Laurentian provenance and an intracratonic tectonic setting for the Moine Supergroup, Scotland, constrained by detrital zircons from the Loch Eil and Glen Urquhart successions

Cawood, Peter A.; Nemchin, A. A.; Strachan, Rob; Kinny, Peter D.; Loewy, Staci L.

doi:10.1144/16-764903-117

Cited by 123 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 116 publications

(175 reference statements)

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“…Stratigraphic correlations between Moine and Torridonian rocks on either side of the Moine Thrust have been suggested for a long time (Peach et al 1907;Peach and Horne 1930;Kennedy 1951;Sutton & Watson, 1964;Johnstone et al 1969;Nicholson 1993;Prave 1999) but have remained somewhat controversial (Clough in Peach et al 1910;Gibbons and Harris 1994;Stewart 2002;Friend et al2003;Cawood et al 2004). Krabbendam et al (2008) demonstrated that the lower Morar Group and Torridon Group in Ross-shire and Sutherland can be correlated on the basis of similar sedimentology, stratigraphy, detrital zircon ages and…”

Section: Stratigraphic Correlation Across the Moine Thrustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The detrital zircon population in the basal Rubha Guail Formation is indeed dominated by Archean zircons (Kinnaird et al 2007), similar to that of the Stoer Group (Rainbird et al 2001;Kinnaird et al 2007), reflecting proximal provenance from the nearby Lewisian gneiss. However, detrital zircons populations in the Loch na Dal and Kinloch formations are dominated by late-Palaeoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic ages, with little or no Archaean detritus (Kinnaird et al 2007), showing similarities to detrital zircon populations in the Torridon and Moine successions (Rainbird et al 2001;Friend et al 2003;Cawood et al 2004;Kirkland et al 2008). This late-Palaeoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic detritus is clearly distal rather than proximal, reflecting a very different source region than that of the Stoer Group; this is substantiated by the record of distal (exotic) porphyry and rhyolite clasts from higher parts of the Sleat Group (Stewart 2002).…”

Section: Stratigraphic Correlation Across the Moine Thrustmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structure and stratigraphy of the Morar Group in Knoydart, NW Highlands: implications for the history of the Moine Nappe and stratigraphic links between the Moine and Torridonian successions

Krabbendam

Leslie

Goodenough

2014

SJG

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The Caledonian Orogen in Northern Scotland comprises two major thrust nappes: the Moine and the Sgurr Beag Nappe. The Moine Nappe contains early Neoproterozoic Morar Group rocks (Moine Supergroup) and basement inliers. This paper describes the structure and stratigraphy of the Knoydart peninsula, a key area within the southern Moine Nappe. The geology of Knoydart is dominated by a thick internally coherent sequence of Morar Group rocks. This sequence is shown to be deformed by large-scale, west-vergent and west-facing Caledonian (early Palaeozoic) folds that represent D2 within the southern Moine Nappe. Subsequent D3 deformation led to refolding or tightening of F2 folds, so that the major Morar Antiform is in essence a composite F2/F3 fold. F2 and F3 folds are broadly co-axial, but F3 folds have steeper axial planes.The F2/F3 folds refold a regional-scale, originally recumbent, isoclinal F1 fold nappe of probable Knoydartian (mid-Neoproterozoic) age. The F1 fold nappe is cored by a thin sliver of basement gneiss; the lower limb comprises migmatitic Morar Group rocks, exposed in the Morar Window. The upper limb of the F1 fold nappe occupies most of Knoydart and is stratigraphically coherent and right-way-up. Within this sequence, the upper unit of the Lower Morar Psammite is barely deformed, preserving trough-cross-bedding and largescale channels in thick beds. This suggests braided river deposition, similar to the Torridon Group west of the Moine Thrust and the Morar Group in the northern part of the Moine Nappe. On the basis of lithological similarity and stratigraphic disposition, it is suggested that the lowermost part of the Morar Group in Knoydart correlates with the Neoproterozoic Sleat Group on Skye.

