Evaluation of Specific Heat Capacities of Rocks,Minerals, and Subsurface Fluids. Part 1: Minerals and Nonporous Rocks

Heat capacities of the rocks within a sedimentary basin can significantly influence geothermal gradients if sedimentation or erosion is rapid. This paper provides data on specific heat capacities of minerals and nonporous rocks at 20°C, derives equations for calculating specific heat capacities of minerals and nonporous rocks at temperatures between 0°C and 1200°C, and shows that pressure effects on heat capacities of solids can be neglected. It derives an equation for estimating specific heat capacity of any mineral or nonporous rock as a function of density. Finally, it shows how to calculate the specific heat capacity of any mixture of solid materials. A companion paper discusses specific heat capacities of the fluids in pore spaces of rocks and of fluid-filled porous rocks. The data for minerals and rocks provided herein can be incorporated directly into existing modeling software by users. However, the temperature-dependent equations would have to be incorporated by software developers.     

南极长城站附近的脊椎动物 Ⅰ鸟类

本文对在南极长城站区附近活动的6科11种鸟类的数量、分布、繁殖、行为、栖息环境等作了比较详细的报道。作者认为:(1)在长城站区附近分布的鸟类全为肉食性种类;(2)企鹅在整个食物链中占有非常重要的作用;(3)亲鸟的护幼行为较强;(4)所观察到的鸟类全为早成或半早成鸟,但亲鸟育雏期又都较长,这是一种特殊习性。     

西南极乔治王岛北海岸第三纪火山岩的岩石化学和地球化学研究

乔治王岛北海岸的第三纪火山岩包括菲尔德斯半岛组（ＦＰＧ）熔岩、Ａｄｍｉｒａｌｔｙ湾组（ＡＢＧ）岩颈和Ｗｅｇｇｅｒ峰组（ＷＰＧ）侵入岩。大多数中基性熔岩为斑状结构，斜长石和普通辉石是岩石中最主要的斑晶相。安山岩中尚含有少量斜方辉石，英安岩质熔岩则为细晶质结构。岩颈相岩石的物质组成与熔岩相似，但斑晶含量往往较少。岩石化学成分表明，所有岩石均富铝，为亚碱性火山岩，属于钙碱性岩石系列。岩石富集大离子亲石元素，轻稀土元素略为富集，稀土元素总含量落在钙碱性岩石的含量范围之内并基本随硅含量的增加而增加。岩石具有很低的８７Ｓｒ／８６Ｓｒ比值（０．７０３４左右）和较高的１４３Ｎｄ／１４４Ｎｄ比值（０．５１２７８－０．５１２８８），εＮｄ平均值在＋６左右。８７Ｓｒ／８６Ｓｒ比值与Ｓｉ、Ｋ、Ｒｂ、１／Ｓｒ等元素呈水平线性关系。在Ｃｅ／Ｙｂ－Ｃｅ和Ｔｈ／Ｔａ－Ｔｈ图解上所有岩石的投影点分布趋势相同，趋势线的斜率＞０。上述特征表明，乔治王岛北海岸第三纪火山岩均由上地幔物质直接生成而未受壳源物质的混染。推测在古太平洋板块向南极板块下俯冲的过程中，上地幔发生的不同程度部分熔融所生成的玄武岩岩浆从深部岩浆囊沿构造薄弱带穿过地壳直接喷出形成     

西南极纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛火山岩地质和岩石学基本特征

西南极纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛基本被玄武质、玄武安山质熔岩以及火山角砾岩和含植物化石的火山-碎屑沉积岩所覆盖。地层接触关系和火山岩岩石组合显示,该半岛的熔岩和火山角砾岩主要形成于第一阶段的火山活动,可与菲尔德斯半岛的碧玉山段以及玛瑙滩段地层对比;含化石的火山-碎屑沉积岩和角砾熔岩、火山角砾岩分别相当于长城站地区的化石山段和岩块山段的岩层,它们是晚期火山作用的产物。stansbury半岛和菲尔德斯半岛发育有基本相同的火山岩地层,并且都在化石山段地层中发现了植物化石,这表明两个半岛上的火山岩可能是早第三纪区域火山作用的共同产物。 半岛所出露的断裂大致平行菲尔德斯海峡并且控制了次火山岩的分布。 岩石学特征说明,Stansbury半岛的熔岩和次火山岩主要为玄武质和玄武安山质,岩石中的斑晶矿物包括偏基性的斜长石、单斜辉石。岩石化学成分中,随着SiO_2含量增高,Al_2O_3、CaO、MgO和铁含量下降,碱质则升高。和菲尔德斯半岛的火山岩一样,这个半岛的火山岩也基本沿着钙碱趋势演化。微量元素和稀土元素的丰度以及配分模式证明,这套岩石具有同源岩浆的亲缘关系并且可能经历了分离结晶作用过程。     

