Tectonic structures in the Peel Sandstones and Carboniferous limestone,Isle of Man

On the Isle of Man, the Early Devonian Peel Sandstones and Early Carboniferous limestones have been deformed in places by folds, cleavage and other structures. The structures in the Peel Sandstones have been attributed to pre‐lithification deformation associated with slumping of the red beds. Here, they are re‐interpreted to be products of post‐lithification deformation, inferred from small‐scale structures and fabrics, which took place in a localized thrust zone. Compression was approximately NW–SE and translation towards the SE. That deformation may have also produced some of the late structures in the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the island. The minimum age of these post‐Early Devonian structures is unknown but is probably pre‐Carboniferous: they may represent the mid‐Devonian Acadian deformation. The Carboniferous succession is folded in places and contains stylolites and stylolitic cleavage. A stress regime with E–W to WNW–ESE compression is inferred. These structures have orientations and morphologies shown to resemble those in neighbouring parts of southern Britain, where they are attributed mainly to mid‐ to late‐Carboniferous Variscan events. Alternatively, some or all of them might be products of late Mesozoic and Tertiary tectonics recognized elsewhere in the region. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contrasting styles of Taconian, Eastern Acadian and Western Acadian metamorphism, central and western New England

The two major Early to Middle Palaeozoic tectonic/metamorphic events in the northern Appalachians were the Taconian (Middle to Late Ordovician) in central to western areas and the Acadian (Late Silurian to early Middle Devonian) in eastern to west-central areas. This paper presents a model for the Acadian orogenic event which separates the Acadian metamorphic realm into eastern and western belts based on distinctively different styles. We propose that the Acadian metamorphism in the east was the delayed consequence of Taconian back-arc lithospheric modification. East of the Taconian island arc, thick accumulations of Late Ordovician and Silurian sediments, coupled with plutons rising along a magmatic arc, produced crustal thermal conditions appropriate for anomalously high-T, low-P metamorphism accompanied by major crustal anatexis. In this zone, upward melt migration was coupled with subsequent E-W crustal shortening (possibly due to outboard collision with the Avalon terrane) to produce mechanical conditions that favoured formation of fold and thrust nappes and resultant tectonic thickening to the west (and probably to the east as well). The basis for the distinction between the Eastern and Western Acadian events lies in the contrasting styles of metamorphism accompanying each. Evidence for contrasting metamorphic styles consists of (1) estimated metamorphic field gradients (MFGs) based on thermobarometric studies, and (2) petrological evidence for contrasting P–T trajectories. West of the Acadian metamorphic front, the Taconian zone has an MFG in which peak temperatures of 400-600° C were reached at pressures of about 4–6 kbar, with both P and T increasing to the east. Near its western edge, the Western Acadian metamorphic overprint has a similar MFG to the Taconian, and is mainly discriminated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and microtextural evidence. East of this narrow zone, the Western Acadian overprint is characterized by progressively higher temperatures (600–725° C) and pressures (6.5–10 kbar, or more) to the east, yielding an overall MFG that lies along, or slightly above, the kyanite–sillimanite boundary on a P–T diagram. There is little or no plutonism accompanying Western Acadian metamorphism. In contrast, thermobarometry in the Eastern Acadian, east of the Bronson Hill Belt, yields high-T, intermediate-P conditions for the highest grade rocks known in New England: T= 650–750° C, P= 4.5–6.5 kbar for granulite facies assemblages which apparently formed along an ‘anticlockwise’P–T path. The Bronson Hill Belt lies geographically between the Eastern and Western Acadian zones and shows transitional petrological behaviour: anomalously high temperatures at intermediate pressures, but a ‘clockwise’ path with decompression cooling. Radiometric dating indicates peak Taconian conditions may have been achieved as early as 475 Ma in the Taconian hinterland and as late as 445 Ma in the Taconian foreland (including the Taconic allochthons). Eastern Acadian magmatism may have started as early as 425 Ma, and most nappe-stage deformation and metamorphism in the Eastern Acadian zone appears to have ended by about 410 Ma. Tectonic thickening in the Western Acadian (including the western counterparts of the nappe-stage deformation documented in the Eastern Acadian) must pre-date attainment of peak metamorphic conditions dated at 395–385 Ma. Dome-stage deformation clearly post-dates peak metamorphism and deforms metamorphic isograds. The end of Western Acadian deformation is well constrained by 370-375 Ma radiometric ages of late pegmatites and granitoids which cross-cut all structures.     

