Geology of Saint John, New Brunswick

The upper Middle Cambrian to early Late Cambrian King Square Formation, Saint John Group, southern New Brunswick, is an approximately 380 m thick silicilastic sequence of interbedded fine-grained sandstones and siltstones and shales. On the basis of sandstone to shale/siltstone ratios, bed thickness and characteristics, sedimentary structures and degree of bioturbation three lithofacies are recognized. These are facies KS1, thin bedded sandstone and shale lithofacies; KS2, thick bedded sandstone lithofacies; and KS3, bioturbated shale and siltstone with interbedded sandstone lithofacies. These lithofacies are interpreted to have been deposited on a wave-and storm-influenced marine subtidal shelf. Facies KS 1 was deposited essentially below wave base though in its upper horizons, deposition may have occurred above storm wave base. Facies KS2 was essentially deposited in a shallower subtidal inner-to mid-shelf environment above storm wave base and facies KS3 initially above and latterly below storm wave base. The exact nature of the currents responsible for transportation and deposition of the storm-related sandstones (geostrophic flows or turbidity currents) is impossible to determine and therefore palaeocurrent data must be interpreted with caution. The stratigraphic arrangement of the lithofacies, with facies KS1 being the oldest and KS3 the youngest, suggests that the King Square Formation represents a regressive-transgressive sequence. On interprete ces lithofacies comme ayant ete deposes sur une plateforme marine subtidale influencee par la houle et les tempetes. Le depot du facies KS 1 s'effectua essentiellement sous la zone d 'amortissement de la houle quoique ses horizons superieurs puissent refleter une sedimentation au-dessus de la profondeur d 'amortissement des ondes liees aux tempetes. Le milieu de depot du facies KS2 correspond a un site moins profond, soit la plateforme infralittorale interne ou moyenne, exposee a Faction des ondes de tempetes. Le depot du facies KS3 debuta au-dessus de la profondeur d 'amortissement des ondes liees aux tempetes et continua en-dessous de celle-ci. On ne peut guere determiner la nature exacte des courants geostrophiques ou de turbidite responsables du transport et du depot des gres lies aux tempetes; la prudence est done de mise lors de l'interpretation des donnccs sur les paleocourants. Le facies KS 1 etant le plus ancien et le facies KS 3 le plus recent, 1 ' agencement des lithofacies suggere que la Formation de King Square represente une serie d ' abord regressive puis transgressive.[Traduit par le journal]

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“…Among the fossils, medusoids (( Fig. 4d) Pickerill, 1982), Agnostus pisiformis (Hayes and Howell, 1937) …”

Section: Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cambrian shelf deposits of the King Square Formation, Saint John Group, southern New Brunswick

Tanoli

Pickerill

1989

atgeol

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“…The contacts with basement are always faulted to some degree. Basal conglomerate beds of the Ratcliffe Brook Formation are characteristic of the Caledonia terrane but are lacking in the Brookville sections (Hayes and Howell 1937;Westrop and Landing 2000).…”

Section: Brookville Terranementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others exclude the Brookville and New River terranes from Avalonia. Instead, they consider the presence of similar sequences historically included in the Saint John Group (Hayes and Howell 1937) to indicate that the terranes were rifted from different parts of an extensive Gondwanan continental margin characterized by similar depositional histories (Barr and White 1996b;Barr et al 2003a). The Bras d'Or and Aspy terranes of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia correspond to the Brookville and New River terranes, respectively, in New Brunswick (Barr and Raeside 1989;Barr et al 1998;Lin et al 2007).…”

Section: Geological Overview Of New Brunswick Terranesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Proterozoic to Early Paleozoic Lithotectonic Terranes in New Brunswick, Canada and their Tectonic Evolution during Penobscot, Taconic, Salinic and Acadian Orogenesis

Fyffe

Johnson²,

Staal

2012

atgeol

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Geological relationships preserved in the New Brunswick segment of the Appalachian orogen are key to deciphering the complex tectonic events that occurred during the closing of the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean. These events can be explained in terms of geodynamic interactions between eight lithotectonic terranes. The first, the Caledonia terrane, comprises Neoproterozoic volcanic arc sequences and comagmatic plutons considered to form part of the microcontinent of Avalonia. The seven other terranes are associated with the microcontinent of Ganderia and consist of (1) Brookville terrane-Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic platformal carbonates and Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian plutonic rocks, (2) New River terrane-Neoproterozoic volcanic arc sequences and comagmatic plutons overlain by a Cambrian Penobscot volcanic arc sequence, In New Brunswick, closure of the Iapetus Ocean is attributed to four major tectonic episodes: (1) the Penobscot orogeny, which accreted the Miramichi, Annidale, and St. Croix terranes to the New River terrane on the trailing edge of Ganderia by closing a Penobscot backarc basin in the Early Ordovician, (2) the Taconic orogeny, which accreted the Popelogan terrane on the leading edge of Ganderia to the Laurentian margin in the Late Ordovician and effectively closed the main tract of the Iapetus Ocean, (3) the Salinic orogeny, which accreted the Elmtree and Miramichi terranes to the Laurentian margin by closing the Tetagouche backarc basin in the Silurian, and (4) the Acadian orogeny, which accreted the Caledonia terrane (Avalonia) to the Brookville and New River terranes on the trailing edge of Ganderia in the latest Silurian to earliest Devonian and in the process closed the last remaining oceanic tract in the northeastern Appalachians. RÉSUMÉLes corrélations géologiques préservées dans la partie du Nouveau-Brunswick de l'orogène des Appalaches sont essentielles pour bien comprendre le déroulement des événements tectoniques complexes survenus au moment de la fermeture de l'océan Iapetus, pendant le Paléozoïque. Il est possible d'expliquer ces événements par des interactions géodynamiques entre huit terranes lithotectoniques. Le premier, soit le terrane calédonien, comprend des séquences d'arc volcanique et des plutons comagmatiques du Néoprotérozoïque dont on estime qu'ils faisaient partie du microcontinent Avalonia. Les sept autres terranes sont associés au microcontinent Ganderia et comprenaient les terranes que voici : (1)

