Ar Study of Oceanic and Continental Deformation Processes During An
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A(40)Ar/(39) Ar study of oceanic and continental deformation processes during an oblique collision: Taconian orogeny in the Quebec reentrant of the Canadian Appalachians Michel Malo, Gilles Ruffet, Alix Pincivy, Alain Tremblay To cite this version: Michel Malo, Gilles Ruffet, Alix Pincivy, Alain Tremblay. A(40)Ar/(39) Ar study of oceanic and continental deformation processes during an oblique collision: Taconian orogeny in the Quebec reen- trant of the Canadian Appalachians. Tectonics, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2008, 27 (4), pp.TC4001. 10.1029/2006TC002094. insu-00322674 HAL Id: insu-00322674 https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00322674 Submitted on 29 Jun 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. TECTONICS, VOL. 27, TC4001, doi:10.1029/2006TC002094, 2008 A 40Ar/39Ar study of oceanic and continental deformation processes during an oblique collision: Taconian orogeny in the Quebec reentrant of the Canadian Appalachians Michel Malo,1 Gilles Ruffet,2 Alix Pincivy,1 and Alain Tremblay3 Received 7 December 2006; revised 9 January 2008; accepted 10 March 2008; published 1 July 2008. [1] Two phases of penetrative deformation are Stockmal et al., 1987; Malo et al., 1995; van Staal et documented in the Taconian hinterland of the al., 1998], particularly for the Ordovician Taconian orogeny Appalachian orogen in the Gaspe´ Peninsula. D1 is with diachronous collisional events occurring later in the associated with the obduction of the Mont-Albert Quebec reentrant than on the Newfoundland promontory ophiolite onto the Paleozoic Laurentian margin, [Stockmal et al., 1987; Castonguay et al., 2001; Pincivy et whereas D2 corresponds to later transport of al., 2003]. In the Gaspe´ Peninsula, the geometry of the irregular Laurentian margin has also induced strike-slip allochthons across the margin. In the metamorphic deformation along major faults during the Devonian Aca- sole, S1 is a SE-dipping mylonitic fabric with a dian orogeny [Malo et al., 1992; Malo and Kirkwood, 1995; downdip lineation. In underlying metabasalts, D1 is Kirkwood, 1999; Malo, 2001; Sacks et al., 2004]. Such characterized by NW-overturned and recumbent strike-slip deformation could also have happened during the folds, and a subhorizontal S1 schistosity with an Ordovician Taconian orogeny because of the irregular ENE-trending orogen-parallel lineation. D2 is geometry of the margin inherited from the Neoproterozoic characterized by a S2 steeply dipping penetrative Grenvillian basement [Williams, 1995]. On the other hand, axial-planar crenulation cleavage and NE-trending F2 the Taconian structural style in the Canadian Appalachians folds. The intraoceanic thrusting of ophiolite is dated at is traditionally associated with thrust tectonics and emplace- 465 Ma (early D1) whereas emplacement of ophiolite ment of allochthons onto the lower Paleozoic platform to and subsequent deformation of the margin was recorded the northwest, toward the Grenville Province [Bird and Dewey, 1970; St-Julien and Hubert, 1975; Williams, by isotopic signatures between 459 and 456 Ma 1979; Pinet and Tremblay, 1995; Cawood et al., 1995; (late D1). D2 is dated at 448 Ma throughout the Waldron et al., 1998]. The geological map of the Gaspe´ hinterland. Taconian transpressive deformation is Peninsula reflects this thrust tectonics style depicting dis- related to an oblique collision within the Quebec tinct nappes of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks limited by reentrant of the Canadian Appalachians during the large-scale NE-trending thrust faults [Slivitzky et al., 1991]. Ordovician. Citation: Malo, M., G. Ruffet, A. Pincivy, and Nevertheless, for the past 15 years, detailed structural A. Tremblay (2008), A 40Ar/39Ar study of oceanic and continental analyses in the metamorphic domains of the Cambrian- deformation processes during an oblique collision: Taconian Ordovician allochthons revealed a NE-trending orogen- orogeny in the Quebec reentrant of the Canadian Appalachians, parallel lineation [St-Julien et al., 1990; Camire´etal., Tectonics, 27, TC4001, doi:10.1029/2006TC002094. 