Palaeomagnetism of igneous rocks of the Lake District (Caledonian) terrane,Northern England: palaeozoic motions and deformation at a leading edge of Avalonia

The Lake District terrane of northern England comprises Upper Cambrian–Silurian sediments and volcanics accumulated at the northern margin of the Avalonian Plate during growth and demise of the Iapetus Ocean. Ocean closure and suturing resulted in Late Ordovician and Acadian tectonism and were accompanied by emplacement of a large regional batholith. Palaeomagnetic study of intrusive igneous rocks, including application of thermal demagnetization, field tests and principal component analysis, identifies a history of Ordovician to Devonian magnetization. Late plutons (Shap and Skiddaw granites and/or aureoles) record a shallow dipolar (A3) axis (mean declination/inclination (D/I=278/+17°) dating from emplacement in late Early Devonian times (c. 395 Ma). Although this axis is recorded as a sporadic overprint in older rocks, no pervasive remagnetization is attributable to batholith emplacement. Instead, the Carrock Fell Complex Layered Gabbros have a mid- to late Ordovician (A1) remanence (D/I)=17·4/−58·1°, 36 samples, α₉₅=4·8°) predating regional F2 folding. Later events in this igneous complex comprise the Carrock Fell Granophyre with a post-folding Ordovician remanence, and Round Knott Dolerite with a remanence linked to hydrothermal alteration late in the Ordovician magmatic episode. A Late Ordovician (Ashgill) palaeofield is also defined by remanence (A2) in the Threlkeld–St John's Microgranite and aureole (438 Ma, D/I=236·5/63·3°, 41 samples, α₉₅=4·7°). Other intrusions carrying a remanence predating the Acadian deformation include the Great Cockup Picrite (458 Ma, D/I=43·2/−31·8°, 31 samples, α₉₅=7·7°) and basic intrusives in the aureole of the Eskdale Granite (429 Ma, D/I=174·5/25·8°, 32 samples, α₉₅=8·8°). Collectively the palaeomagnetic data from this terrane identify a hairpin in the apparent polar wander path during Late Ordovician (Caradoc–Ashgill) times corresponding to ‘soft’ closure of the Iapetus suture and accompanying deformation. The same motion is recognized in contemporaneous data from the Welsh Caledonides where declinations are rotated by c. 55° relative to contemporaneous results from the Lake District. Adjustment for this (probable late Acadian) rotation beings fold trends of the Paratectonic Caledonides into alignment and identifies a parallel mid- to late Ordovician destructive plate margin comprising forearc (Lake District) and backarc (North Wales). This arc was oriented latitudinally in mid-southerly latitudes during formation and the bulk of the magmatism occurred during a single normal-polarity chron. The relationships between magnetization and folding in both the Lake District and Welsh Borderlands identify the importance of Late Ordovician deformation along this arc during collision of Avalonia and Laurentia. Arc-related volcanism was succeeded in Silurian times by parallel foreland basins embracing the Welsh Basin and southern Lake District as the Laurentian Plate overrode the Avalonian Plate. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A magnetic fabric study of the Shap region in the English Lake District