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“…The Precambrian basement rocks of the Brookville Terrane are locally in fault contact with Cambrian platformal quartzose sandstone of the Saint John Group (Hayes and Howell 1937;Alcock 1938;Landing and Westrop 1996).…”

Section: Brookville Terranementioning

confidence: 99%

The Grand Manan Terrane of New Brunswick: Tectonostratigraphy and Relationship to the Gondwanan Margin of the Iapetus Ocean

Fyffe

2014

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Recently gathered stratigraphic and U–Pb geochronological data indicate that the pre-Triassic rocks of the Grand Manan Terrane on the eastern side of Grand Manan Island can be divided into: (1) Middle Neoproterozoic (late Cryogenian) quartzose and carbonate sedimentary sequences (The Thoroughfare and Kent Island formations); (2) a Late Neoproterozoic (early Ediacaran) volcanic-arc sequence (Ingalls Head Formation); and (3) Late Neoproterozioc (mid- Ediacaran) to earliest Cambrian (early Terreneuvian) sedimentary and volcanic-arc sequences (Great Duck Island, Flagg Cove, Ross Island, North Head, Priest Cove, and Long Pond Bay formations). A comparison to Precambrian terranes on the New Brunswick mainland (Brookville and New River terranes) and in adjacent Maine (Islesboro Terrane) suggests that the sedimentary and volcanic sequences of the Grand Manan Terrane were deposited on the continental margin of a Precambrian ocean basin that opened during the breakup of Rodinia in the Middle Neoproterozoic (Cryogenian) and closed by the Early Cambrian (Terreneuvian) with the final assembling of Gondwana. Rifting associated with the initial opening of the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean began in the Late Neoproterozoic (late Ediacaran) and so overlapped in time with the closing of the Precambrian Gondwanan ocean. The southeastern margin of the Iapetus Ocean is defined by thick sequences of quartz-rich Cambrian sediments (within the St. Croix and Miramichi terranes of New Brunswick) that were largely derived from recycling of Precambrian passive-margin sedimentary rocks preserved in the Grand Manan and Brookville terranes of New Brunswick and in the Islesboro Terrane of Maine. These Precambrian terranes are interpreted to represent dextrally displaced basement remnants of the Gondwanan continental margin of Iapetus, consistent with the model of a two-sided Appalachian system proposed by Hank Williams in 1964 based on his work in Newfoundland.SOMMAIREDes données stratigraphiques et géochronologiques U–Pb obtenues récemment indiquent que les roches prétriasiques du terrane de Grand Manan du côté est de l’île Grand Manan peuvent être répartis en: 1) séquences sédimentaires quartzeuses et carbonatées du Néoprotérozoïque moyen (Cryogénien tardif) (formations de Thoroughfare et de Kent Island); 2) séquence d’arc volcanique du Néoprotérozoïque tardif (Édiacarien précoce) (formation d’Ingalls Head); 3) séquences sédimentaires et d’arc volcanique du Néoprotérozoïque tardif (milieu de l’Édiacarien) au tout début du Cambrien (Terreneuvien précoce) (formations de Great Duck Island, Flagg Cove, Ross Island, North Head, Priest Cove et Long Pond Bay). Une comparaison avec des terranes du Précambrien dans la partie continentale du Nouveau-Brunswick (terranes de Brookville et New River) et dans le Maine adjacent (terrane d’Islesboro) semble indiquer que les séquences sédimentaires et volcaniques du terrane de Grand Manan se sont déposées sur la marge continentale d’un bassin océanique précambrien qui s’est ouvert durant la fracturation de la Rodinia au Néoprotérozoïque moyen (Cryogénien) et s’est fermé au Cambrien précoce (Terreneuvien) avec l’assemblage final du Gondwana. La distension continentale associée à l’ouverture initiale de l’océan Iapetus au Paléozoïque a commencé au Néoprotérozoïque tardif (Édiacarien tardif) et a donc partiellement coïncidé avec la fermeture de l’océan précambrien du Gondwana. La marge sud-est de l’océan Iapetus est définie par d’épaisses séquences de sédiments cambriens riches en quartz (dans les terranes de St. Croix et de Miramichi du Nouveau-Brunswick) issus en grande partie du recyclage de roches sédimentaires de la marge continentale passive du Précambrien préservées dans les terranes de Grand Manan et de Brookville au Nouveau-Brunswick et dans le terrane d’Islesboro dans le Maine. Ces terranes précambriens sont interprétés comme la représentation de vestiges, ayant subi un déplacement dextre, du socle de la marge continentale gondwanienne de l’océan Iapetus, ce qui concorde avec le modèle d’un système appalachien à deux côtés proposé par Hank Williams en 1964 sur la base de ses travaux à Terre-Neuve.

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Geology of Saint John, New Brunswick

Cited by 59 publications

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Cambrian shelf deposits of the King Square Formation, Saint John Group, southern New Brunswick

Cambrian shelf deposits of the King Square Formation, Saint John Group, southern New Brunswick

A Review of Proterozoic to Early Paleozoic Lithotectonic Terranes in New Brunswick, Canada and their Tectonic Evolution during Penobscot, Taconic, Salinic and Acadian Orogenesis

The Grand Manan Terrane of New Brunswick: Tectonostratigraphy and Relationship to the Gondwanan Margin of the Iapetus Ocean

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