1993] and some indications of dextral shearing along one of the synmetamorphic large-scale ENE-trending faults, the Shickshock Sud fault [Sacks et al., 2004]. These structural 1. Introduction features are unusual in Cambrian-Ordovician rocks of the Gaspe´ Peninsula and elsewhere in the Canadian Appala- [2] The eastern margin of the Laurentian craton is formed by promontories and reentrants (Figure 1) [Thomas, 1977]. chians and must be explained in terms of the Ordovician The Gaspe´ Peninsula of the Canadian Appalachians is collisional history of the orogen. Preliminary geochrono- located in the innermost part of the Quebec reentrant, near logical data on regional metamorphism allowed to roughly the flank with the Newfoundland promontory. This particular estimate the timing of the deformation in the Taconian geometry has influenced the tectonic evolution of the hinterland of the Gaspe´ Peninsula, as early Late Ordovi- mountain belt during Paleozoic time [Thomas, 1977; cian [Lux, 1986; Pincivy, 2003; Pincivy et al., 2003]. In the present paper, we present a detailed geochronological and structural study, in and around the Taconian hinterland, 1Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique Eau, Terre et which supports a new kinematic model for the early Environnement, Quebec, Quebec, Canada. Paleozoic orogenic events in the Quebec reentrant. Our 2Universite´deRennes1,Ge´osciences Rennes, CNRS INSU, new data from the Gaspe´ Peninsula help to better define UMR6118, Rennes, France. the timing and geodynamic setting of tectonic processes 3De´partement des Sciences de la Terre, Universite´ du Que´bec a` Montre´al, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. related to the closure of the Humber seaway [Waldron and van Staal, 2001; van Staal, 2005] of the Ordovician Iapetus Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union. Ocean. In the following, our use of ‘‘obduction’’ includes 0278-7407/08/2006TC002094 TC4001 1of29 TC4001 MALO ET AL.: AR/AR AGES TACONIAN DEFORMATION, GASPE TC4001 Figure 1. Gaspe´ Peninsula geology. BBL, Baie Verte-Brompton line; BNOF, Bras Nord-Ouest fault; MMI, Maquereau-Mictaw inlier; GPF, Grand Pabos fault; LL, Logan’s Line; LRC, Lac Re´demption Complex; MCF, Me´chins-Carcy fault; SSF, Shickshock Sud fault; NF, Newfoundland; 99GASP14 and 192, location of two samples from the LRC. 2of29 TC4001 MALO ET AL.: AR/AR AGES TACONIAN DEFORMATION, GASPE TC4001 Geology of the hinterland and location of samples. Figure 2. 3of29 TC4001 MALO ET AL.: AR/AR AGES TACONIAN DEFORMATION, GASPE TC4001 both early intraoceanic thrusting and structural thickening of ranes and Laurentia with its Taconian accreted terranes the ophiolite nappe, and final emplacement onto the [Malo et al., 1995]. It is characterized in the Gaspe´ Belt continental margin [Gray et al., 2000]. by large, open and upright NE-trending folds, NW-directed high-angle reverse faults and dextral ENE- to E-trending strike-slip faults such as the Shickshock Sud and the Grand 2. Regional Geological Setting Pabos faults (Figure 1). Deformation features related to [3] Three Paleozoic rock assemblages of the Canadian these two major strike-slip faults are compatible with a Appalachians constitute the Gaspe´Peninsula[Williams, classical strike-slip tectonics model [Malo and Be´land, 1995] (Figure 1): (1) lower Paleozoic rocks of the ancient 1989; Sacks et al., 2004]. New seismic data in the Gaspe´ passive margin of Laurentia (Humber zone) and the Belt suggest that transpressional Middle Devonian Acadian adjacent oceanic domain of Iapetus Ocean (Dunnage folding and faulting were preceded by an initial stage of zones); (2) middle Paleozoic rocks of the successor basin, shortening that produced tectonic structures typical of fold the Gaspe´ Belt; and (3) Carboniferous rocks of the Maritimes and thrust belt [Beausoleil et al., 2002; Kirkwood et al., Basin. The lower Paleozoic rocks were affected by both the 2004]. During the Late Silurian, a minor tectonic event Middle to Late Ordovician Taconian orogeny and the known as the Salinic disturbance is marked by angular and/ Middle to Late Devonian Acadian orogeny; the middle or erosional unconformities, synsedimentary faulting and Paleozoic rocks have been mainly deformed by the Acadian extensional-related folding mainly recorded in northeastern orogeny, but they also contain structural features attributed Gaspe´ Peninsula [Bourque, 2001; Malo, 2001]. to the Siluro-Devonian Salinic disturbance [Malo, 2001]; the lower, middle and upper Paleozoic rock assemblages 3. Lithostratigraphy in and Around the were largely unaffected by the Late Pensylvanian–Permian Alleghanian orogeny. Taconian Hinterland of Northern Gaspe´ [4] Rocks of the Humber zone, mainly located in the Peninsula northern part of the peninsula but also in the Maquereau- [6] The Taconian hinterland in the Gaspe´ Peninsula Mictaw inlier to the south (Figure 1), represent rift-related comprises four fault-bounded tectonostratigraphic domains. basalts, slope and rise deposits.