The magnetic susceptibility anisotropy technique was applied to 50 sites, comprising 280 core samples from the Shap Granite and the surrounding country rocks from both within and outside the thermal aureole. The magnetic fabrics of individual cores from the granite pluton indicate preferred orientations of non-equi-dimensional magnetite grains. This fabric developed during the slow ascent and consequent cooling of the magma. The sites from the metamorphic rocks from the immediate contact with the Shap Granite show weak axial shortening directions which are subnormal to the granite contact. Core samples from the surrounding Ordovician and Silurian rocks within the thermal metamorphic aureole but further from the granite have oblate magnetic- fabric ellipsoids with subvertical magnetic foliations trending approximately NE-SW, parallel to the regional Caledonian cleavage planes. This suggests that the magnetic fabric observed in the granite is primary with respect to the time of emplacement of the magma, and that this emplacement post-dates the main compressive phase of the Caledonian Orogeny. The effect of the granite on the country rock is mainly thermal metamorphism with mechanical deformation limited to a very narrow strip around the granite.     

Age of the peel sandstone group,isle of man

An Early Devonian age for the continental, red‐bed succession of the Peel Sandstone Group can be defined on the basis of: (1) a derived marine fauna of late Wenlock (Homerian) age, (2) a Scoyenia ichnofacies assemblage (including Beaconites and Diplichnites) characteristic of latest Silurian to Early Devonian (Lower Old Red Sandstone magnafacies) sediments in the British Isles, (3) a microflora of late Lochkovian to Pragian age, (4) a detrital palaeomagnetic remanence that pre‐dates local, Acadian palaeomagnetic directions and coincides with a prominent, southerly, Late Silurian to Early Devonian excursion in the local apparent polar wander path, and (5) a mid‐Devonian palaeomagnetic remanence that overprints (?)Acadian, thrust‐related folding. Data presented in this study confirm previous suggestions (Allen and Crowley 1983) that the Peel Sandstone Group represents a rare example of Early Devonian sedimentation preserved on the northern margin of the former Eastern Avalonia microcontinent. Potential correlations and linkages with other Lower Old Red Sandstone successions exposed in the Anglo‐Welsh Basin are developed and discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cleavage/fold relationships in the Silurian metapelites,southeastern Anglo-Brabant fold belt (Ronquières,Belgium)

The presence of convergent cleavage fans in folded Silurian pelitic deposits along the southern extremity of the Brabant Massif has commonly been considered as an indication for a polyphase deformation history. Recent field work on the classic section at Ronquières shows, however, that all the structural elements can be explained by a single progressive deformation, taking place at gradually higher structural levels. This deformation is considered to have occurred at the time of the Acadian orogeny. The section under study contains a fold train of five gentle to open first-order folds, unconformably overlain by gently S-dipping Givetian rocks. Although the Silurian turbidite deposits are predominantly pelitic, the folds are characterized by convergent cleavage fans. The trend of the cleavage fan axes remains constant in the various folds throughout the section. In contrast, the trend of the folds hinge lines gradually changes along the section from a clockwise relation with the cleavage fan axis in the northern part (anticlockwise cleavage transection) towards an anticlockwise relation in the southern part (clockwise cleavage transection). Individual fault/fault intersections have a constant trend throughout the section, parallel to the cleavage fan axes and the mean fold hinge line. Small kink bands and small transverse joints reflect the same structural trend. The coaxial disposition of the structural elements seems at first sight incompatible with the presence of both clockwise and anticlockwise cleavage-transected folds. This disposition may, however, be explained by an en-echelon periclinal nature of the fold train, possibly formed in a slightly constrictional deformation environment.     