白银盆地中新世末沙丘岩及其古沙漠与古环流重建

野外调查、室内样品分析及区域地层对比表明,广布于甘肃白银盆地的巨厚层发育大型交错斜层理的浅黄色固结砂岩是典型的沙丘岩,主要沉积于中新世末至上新世初,代表弱固定性沙漠,风系属行星西风,但盛行古风向分为SW至WNW两支,既不同于早白垩世鄂尔多斯盆地盛行NE向信风及W向行星西风,也不同于现代本区在东亚季风环流影响下盛行N、NNE及NE向冬季风的情况.这可能指示当时青藏高原已经隆升到海拔1 000～3 000 m,引起西风环流在高原南北两侧发生季节性摆动绕流,而同期蒙古高压系统的作用不明显.     

The electrical conductivity of sandstone, limestone and granite

summary . The electrical conductivity of cylindrical cores of Westerly granite, Indiana limestone and Nugget, St Peter and Kayenta sandstones was measured at about 25°C in vacuo , in air, and after saturation in distilled water, tap water, and 0.1 MNaCl solution. The three-electrode technique with a guard ring and the twoelectrode technique without a guard ring were used. Core aspect ratio over the range of 2.00 to 0.25, as well as frequency over the range of 50 Hz to 10 kHz, influences the conductivity of all rocks, especially those measured in vacuo . Measurements from water-saturated samples using a guard ring are not appreciably different from those obtained without a guard ring. The conductivity of rocks saturated in 0.1 MNaCl solution changes least with a change in aspect ratio; for these rocks a linear relationship, known as Archie's Law, exists between log porosity and log conductivity. No simple correlation was found between those factors in rocks saturated with tap or distilled water. Thus, it appears Archie's Law is of questionable value for correlating laboratory data from rocks saturated with low-conductivity fluids.     

Numerical modelling of the hydrocarbon generation of Tertiary source rocks intruded by doleritic sills in the Zhanhua depression,Bohai Bay Basin,China

An igneous hydrocarbon reservoir had been found in the Zhanhua depression, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China. Two doleritic sills successively intruded into the immature source rock of the third member of the Shahejie Formation (Es3). The heat released from the magma changed the mineral composition of wall rocks and accelerated the maturity of organic matter. Thin hornfels and carbargilite zones were found next to the sills. The vitrinite reflectances (%R_o) of these heated wall rocks increased to at least 1.4% near the contacts (<50 m), and accumulation of oil was found in the hornfels zone and dolerite bodies. With the aim of understanding the influence of the sills on the hydrocarbon generation process, a complex heat conduction model was used to simulate the thermal history of the organic‐rich wall rocks, in which both the latent heat of crystallization of intrusions and vapourization heat of pore water in wall rocks were considered. The simulation results suggested that the cooling of each sill continued for about 0.1 Ma after its emplacement and the temperature of wall rocks was considerably raised. The peak temperature (T_peak) that wall rocks experienced can reach 460–650°C in the region of 10 m away from the contacts. The thermal model was qualitatively verified by comparing the experimental data of vitrinite reflectances and mineral geothermometers of the wall rocks with the simulation results. Furthermore, we modelled the hydrocarbon generation of the source rocks based on the simulated thermal history. In the region of about 100 m from the contacts, the organic matter was heated and partially transformed into hydrocarbon within only a few 1000 years, which was significantly faster than the normal burial generation process.     

