| Abstract: | Polydeformed recumbent fold complexes of upper greenschist to low amphibolite facies bound the central Ordovician ophiolite terrane of the northeastern Appalachians on both sides, separate it from the platforms on the northwest and southeast and impart a symmetry to the system which is particularly well displayed in northern Newfoundland. These metamorphic complexes or marginal crystalline belts contain metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks whose deformation and metamorphism predate Ordovician ophiolitic rocks of the central part of the system and hence were not the product of Ordovician ocean-floor spreading. The metasediments of the marginal crystalline belts have characteristics similar to sediments of continental-rise prisms while the metavolcanic rocks are similar to island arc, or locally to ophiolitic sequences. Furthermore, the crystalline belts in Newfoundland contain linear mafic/ultramafic complexes within them of ophiolitic aspect and comparable age to the surrounding metamorphic rocks. In the northwestern marginal crystalline belt this mafic/ultramafic complex has not only controlled the late depositional development of the belt, but also apparently occupies the symmetry axis of the recumbent fold complex and is spatially related to deformation intensity. It is suggested that these mafic/ultramafic complexes represent remnants of small ocean basins that opened within the continental-rise prisms. Tectonism resulted from closure of these basins associated with some transform movement, bringing a continental fragment back into contact with the rest of the continental margin. Closure is dated as Late Cambrian in the northwest and Late Precambrian in the southeast. This new mechanism for deformation of the marginal crystalline belts explains many of the details of geologic development not accounted for by earlier models. The implications of these Late Precambrian-Early Paleozoic processes on both sides of the proto-Atlantic Ocean are investigated to elucidate later plate development in Newfoundland. It is suggested that the later Acadian (Middle Devonian) orogeny may have been the result of convergence of oceanic trenches, leading to formation of transform faults. If correct, continental collision took place locally but was not the fundamental cause of the orogeny. This accounts for facies distribution and the contrast in metamorphism, deformation intensity and structural style between the Acadian and the earlier orogenic episodes. |