Diachronic metamorphic and structural evolution of the Connecticut Valley–Gaspé trough,Northern Appalachians

The Connecticut Valley–Gaspé (CVG) trough represents a major, orogen-scale Silurian–Devonian basin of the Northern Appalachians. From Gaspé Peninsula to southern New England, the CVG trough has experienced a contrasting metamorphic and structural evolution during the Acadian orogeny. Along its strike, the CVG trough is characterized by increasing strain and polyphase structures, and by variations in the intensity of regional metamorphism and contrasting abundance of c. 390–370 Ma granitic intrusions. In southern Quebec and northern Vermont, a series of NW–SE transects across the CVG trough have been studied in order to better understand these along-strike variations. Detailed structural analyses, combined with phase equilibria modelling, Raman spectrometry, and muscovite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating highlight a progressive and incremental deformation involving south–north variation in the timing of metamorphism. Deformation evolves from a D₁ crustal thickening event which originates in Vermont and progresses to southern Québec where it peaked at 0.6 GPa/380°C at c. 375 Ma. This was followed by a D₂ event associated with continuous burial in Vermont from 378 to 355 Ma, which produced peak metamorphic conditions of 0.85 GPa/380°C and exhumation in Quebec from 368 to 360 Ma. The D₃ compressional exhumation event also evolved from south to north from 345 to 335 Ma. D₁ to D₃ deformation events form part of a continuum with an along-strike propagation rate of ~50 km/Ma During D₁, the burial depth varied by more than 15 km between southern Quebec and Vermont, and this can be attributed to the occurrence of a major crustal indenter, the Bronson Hill Arc massif, in the New England segment of the Acadian collision zone.     

南盘江盆地赖子山穹隆构造样式及沙箱模拟研究

贵州南盘江盆地发育一系列不同样式的穹隆状构造,其控制着低温矿床的分布,位于黔西南控制烂泥沟超大型金矿床的赖子山穹隆是其典型代表。在统计赖子山穹隆地层产状的基础上,通过π圆图解确定出轴迹分别为NW和NE向的稳定变形亚区,并依据亚区构造横剖面和几何投影解析得到亚区褶皱位态类型均为直立水平背斜。通过统计分析区内劈理并依据劈理与亚区褶皱轴面的平行关系筛选出轴面劈理,基于轴面劈理的切割关系、卷入变形的地层及前人获得的相关构造岩浆岩年代推断出组成赖子山穹隆亚区褶皱的发育时序,即NWSE向背斜发育于燕山早期,NNESSW向背斜发育于燕山晚期。基于地质构造分析,结合该地区地层岩石能干性强弱、地层缩短量和变形边界条件建立两个沙箱模型进行4组实验,通过改变软弱层材料、变形同时性模拟构造复合叠加和构造联合叠加的变形过程及样式,讨论影响叠加变形的因素。根据模拟结果,我们认为赖子山穹隆是NW向和NNE向纵弯直立水平褶皱经移褶性复合叠加形成的穹隆状构造,两期褶皱分别对应燕山早期雪峰山隆起对南盘江盆地的侧向挤压作用和燕山晚期黔西南由NW向SE的大型逆冲推覆作用;岩层能干性差异和构造变形的强弱是影响叠加褶皱构造样式和叠加类型的关键因素,当岩层能干性差异较大时,相对软弱的岩层起到分层变形作用,使得软弱层上下强硬层构造样式不同;后期变形较弱时,形成限制性、移褶性叠加褶皱,后期变形较强时,形成斜跨、横跨式叠加褶皱,分阶段变形形成复合叠加构造,同时变形或变形速度差较小时,形成弧形的联合叠加构造。     

Structure of the Ordovician succession around Aberdaron,southwest Llŷn,North Wales

Three deformation phases are recognizable within the Lower Ordovician metasedimentary sequence of the Aberdaron area and they are similar to those described for Lower Palaeozoic sequences in other parts of North Wales. There is no certain evidence however for a major Aberdaron Syncline as described by some previous workers. The first deformation phase produced southcast verging mesoscopic folds with steep to moderate dipping axial surfaces and a sporadic axial plane cleavage. The second deformation was relatively weak and produced only a low-dipping crenulation cleavage at a few favoured localities. The third phase gave rise to numerous small buckle folds, kinks in some pelitic units where the first cleavage was well developed, an axial plane cleavage, and a suite of quartz veins. The orientation of the third phase minor structures is not uniform and the fold trend and strike of axial plane cleavage varies from east-northeast to south-southeast, although retains a constant angular relationship to the local strike of bedding. The distribution of the third cleavage is bimodal and the third deformation phase may have been brought about by conjugate shears during a late brittle fracture stage of NW–SE compression. The structural sequence affecting the Ordovician cannot be correlated with that in the Mona Complex and it seems likely that the Mona Complex was deformed before the Arenig.     