西南极纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛火山岩地质特征初论

纳尔逊岛Stansbury半岛被玄武质、玄武安山质熔岩和火山碎屑岩以及沉积火山碎屑岩所覆盖。区域火山岩地层对比证明其是在形成长城站地区火山岩的同一火山作用下发育起来的。据地质接触关系和岩石组合特点,初步认为该半岛火山岩地层可以进一步划分为三个岩性段,分别形成于两期火山作用。该半岛的主要构造线方向平行于菲尔德斯海峡,这在地貌特征及次火山岩的分布上得到了证实。     

Metamorphism of the Mullerneset Formation, St. Jonsfjorden, Svalbard

The metamorphism of upper greenschist facies metasediments exposed in the extreme southwestern portion of St. Jonsjorden, Svalbard, is described. The rocks form part of the Mullerneset Formation of the late Precambrian age Kongsvegen Group and constitute a portion of the central-western Spitsbergen Cale-donides. Four deformations (D, -D4) and two metamorphic episodes (Mi and M2) have affected the rocks of the Mullerneset area. Mi was a prograde event which was initiated prior to the onset of the Di and continued through this deformation. Pre-Dt metamorphism reached biotite grade whereas garnet grade was attained syn-Di. M2 was a lower-middle greenschist facies metamorphism associated with D2. The results of quantitative geothermometry in the pelitic rocks show that peak Mi metamorphic temperatures decrease southwards across the field area from about 540°C to 510°C. Geobarometry and estimates of depth of burial indicate that Mi pressures were in the range of 5–7 kb. The data are consistent with geothermal gradients in the range of 21 ± 4°C/km to 24 ± 5°C/km. M2 metamorphic conditions are not precisely determinable but temperatures and pressures were probably less than those attained during Mi. It is suggested that the rocks of central-western Spitsbergen were originally deposited in an aulacogen before the initiation of Caledonian diastrophism.     

Testing long-term patterns of basin sedimentation by detrital zircon geochronology, Centralian Superbasin, Australia

Detrital zircon geochronology of Neoproterozoic to Devonian sedimentary rocks from the Georgina and Amadeus basins has been used to track changes in provenance that reflect the development and inversion of the former Australian Superbasin. Through much of the Neoproterozoic, sediments appear to have been predominantly derived from local sources in the Arunta and Musgrave inliers. Close similarities between the detrital age signatures of late Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks in the two basins suggests that they were contiguous at this time. A dominant population of 1.2–1.0 Ga zircon in Early Cambrian sediments of the Amadeus Basin reflects the uplift of the Musgrave Inlier during the Petermann Orogeny between 560 and 520 Ma, which shed a large volume of detritus northwards into the Amadeus Basin. Early Cambrian sedimentary rocks in the Georgina Basin have a much smaller proportion of 1.2–1.0 Ga detritus, possibly due to the formation of sub‐basins along the northern margin of the Amadeus Basin which might have acted as a barrier to sediment transfer. An influx of 0.6–0.5 Ga zircon towards the end of the Cambrian coincides with the transgression of the Larapintine Sea across central Australia, possibly as a result of intracratonic rifting. Detrital zircon age spectra of sedimentary rocks deposited within this epicontinental sea are very similar to those of coeval sedimentary rocks from the Pacific Gondwana margin, implying that sediment was transported into central Australia from the eastern continental margin. The remarkably consistent ‘Pacific Gondwana’ signature of Cambro‐Ordovician sediments in central and eastern Australia reflects a distal source, possibly from east Antarctica or the East African Orogen. The peak of the marine incursion into central Australia in the early to mid Ordovician coincides with granulite‐facies metamorphism at mid‐crustal depths between the Amadeus and Georgina basins (the Larapinta Event). The presence of the epicontinental sea, the relative lack of a local basement zircon component in Cambro‐Ordovician sedimentary rocks and their maturity suggest that metamorphism was not accompanied by mountain building, consistent with an extensional or transtensional setting for this tectonism. Sediments deposited at ～435–405 and ～365 Ma during the Alice Springs Orogeny have detrital age signatures similar to those of Cambro‐Ordovician sedimentary rocks, reflecting uplift and reworking of the older succession into narrow foreland basins adjacent to the orogen.     

