The Tasmanides in eastern Australia record accretionary processes along the eastern Gondwana margin during the Phanerozoic. The Gympie terrane is the easternmost segment of the Tasmanides, but whether its origin was autochthonous or allochthonous is a matter of debate. We present U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks of the Gympie terrane with the aim of tracing the source of the sediments and constraining their tectonic relationships with the Tasmanides. Our results show that the Permian stratigraphic units from the Gympie terrane mainly contain Carboniferous and Permian detrital zircons with dominant age peaks at~263 Ma,~300 Ma,~310 Ma, and~330 Ma. The provenance ages of the Triassic sedimentary units are similar (~256 Ma,~295 Ma, and~328 Ma) with an additional younger age peak of~240 Ma. This pattern of provenance ages from the Gympie terrane is correlative to episodes of magmatism in the adjacent component of the Tasmanides (New England Orogen), indicating that the detrital zircons were dominantly derived from the Australian continent. Given the widespread input of detrital zircons from the Tasmanides, we think that the sedimentary sequence of the Gympie terrane was deposited along the margin of the eastern Australian continent, possibly in association with a Permo-Triassic continental arc system. Our results do not show evidence for an exotic origin of the Gympie terrane, indicating that similarly to the vast majority of the Tasmanides, the Gympie terrane was genetically linked to the Australian continent.

The mechanisms that drove Permian‐Triassic orogenesis in Australia and throughout the Cordilleran‐type Gondwanan margin is a subject of debate. Here we present field‐based results on the structural evolution of the Gympie Terrane (eastern Australia), with the aim of evaluating its possible role in triggering widespread orogenesis. We document several deformation events (D1–D3) in the Gympie Terrane and show that the earliest deformation, D1, occurred only during the final pulse of orogenesis (235–230 Ma) within the broader Gondwanide Orogeny. In addition, we found no evidence for a crustal suture, suggesting that terrane accretion was not the main mechanism behind deformation. Rather, the similar spatiotemporal evolution of Permian‐Triassic orogenic belts in Australia, Antarctica, South Africa, and South America suggest that the Gondwanide Orogeny was more likely linked to large‐scale tectonic processes such as plate reorganization. In the context of previous work, our results highlight a number of spatial and temporal variations in pulses of deformation in eastern Australia, suggesting that shorter cycles of deformation occurred at a regional scale within the broader episode of the Gondwanide Orogeny. Similarly to the Cenozoic evolution of the central and southern Andes, we suggest that plate coupling and orogenic cycles in the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic Gondwanide Orogeny have resulted from the superposition of mechanisms acting at a range of scales, perhaps contributing to the observed variations in the intensity, timing, and duration of deformation phases within the orogenic belt.

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The Poplar Mountain gold occurrence in western New Brunswick is hosted in the Poplar Mountain volcanic complex (PMVC), which is located along the southern segment of the regional Woodstock fault zone. The PMVC consists of three principal units including, in ascending order, a porphyritic felsic volcanic unit, a volcaniclastic unit, and a mafic volcanic unit. U-Pb dating of zircon indicates that the age of the volcanic rocks is younger than 459 ± 3 Ma, and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dating of mineralization-associated sericite indicates that the age of mineralization is 411 ± 3.7 Ma. Gold-mineralized zones occur in all the lithologic units but mainly in the porphyritic felsic volcanic unit. Gold zones are not controlled by individual faults but are characterized by high-density brittle fracturing, thin carbonate-quartz veining, and intensive ankerite-sericite alteration, superimposed on an earlier chlorite-calcite-quartz alteration. Gold is associated with arsenopyrite, which mostly occurs as disseminations in the host rocks, and to a lesser extent with quartz-carbonate-sericite veins and quartz-cemented breccias.Geochemical data indicate that mineralization-associated alteration is characterized by enrichment of K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Sr, Ba, As, Sb, W, C, and S. Fluid inclusion data indicate that the mineralizing fluids are composed of H 2 O, salts, and CO 2 with variable amounts of N 2 and CH 4 ; salinities range from 2.3 to 10.6 eq. wt.% NaCl, but mainly from 2.3 to 5.6 eq. wt.% NaCl, and homogenization temperatures lie mainly between 220° and 270°C. Fluid pressures at the site of mineralization are estimated to have been 770 to 1200 bars, corresponding to a depth of 2.9 to 4.6 km at lithostatic pressure. The δ 18 OSMOW and δ 13 CPDB values of mineralization-related ankerite range from +14.5‰ to +16.5‰, and -6.8‰ to -8.3‰, respectively. The δ 18 O values of the ore-forming fluids are estimated to be 6.4‰ to 8.3‰ at a temperature of 250°C. These carbon and oxygen isotope data fall in the field of magmatic fluids and in part the field of metamorphic fluids.Considering the geological setting of the region, abundant granitic intrusions, the similarity between the age of mineralization (411 ± 3.7 Ma) and the nearby Pokiok batholith (402-415 Ma), and the enrichment of granophile elements in mineralization-related alteration, the ore-forming fluids were probably derived from a granitic intrusion underneath the PMVC. These fluids were focused along structures related to the Woodstock fault. The Poplar Mountain gold occurrence might be compared to some granitic intrusion-related gold systems based on the geochemical data presented herein.Sommaire -L'indice aurifère de Poplar Mountain dans l'ouest du Nouveau Brunswick est contenu dans le complexe volcanique de Poplar Mountain (CVPM), lequel est situé le long du segment sud de la zone de faille régionale de Woodstock. Les trois unités principales du CVPM sont, de la base au sommet, une unité volcanique felsique porphyrique, une unité volcaniclastique et une unité volcanique mafique. La datati...

The southwestern Pacific region consists of segmented and translated continental fragments of the Gondwanan margin. Tectonic reconstructions of this region are challenged by the fact that many fragmented continental blocks are submerged and/or concealed under younger sedimentary cover. The Queensland Plateau (offshore northeastern Australia) is one such submerged continental block. We present detrital zircon geochronological and morphological data, complemented by petrographic observations, from samples obtained from the only two drill cores that penetrated the Paleozoic metasedimentary strata of the Queensland Plateau (Ocean Drilling Program leg 133, sites 824 and 825). Results provide maximum age constraints of 319.4 § 3.5 and 298.9 § 2.5 Ma for the time of deposition, which in conjunction with evidence for deformation, indicate that the metasedimentary successions are most likely upper Carboniferous to lower Permian. A comparison of our results with a larger dataset of detrital zircon ages from the Tasmanides suggests that the Paleozoic successions of the Queensland Plateau formed in a backarc basin that was part of the northern continuation of the New England Orogen and/or the East Australian Rift System. However, unlike most of the New England Orogen, a distinctive component of the detrital zircon age spectra of the Mossman Orogen is also recognised, suggesting the existence of a late Paleozoic drainage system that crossed the northern Tasmanides en route from the North Australian Craton. A distinctive shift from abraded zircon grains to grains with well-preserved morphology at ca 305 Ma reflects a direct drainage of firstcycle sediments, most likely from an outboard arc and/or backarc magmatism.