Ben Nevis—remnant of a lost volcanic landscape

The summit region of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, consists of late Silurian to Early Devonian age volcanic rocks originally interpreted as a thick sequence (> 600 m) of andesite lavas and agglomerates that were down‐faulted during caldera subsidence. New digital field mapping of the Ben Nevis area, including both the steep north and south faces of the mountain, has revealed that the volcanic rocks consist largely of volcaniclastic debris flows, and extensive block and ash flow deposits with minor air‐fall tuff units. There is no evidence of any andesite lava flows or a volcanic vent. The volcanic detritus was derived from a volcanic centre situated to the NW of Ben Nevis, perhaps several tens of kilometres away. The rocks forming the summit region of the mountain have been re‐interpreted as a large roof pendant or keel of the former late Silurian to Early Devonian volcanic land surface that once covered much of the SW Highlands of Scotland.     

The source of ferroan and non-ferroan calcite cements in the Halkin and Wenlock Limestones

An early and a late calcite cernent are distinguished in limestones of Carboniferous age in N. Wales and Silurian age in Shropshire, England. Solution of aragonite, and preferential pressure solution of carbonate grains in day-rich beds are considered to be the sources of the early and late cements, respectively. An association between the distribution of ferroan calcite and clay minerals indicates that clays may be an important contributor of iron during the precipitation of the late cernent.     

Two-sided Variscan thrust tectonics in the Vosges Mountains,northeastern France

Abstract

Variscan convergence produced two-sided (bivergent) crustal-scale thrusting in the Vosges Mountains. In the northern Vosges the central polymetamorphic crystallines were thrust to the NW over Cambrian to Silurian low-grade and very low-grade metamorphic clastics. Synorogenic upper Devonian - lower Carboniferous turbidites and volcanics were folded into NW-vergent structures which display SE-dipping slaty cleavage. The entire sequence shows increasing metamorphism and deformation from NW to SE. Late right-lateral strike-slip faulting along the Lalaye-Lubine fault zone outlasted thrusting. In the southern Vosges a lower Carboniferous turbiditic basin that was fringed on the south by a volcanic arc was tectonically shortened by south-directed tectonic imbrication of slivers of varied rocks including ultramafics, gneissic basement, and synorogenic elastics. The increasing degree of deformation and metamorphism towards the north suggests a thrust contact with the polymetamorphic gneisses of the central Vosges. The final stages of Variscan convergence were accompanied by voluminous granitic plutonism and by faulting along NNE-SSW and E-W-trending strike-slip faults. The tectonic evolution reflects progressive Variscan closure of a previously extended basinal crust in a high-temperature regime.     

青海省哇洪山断裂带中段构造变形特征及X光岩组分析

通过对哇洪山断裂带中段构造变形宏观及微观特征的研究,认为该断裂带经历了两种不同层次、不同性质的构造变形,早期以韧性变形为主,形成了沿断裂带广泛分布的NW-NNW向糜棱岩带;晚期以脆性变形为主,形成了广泛分布断层破碎带,并将早期的糜棱岩带错断。X光岩组分析结果表明,糜棱岩带构造岩内矿物排列定向性明显,其中石英变形以底面滑移或近底面滑移为主,兼有柱面滑移,为中低温-中温变形环境所形成;另外动态重结晶对变形岩石中石英优选方位的形成也可能发挥了重要作用。华里西晚期花岗闪长岩、印支期钾长花岗岩、花岗岩、二长花岗岩均没有明显的优选方位,因此韧性变形发生在该类岩石侵位之前。构造变形分析及同位素测年结果证实韧性剪切带形成于晚志留世,即加里东晚期。     

Glyptograptus? persculptus (Salter), its tectonic deformation,and its stratigraphic significance for the Carys Mills Formation of N.E. Maine,U.S.A.

