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Original Article |
1 1Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0E8, Canada (e-mail: pvalverd@NRCan.gc.ca)
2 2Present address: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, La Calera 1, Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain
3 3Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1B 3X5, Canada
Fieldwork coupled with UPb dating has clarified the relationships between the Exploits and Gander-derived rocks in central Newfoundland during the Mid-Ordovician opening of the Exploits back-arc basin, reinforcing correlation across the peri-Gondwanan segments of the AppalachianCaledonian orogen. We have separated a new back-arc-related unit, the Red Cross Group, from the arc-related Victoria Lake Supergroup. This group includes 466 ± 3 Ma felsic volcanic rock interlayered with alkali basaltenriched mid-ocean ridge basalt, 457 ± 6 Ma gabbro, LlanvirnCaradoc normal mid-ocean ridge basaltisland arc tholeite, limestone, black shale and mélange. Locally the Red Cross Group is in parautochthonous contact with low-grade Gander psammite. This contact was overrun by the Meelpaeg Metamorphic Nappe during the Devonian. The nappe contains Gander metapsammite (Meelpaeg Subzone) and the coticule-bearing Howley Waters Complex (Exploits), which hosts 467 ± 3 Ma felsic porphyry. The Gander and Exploits metasediments in the nappe are stitched by ArenigLlanvirn granite (467 ± 6 Ma and 468 +3.5/3 Ma) and Caradoc intrusions (458 ± 3 Ma and 454 ± 2 Ma). Metamorphic monazite (462 ± 1 Ma) and titanite (460 ± 3 Ma) from the nearby Mount Cormack Subzone (Gander) indicate the coeval formation of a low-pressurehigh-temperature metamorphic dome. The widespread presence of Caradoc magmatism suggests that the width of the back-arc basin remained relatively narrow.
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