The distribution of inselbergs and their relationship to geomorphological, structural and lithological controls in Southern Zimbabwe

The gneissic-granitic basement of southern Zimbabwe is characterized by a wide variety of inselbergs, preferentially developed on the granitoid rocks. However, there are significant differences in the frequency of inselbergs and most inselbergs occur in the younger granitoid rocks, particularly in rocks with microcline as the dominant K-feldspar, but their distribution is not uniform. Completely isolated inselbergs are rare and most inselbergs are arranged in clusters or are associated with plateaus or they occur as the detached ends of spurs and ridges.Chemical and mineralogical investigations indicate significant differences in the composition of the older and younger granitoid rocks. The latter are characterized by a higher content of alkali feldspars and a lower content of plagioclase and mafic minerals.The influences of texture, fabric and fracture characteristics on the resistance of the rocks vary. In the southern part of the study area the majority of rock domes is associated with porphyritic granites and fine-grained granites, whilst inselbergs of the large batholith complexes in the northern part of the study area show virtually no relationships to the grain-size of the rocks.Thin-sections analysis indicate, that the rocks of the terrains with a higher density of inselbergs are characterized by an intense intergrowth of minerals and a higher number of contacts between quartz and alkali feldspars. Particularly in the case of the porphyritic granites the influence of texture on the frequency of rock domes is linked with two factors. These are a high content of microcline minerals that have filled the interstices of the surrounding mineral framework and enclosed the surrounding minerals. Overgrowths and replacement micro-structures indicate a long lasting crystallization, which appears to be responsible for a lower density of cooling fractures. Enclosure of the more vulnerable minerals in the more resistant microcline megacrysts retards the loosening of the rock constituents.The marked differences in the lithological and structural characteristics of the various granitoid rocks influence the weathering behaviour of the rocks and illustrate that the divergent weathering characteristics of the rocks are strongly dependent on lithological and structural factors.     

Ventifacts and wind-abraded rock features in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica

An area north of Lake Fryxell in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, was surveyed to determine the frequency of occurrence of rocks that show strong evidence of wind abrasion and ventifaction, which is defined here as rocks having well-developed faceting, to define their relative abundance in this area of the ice-free McMurdo Dry Valley system and to provide an indication of the role of wind as a geomorphic agent in this area. The orientation of abrasion-caused features (facets, keels, and grooves) with respect to the present day wind regime is also described. Rocks were examined on five linear transects ranging from 300 to 510 m in length. A total of 1324 rocks were examined. On average, 60% of all rocks exhibited distinct wind abrasion features with polish being the most common feature and polished rocks were distributed equally between survey lines, suggesting abrasion was ubiquitous in the study area. Approximately 4% of the rocks had distinct facets and/or keels, and fine-grained ultramafic peridotite-type rocks produced the most finely-featured forms (i.e., sharp facet edges and keels). A larger percentage, ≈ 12.5%, had grooves. Grooves were typically associated with a tabular form of mafic diabase-type igneous rock. The distribution of faceted ventifacts and grooved rocks was not uniform for the five transects, suggesting that the distribution mechanism for the surface rocks and the source areas determined, to a large extent, what form of ventifact could be produced at a location. The orientation of the grooves and dip directions of the facets indicates the direction of the abrasive winds had a strong westerly component, which coincides with the modern wind regime of winter katabatic flows that move down valley toward the Ross Sea. The orientation of the facets and grooves suggests that the rate of formation of the ventifacts proceeds at a pace greater than other surficial processes (e.g., down-slope soil movement, cryoturbation), which should tend to remove trends in the facet and groove orientations, or that the down-slope movement of the surface is approximately perpendicular to the wind allowing preservation of the alignment.     