The Carys Mills Formation of NE Maine represents the SW extension of the Matapedia Group and the White Head Formation of southern Gaspé, Quebec. This formation has yielded two main collections, one hitherto considered of Middle Ordovician age (zone 13 of Berry's 1960 Marathon, Texas, zonation) with 7 species referred to 4 genera, and one of the Early Silurian age. A revision of the supposed Middle Ordovician collections reveals that the graptolites are basal Silurian and consist of only one species, Glyptograptus? persculptus. Several hundred specimens, preserved both flattened and in three dimensions, the latter in iron pyrites, allow an analysis of both the rhabdosome changes wrought by diagenetic flattening and those caused by severe tectonic deformation. It is shown that those specimens lying parallel to the bedding plane lineation caused by a high-angle main cleavage have a silhouette appearance close to Glyptograptus tamariscus (Nicholson), whilst those at right angles to this direction superficially resemble robust Amplexograptus spp., or Diplograptus s.s., or Diplograptus s.l. spp., thus explaining the stratigraphic assignment of earlier workers. An analogue video reshaper confirms the above conclusions. This determination assigns the whole Carys Mills Formation to the Lower Silurian, but the possibility that part of the formation is of Late Ordovician age cannot be excluded. This much is suggested by the Matapedia Group and the White Head Formation which are of Late Ordovician to Early Silurian age, and the Honorat Group, which has yielded graptolites of late Middle Ordovician age.     

Fluid-driven low-grade metamorphism in polydeformed rocks of Avalonia (Arisaig Group, Nova Scotia, Canada)

The Lower Silurian??Lower Devonian Arisaig Group (Antigonish Highlands) in the Canadian Appalachians is a sequence of shallow marine strata deposited after the accretion of Avalonia to Baltica during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean. Deformation of the strata is widely attributed to the Devonian Acadian orogeny and produced shallowly plunging regional folds and a cleavage of varying penetrativity. Phyllosilicate minerals from the finest-grained rocks exhibit very low-grade (diagenetic-anchizone) metamorphic conditions. X-ray diffraction study reveals that the sampled rocks contain quartz, K-white mica, chlorite, and feldspars; illite?Csmectite and chlorite?Csmectite mixed-layers are common but Na?CK mica and kaolinite occur only in some samples. The identification of illite?Csmectite mixed-layers in diagenetic samples, with Kübler Index >0.50 ??°2?? and the highly heterogeneous b-cell dimension of the K-white micas are in agreement with the variable chemical composition of dioctahedral micas, which present low illitic substitution and variable phengitic content. The spatial variation in the above crystal-chemical parameters was plotted along a NW?CSE composite cross section across the regional folds. No correlation was found between the metamorphic conditions and either the stratigraphic depth or the strain values measured by phyllosilicates orientation analyses, as a function of the penetrativity of the cleavage. However, the metamorphic grade generally increases towards the Hollow Fault, and is highest in samples located within a 1?km corridor from the fault surface. Incipient cleavage is observed in the anchizonal samples located in the vicinity of the Hollow Fault and in some of the diagenetic samples, indicating cleavage development under low temperatures (<200?oC). These relationships, together with regional syntheses, suggest low-grade metamorphism post-dated regional folding and was coeval with Late Carboniferous dextral movement along the Hollow Fault. Fluid circulation associated with movement along this major fault may be the driving mechanism for the increasing metamorphism towards it.     

