Jean Claude Roy,Signal Hill from Fort Amherst , oil on canvas / huile sur toile, 48” x 72”, 2006 FIELD TRIP GUIDEBOOK - B3 STRATIGRAPHY, TECTONICS AND PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF THE DEFORMED LAURENTIAN MARGIN AND FORELAND BASINS IN WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND Leaders: John W.F. Waldron, Larry Hicks and Shawna E. White CONGRES` ANNUEL CONJOINT FIELD TRIP GUIDEBOOK – B3 STRATIGRAPHY, TECTONICS AND PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF THE DEFORMED LAURENTIAN MARGIN AND FORELAND BASINS IN WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND FIELD TRIP LEADERS John W.F. Waldron1, Larry Hicks2 and Shawna E. White1 1Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB 2Petroleum Resource Division, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 May, 2012 OVERVIEW OF THE FIELD TRIP Western Newfoundland is a classic area for the development of the latest Precambrian to Middle Ordovician succession of the Laurentian passive continental margin. It also provides a world-class record of the foundering of the continental shelf, emplacement of allochthons including oceanic crustal rocks, and subsequent deformational events from Ordovician to Devonian. The region is also an active area for petroleum exploration, although it has yet to yield major discoveries. This field trip explores the fasci- nating sedimentary record, with an emphasis on facies variations now telescoped by deformation, and the implications of regional structure and stratigraphy for petroleum exploration. This is a place where you can step from the peritidal zone, down the continental slope, and into the abyssal plain in just a few out- crops, while you gaze across the water at towering ophiolite mountains. The itinerary includes parts of Gros Morne National Park, and also the rich fossil localities of the Port-au-Port Peninsula and Table Point. For anyone interested in Paleozoic stratigraphy and tectonics, this field trip is an ideal excursion. Recommended citation: Waldren, J.W.F., Hicks, L. and White, S.E. 2012: Stratigraphy, tectonics and petroleum potential of the deformed Laurentian margin and fore- land basins in western Newfoundland. Geological Association of Canada–Mineralogical Association of Canada Joint Annual Meeting, Field Trip Guidebook B3. Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey, Open File NFLD/3172, 131 pages. CONTENTS Page SAFETY INFORMATION . xi General Information . xi Specific Hazards . xii PART 1. OVERVIEW OF THE GEOLOGY OF WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND . 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 Significance of West Newfoundland Geology . 1 Major Geological Subdivisions . 4 Orogenic History. 5 STRATIGRAPHY. 6 Laurentian Basement . 6 Shelf Succession: Passive Margin of Laurentia . 6 Labrador Group. 6 Port au Poart and St. Georges Groups . 9 Taconian Foreland Basin. 13 Table Head Group. 13 Goose Tickle Group . 15 Lauarentian Slope and Rise: Humber Arm Supergroup. 15 Platform Edge: Watsons Brook Succession . 16 Proximal Slope and Rise: Cow Head Succession . 19 Distal Slope and Rise: Corner Brook Succession . 20 Allochthonous Sandstone Basin: Woods Island Succession . 21 Post-Taconian Foreland Basin Successions . 23 Long Point Group . 23 Clam Bank–Red Island Road Succession. 23 Maritimes Basin: Carboniferous Rocks . 25 STRUCTURE . 25 Rifted Margin Structures. 25 Humber Arm Allochthon . 26 Synsedimentary and Penecontemporaneous Structures . 26 Fragmentation and Mélange . 26 Fabrics. 29 Folds . 29 Thrusts. 30 Early Thrusts in the Platform Succession. 32 Regional S2 Cleavage and Associated Structures . 32 S2 Cleavage . 32 F2 Folds . 35 Shear Zones and Later Structures. 35 Post-Taconian Appalachian Structurse . 36 Carboniferous Structures. 40 i Page TECTONIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE OROGEN . 40 Taconian Arc-continent Collision . 40 Post-Taconian Structures. 41 Acadian Thrusting and Development of the Offshore ‘Triangle Zone’ . 43 Post-Acadian Deformation . 43 PART 2. PETROLEUM EXPLORATION HISTORY . 44 EARLY HISTORY TO 1987 . 44 Parson’s Pond . 44 St. Paul’s Inlet . 45 Port au Port Peninsula. 45 RECENT PETROLEUM ACTIVITY (1987–PRESENT) . 46 Port au Port Area (Anticosti South) . 46 Bay of Islands (Anticosti Central) . 48 Northern Peninsula (Anticosti North). 49 PART 3. FIELD TRIP STOPS. 54 DAY 1. EARLY PALEOZOIC LAURENTIAN MARGIN . 54 STOP 1.1: Corner Brook TCH Lookout . 55 STOP 1.2: Indian Head . 57 STOP 1.3: Aguathuna. 59 STOP 1.4: Green Head. 60 STOP 1.5: Campbell’s Creek . 63 STOP 1.6: Marches Point. 63 STOP 1.7: Garden Hill. 64 STOP 1.8: Cape Cormorant . 65 DAY 2. FORELAND BASINS TO HUMBER ARM ALLOCHTHON . 69.