菲尔德斯半岛新生代火山岩中Sr,Ba,Ca元素的相关变化及其对岩浆演化的启示

菲尔德斯半岛新生代火山岩岩石组合为高铝玄武岩-玄武安山岩-安山岩-英安岩,是一套低钾高铝的钙碱性岩系。以岩石中Sr/Ca,Ba/Ca比值作为讨论岩浆演化的一个指标,确认高铝玄武岩为本区岩浆作用的初始岩浆,经过岩浆房中斜长石和单斜辉石为主的分离结晶作用,依次演化出玄武安山岩、安山岩和英安岩岩浆。     

Example of a supradetachment basin within a pull-apart tectonic setting: Mormon Point, Death Valley, California

The geological features now exposed at Mormon Point, Death Valley, reveal processes of extension that continue to be active, but are concealed beneath the east side of Death Valley. Late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks at Mormon Point crop out in the hangingwall of the Mormon Point low-angle normal fault zone, a fault zone that formed within a releasing bend of the oblique-slip (right-normal slip) fault zone along the east side of Death Valley. The late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks were part of the valley when the low-angle fault zone was active, but during late Quaternary time they became part of the Black Mountains block and were uplifted. Rocks and structures exposed at Mormon Point are an example of the types of features developed in a releasing bend along the margins of a major pull-apart structure, and in this example they are very similar to features associated with regional detachment faults. The oldest sedimentary rocks in the hangingwall of the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone dip steeply to moderately east or north-east and were faulted and rotated in an extensional kinematic environment different from that recorded by rocks and structures associated with younger rocks in the hangingwall. Some of the younger parts of the late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks were deposited, faulted and rotated during movement on the Mormon Point low-angle normal fault. Progressively, strata are less faulted and less rotated. The Mormon Point low-angle normal fault has an irregular fault surface whose segments define intersections that plunge 18°-30°, N10°-40°W, with a maximum of 22°, N22°W that we interpret to be the general direction of slip. Thus, even though Death Valley trends north, movement on the faults responsible for its formation was at least locally north-northwest. Gouge and disrupted conglomerates along the faults are interpreted to have formed either as adjustments to accommodate space problems at the corners of blocks or along faults that bounded blocks during their displacement and rotation. The younger units of the late Cenozoic sedimentary rock sequence and the geomorphic surfaces developed on them are rarely faulted, not rotated, and overlap the Mormon Point low-angle faults. Active faults cut Holocene alluvium north of the late Cenozoic rocks and form the present boundary between Mormon Point and the Black Mountains. The distribution of active faults defines a releasing bend that mimics the older releasing bend formed by the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone. Rocks and structures similar to those exposed above the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone are probably forming today beneath the east side of Death Valley north-west of Mormon Point.     

Geochemistry of Precambrian basic igneous rocks between St. Jonsfjorden and Isfjorden, central western Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Two types of basic igneous rocks have been mapped in the middle Hecla Hoek succession in the area between St. Jonsfjorden and Isfjorden, central western Spitsbergen: the metadiabase-gabbros from the calc-argillo-volcanic formation and the Trollheimen volcanics from the quartzite-shale formation; both formations are older than the Eocambrian tilloid formation. The former has diabasic and gabbroic textures and occurs as thin discontinuous lensoid masses, while the latter exhibits definite extrusive structures with large amounts of pyroclastics and tuffs and relatively small amounts of solid lavas with abundant amygdules. Both basic rocks have been metamorphosed under the greenschist facies conditions, characterized by actinolite-epidote-biotite-albite assemblage.
The metadiabase-gabbros are moderate-high Fe tholeiites and the Trollheimen volcanics are mainly Na-alkaline, accompanied by a small amount of calk alkaline rocks. The immobile minor and trace element contents indicate that the metadiabase-gabbros are oceanic, similar to the MORB, while those of the Trollheimen volcanics show non-oceanic chemical characteristics and occur in shallow marine, shelf-shelfedge sediments.
The calc-argillo-volcanic formation reveals a shallow marine sedimentary environment and this does not conform with the oceanic nature of the metadiabase-gabbros, occurring in the formation. To overcome this disagreement, an idea of changing tectonic position is postulated to bring a shallow marine sedimentary regime onto a mid-oceanic tectonic zone. This hypothesis supports the concept of active consuming margin tectonics of the Svalbard Caledonides and explains, for example, the occurrence of the high-P metamorphic rocks in the western part of the present area.     