Relationship of concretions and chlorite-muscovite porphyroblasts to the development of domainal cleavage in low-grade metamorphic deformed rocks from north-central Wales,Great Britain

Spaced or domainal cleavage is widespread in deformed rocks of low metamorphic grade. This study presents evidence on the origin of spaced cleavage in deformed pelites from Silurian turbidite sequences in north-central Wales. The variable development of cleavage folia is related to the presence of concretions, which served to concentrate strain effects of well-developed cleavage folia in the matrix in some zones and to produce ‘strain shadows’ (few or no cleavage folia) in others. Compositional differences between matrix, narrow transition zones, and concretions also influenced the development of cleavage folia. Chlorite-muscovite porphyroblast growth was initiated before cleavage formation, but its further growth and development took place during cleavage formation. The relationship of cleavage to the concretions and to the chlorite-muscovite porphyroblasts indicates that cleavage developed in a matrix that must have been in an advanced state of lithification (anchimetamorphic to lowermost greenschist facies of metamorphism) and not during soft-sediment deformation.     

Timing of the Acadian Orogeny in Northern New Hampshire

New U-Pb geochronology constrains the timing of the Acadian orogeny in the Central Maine Terrane of northern New Hampshire. Sixteen fractions of one to six grains each of zircon or monazite have been analyzed from six samples: (1) an early syntectonic diorite that records the onset of the Acadian; (2) a schist, a migmatite, and two granites that together record the peak of the Acadian; and (3) a postkinematic pluton that records the end of the Acadian. Zircon from the syntectonic Wamsutta Diorite gives a 207Pb/206Pb age of circa 408 Ma, the time at which the boundary between the deforming orogenic wedge and the foreland basin was in the vicinity of the Presidential Range. This age agrees well with the Emsian position of the northwest migrating Acadian orogenic front and records the beginning of the Acadian in this part of the Central Maine Terrane. We propose a possible Acadian tectonic model that incorporates the geochronologic, structural, and stratigraphic data. Monazite from the schist, migmatite, Bigelow Lawn Granite, and Slide Peak Granite gives 207Pb/206U ages, suggesting the peak of Acadian metamorphism and intrusion of two-mica granites occurred at circa 402-405 Ma, the main pulse of Acadian orogenesis. Previously reported monazite ages from schists that likely record the peak metamorphism in the Central Maine Terrane of New Hampshire and western Maine range from circa 406-384 Ma, with younger ages in southeastern New Hampshire and progressively older ages to the west, north, and northeast. Acadian orogenesis in the Presidential Range had ended by circa 355 Ma, the 207Pb/235U age of monazite from the Peabody River Granite. From 408 to perhaps at least 394 Ma, Acadian orogenesis in the Presidential Range was typical of the tectonic style, dominated by synkinematic metamorphism, seen in central and southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. From no earlier than 394 Ma to as late as 355 Ma, the orogenesis was typical of the style in parts of Maine dominated by postkinematic metamorphism.     

A white mica crystallinity study of the Berwyn Hills, North Wales

Abstract White mica crystallinity studies have been carried out on 90 samples of mudrocks, six of spotted slate, and five of accretionary lapilli tuff from the area around the Berwyn Hills, North Wales. Strain was measured for some of the spotted slate and tuff samples. The metamorphic grade increases from southeast to northwest, with values of the Kübler index varying from 0.64 to 0.20Δ2θ. Metamorphic zonal boundaries follow the strike of bedding and cleavage, but crystallinity values increase into stratigraphically younger rocks on the northwest side of the Berwyn Dome. This effect is attributed mainly to a rapid increase in the thickness of synmetamorphic overburden to the northwest, comprising exposed Silurian turbidites and inferred Lower Devonian non-marine sediments. Strain variations have a more local influence on crystallinity, and lateral variations in the contemporary geothermal gradient cannot be ruled out. However, only with unrealistically high gradients would the need for a thick Lower Devonian component to the overburden be removed. This reasoning implies that the metamorphic peak was coeval with the Acadian (late Caledonian) event, rather than with an early diastathermal event.     