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Section: Stratigraphic Correlation Across the Moine Thrustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stratigraphic Correlation Across the Moine Thrustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and stratigraphy of the Morar Group in Knoydart, NW Highlands: implications for the history of the Moine Nappe and stratigraphic links between the Moine and Torridonian successions

Krabbendam

Leslie

Goodenough

2014

SJG

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“…1a; Dalziel & Soper 2001). Partly, on the basis of detrital zircon data, Cawood et al (2004) suggested an intracratonic setting. Krabbendam et al (2008), while working in the lowermost Morar Group, documented fluvial braidplain deposits similar to the Torridon Group farther west, and suggested molasse-type deposition in a foreland basin to the Grenville Orogen.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentology of the early Neoproterozoic Morar Group in northern Scotland: implications for basin models and tectonic setting

Bonsor

Strachan

Prave

et al. 2012

JGS

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The metasedimentary rocks of the Morar Group in northern Scotland form part of the early Neoproterozoic Moine Supergroup. The upper part of the Group is c. 2-3 km thick and contains two large km-scale facies successions: a coarsening-upwards marine-to-fluvial regression overlain by a fining-upwards fluvial-to-marine transgression. Fluvial facies make up less than a third of the total thickness; shallow-marine lithofacies comprise the remainder.Combining these new findings with previously published data indicates that the Morar Group represents, overall, a transgressive stratigraphic succession c. 6-9km thick, in which there is both an upward and eastward predominance of shallow-marine deposits, and a concomitant loss of fluvial facies. Smaller-scale (100s of m thick) transgressive-regressive cycles are superimposed on this transgressive trend. Collectively, the characteristics of the succession are consistent with deposition in a foreland basin located adjacent to the Grenville orogen, and possibly linked to the peri-Rodinian ocean. Subsidence and progressive deepening of the Morar basin may have, at least in part, been driven by loading of Grenville-orogenyemplaced thrust sheets, and aided by sediment loading. However, the relative contributions of thrust loading versus plate boundary effects and/or eustatic sea-level rise on basin evolution remain speculative.

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“…Eriksson et al 2001). Over the last decades, the 43 application of detrital zircon dating has provided a means to constrain the maximum 44 age of deposition and the provenance of the detritus of such sequences (Froude et al 45 1983; Nelson 2001; Cawood et al 2004) and the database of such dates is growing 46 fast (e.g. Cawood et al 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A fluvial origin for the Neoproterozoic Morar Group, NW Scotland; implications for Torridon–Morar Group correlation and the Grenville Orogen foreland basin

Krabbendam

Prave

Cheer

2008

JGS

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Precambrian sedimentary successions are difficult to date and correlate. In the Scottish Highlands, potential correlations between the thick, undeformed siliciclastic ‘Torridonian’ successions in the foreland of the Caledonian Orogen and the highly deformed and metamorphosed siliciclastic Moine succession within the Caledonian Orogen have long intrigued geologists. New and detailed mapping of the Neoproterozoic Altnaharra Formation (Morar Group, lowest Moine Supergroup) in Sutherland has discovered low-strain zones exhibiting well-preserved sedimentary features. The formation comprises 3–5 km of coarse, thick-bedded psammite with abundant nested trough and planar cross-bedding bedforms, defining metre-scale channels. Palaeocurrent directions are broadly unimodal to the NNE–ENE. We interpret the Altnaharra Formation as high-energy, braided fluvial deposits. The Altnaharra Formation and the unmetamorphosed, Neoproterozoic Applecross–Aultbea formations (Torridon Group) are similar in terms of lithology, stratigraphical thickness, sedimentology, geochemistry, detrital zircon ages and stratigraphical position on Archaean basement. Depositional age constraints for both successions overlap and are coeval with late Grenvillean orogenic activity. Detrital zircons imply similar source regions from the Grenville Orogen. The Morar and Torridon groups can thus be correlated across the Caledonian Moine Thrust and are best explained as parts of a single, large-scale, orogen-parallel foreland basin to the Grenville Orogen.

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Laurentian provenance and an intracratonic tectonic setting for the Moine Supergroup, Scotland, constrained by detrital zircons from the Loch Eil and Glen Urquhart successions

Cited by 123 publications

References 116 publications

Structure and stratigraphy of the Morar Group in Knoydart, NW Highlands: implications for the history of the Moine Nappe and stratigraphic links between the Moine and Torridonian successions

Structure and stratigraphy of the Morar Group in Knoydart, NW Highlands: implications for the history of the Moine Nappe and stratigraphic links between the Moine and Torridonian successions

Sedimentology of the early Neoproterozoic Morar Group in northern Scotland: implications for basin models and tectonic setting

A fluvial origin for the Neoproterozoic Morar Group, NW Scotland; implications for Torridon–Morar Group correlation and the Grenville Orogen foreland basin

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