西南极利文斯顿岛火山岩多种成因过程的地球化学证据

利文斯顿岛火山岩是南极南设得兰岩浆弧的一部分。对岩石的Ｓｒ、Ｎｄ、Ｐｂ同位素组成以及８７Ｓｒ／８６Ｓｒ与１／Ｓｒ、Ｒｂ、Ｋ和ＳｉＯ２关系的研究表明,利文斯顿岛火山岩具有不同的源区特征。百耳斯半岛和史莱夫角的火山岩、西多斯角的粗玄岩和第三纪的英云闪长岩显示出同成因的特点,和依诺特角第四纪橄榄玄武岩一样,它们均具有原生地幔的同位素组分,源区岩浆可能直接来自上地幔。汉那角和中利文斯顿岛火山岩岩浆则受到地壳成分的混染。不相容元素对Ｌａ／Ｓｍ－Ｌａ和Ｃｅ／Ｙｂ－Ｃｅ的研究进一步显示出,上述不同产地的岩石分别为不同源岩浆不同程度部分熔融的产物。结合岩相学和岩石化学特征的研究,提出百耳斯半岛和史莱夫角的火山岩以及西多斯角的粗玄岩是上地幔发生部分熔融所生成的玄武岩岩浆从深部岩浆囊沿构造薄弱带直接喷出形成的。古生代基底岩系的存在对中利文斯顿岛和汉那角火山岩的成因过程有重要的影响,即来自深部岩浆囊的原始岩浆在上地壳中的浅部岩浆囊受到了壳源物质混染。更新世－现代火山岩的源区岩浆直接自上地幔部分熔融生成,火山作用与晚新生代时该区的拉张构造有关。     

Grenvillian single-grain zircon Pb age of a granitic rock from the southern island of Hesteskoholmen, Liefdefjorden, northwestern Spitsbergen, Svalbard

A N-S trending, narrow zone of crystalline basement occurs from Biscayarhalvøya to Holtedahlfonna in northwestern Spitsbergen and is composed of various metasedimentary and igneous rocks, including granites. Previous isotopic age determinations on these rocks are by the K-Ar. Rb-Sr, ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and conventional zircon U-Pb method and yielded the Caledonian and Grenvillian ages. The single-grain zircon Pb evaporation method has recently been applied to solve complex problems and this is the first report by the method.
A granitic rock, syntectonically intruded into the phyllitic metasediments of the Biscayarhuken formation, which is the uppermost lithotectonic unit in the metamorphic rocks of the zone, was dated on four zircon grains, yielding a narrow age range from 955 ± 4 to 968 ± 9 Ma in average. This age of ca. 960 Ma is considered to be the age of intrusion, based on the occurrence and zircon morphology, which is roughly simultaneous with the formation of the phyllitic cleavages of the surrounding metasediments. The data obtained imply that the Caledonian events did not reset the Pb isotope system of zircon and major metamorphism occurred during the Grenvillian time in the Biscayarhuken formation, accordingly, the protolith age of the metasediments is Mesoproterozoic.     

Geophysical and structural signatures of syntectonic batholith construction: the South Mountain Batholith, Meguma Terrane, Nova Scotia

The Late Devonian South Mountain Batholith is a very large (7000 km²) composite peraluminous granitoid complex situated within the Meguma Terrane of the northern Appalachians. It is made up of two suites of granodioritic to leucogranitic plutons emplaced at approximately 380–370 Ma during the Acadian Orogeny, i.e. during the collision of Gondwana with the eastern margin of North America. A significant geophysical and geological database makes the South Mountain Batholith a type example of a very large syntectonic batholith emplaced within a collisional orogen. Gravity models reveal the plutons have flat or gently dipping floors at approximately 7.0 km depth and aspect ratios >6:1. They are underlain by deeper (>10 km) elongate northeast–southwest-trending roots that may indicate magma feeder zones. Dyke transport of granitic magma and the progressive construction of plutons by sheet injections are supported by field observations and by mapping of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility at the pluton scale. The very narrow deformation aureole within the country rocks suggests lateral spreading of the plutons was not the main space creation mechanism during emplacement; space was mostly created by vertical displacements of country rocks. The data are consistent with a laccolithic model for syntectonic batholith assembly. The laccolithic plutons may have been emplaced at the base of the Meguma Supergroup metasedimentary rocks, suggesting a maximum thickness of approximately 7.0 km for the supracrustal rocks in the Meguma Terrane.