A structural cross-section from the Aureole of the Main Donegal Granite

Seven phases of deformation are recognised in Dalradian metasediments within the NW aureole of the Main Donegal Granite. Major NW facing F2 folds (the Aghla Anticline and Errigal Syncline) refold an originally NW facing slaty cleavage, which is usually parallel to bedding. D3 structures cross-cut the major F2 folds and verge and face to the SE on their normal limbs. A fourth phase of deformation intensifies towards the granite contact and is shown to be broadly coeval with intrusion and responsible for a major structure in the aureole. Three later phases are variably developed throughout the aureole. The kinematics of F4 folds in relation to the granite intrusion are briefly discussed.     

Metallogeny and tectonic development of the Tasman Fold Belt System in Victoria

Current evidence suggests that most of Victoria is underlain by a relatively thick (20 km +) basement of sialic composition of assumed Proterozoic age. This basement is nowhere exposed and its structural relationship with exposed Palaeozoic rocks is conjectural. This uncertainty has resulted in both ensimatic and ensialic tectonic models being proposed for Victoria during the Cambrian.Mineralization associated with Cambrian igneous activity shows a variety of styles from minor orthomagmatic chromite deposits, through Au and Cu deposits of syngenetic or epigenetic origin, to Fe---Mn, Ba occurrences of exhalative volcanogenic affiliation.Cambrian volcanism and associated sedimentation was followed by the deposition of dominantly quartz-rich turbidites with interbedded shale and siliceous units. Subsequent to the epi-Ordovician Benambran Orogeny, late Silurian crustal extension caused several rifts to open along roughly orthogonal NW and NE aligned fractures. Within these fault-bounded depressions, thick acid volcanic sequences were deposited in close association with shallow-marine sediments. Mineralization in these Upper Silurian rocks comprises polymetallic base-metal sulphide lenses and minor disseminations, at least some of which are of exhalative volcanogenic affiliation.The Silurian rifts were obliterated and their rocks strongly deformed during the Bindian (Bowning) deformation during late Silurian to early Devonian time. This in turn was followed by another episode of crustal extension and rifting, during which the formation of a broad meridional trough marks the Buchan Rift. A very thick sequence of largely subaerial bimodal volcanics is overlain by shelf limestone and mudstone. A variety of minor base metal, barite, manganese, and iron mineralization is hosted by these volcanics and shelf sediments.The mid-Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny was followed in the Late Devonian by bimodal volcanism and granite intrusion, and “red-bed”-type non-marine sedimentation. In Central Victoria, thick bimodal volcanics were erupted into a series of cauldron subsidences and intruded by comagmatic granites. Bimodal volcanism also occurred in the Mount Howitt Province farther east, but was followed by deposition of extensive fluviatile and lacustrine sediments (mainly mudstone, sandstone, and minor conglomerate). In the Mansfield Basin, these contain minor sedimentary copper occurrences.There are four distinct episodes of granite emplacement in Victoria, namely Late Cambrian -Early Ordovician (Delamerian) in the Glenelg Zone; Early Silurian (Benambran) in the Highlands Zone; Early Devonian (Bindian) in the Grampians, Ararat-Bendigo, Highlands, and Mallacoota Zones; and Middle Devonian-Carboniferous (post Tabberabberan) in the Ararat- Bendigo, Melbourne, Howqua, and Highlands Zones. Data for the Delamerian granitoids are sketchy, but in the remaining groups S-type granitoids predominate with the exception of eastern Victoria, east of the Yalmy Fault (I-S line), where only I- and A-type granitoids occur. A variety of Sn, Mo, W deposits and prospects are associated with the Benambran and younger intrusive phases.Victoria is a major gold province which has produced nearly 2.5 × 10⁶ kg gold. Primary gold occurs in a number of geological settings including veins and disseminations spatially associated with mafic Cambrian volcanism, vein deposits in turbiditic sequences of central and eastern Victoria, veins associated with mafic and intermediate intrusives of Mid to Late Devonian age, and minor amounts associated with a variety of granitoids and porphyry dykes.