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Crystallization and emplacement chronology of the Fournier oceanic fragment, Canadian Appalachians

Nature volume 344, pages 232–235 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

COLLISION zones between the plates that form the Earth's surface are commonly delineated by displaced fragments of oceanic crust and mantle. These fragments are important because they can be used to constrain the timing of the generation and destruction of former oceans by means of radiometrie and fossil studies. In the Northern Appalachian/Caledonian orogen of Canada, the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, the majority of the oceanic fragments crystallized between 480 and 500 Myr ago in basins marginal to the lapetus Ocean, and were emplaced onto continental margins at least 10 Myr later. Here we report a significant exception: U/Pb geochronology of zircons extracted from a plagiogranite in the Fournier oceanic fragment of the Canadian Appalachians reveals a much younger crystallization age of 461+3-2 Myr, whereas fossil evidence indicates continental incorporation in the Silurian. Some lapetan marginal basins therefore continued to develop, or were created, after the early Ordovician.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, E3B 5A3

    J. G. Spray & P. A. Flagler

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada, A1B 3X5

    G. R. Dunning

Authors
  1. J. G. Spray
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  2. P. A. Flagler
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  3. G. R. Dunning
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Spray, J., Flagler, P. & Dunning, G. Crystallization and emplacement chronology of the Fournier oceanic fragment, Canadian Appalachians. Nature 344, 232–235 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/344232a0

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