Proterozoic tectonic evolution of the Grenville orogen in North America: An introduction

Tollo, Richard P.; Corriveau, Louise; McLelland, James M.; Bartholomew, Mervin J.

doi:10.1130/0-8137-1197-5.1

Cited by 56 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…These results suggested a high degree of continuity of major tectonic features, such as the ages of the pre-Grenvillian accretion and the timing of the Grenvillian Orogeny, along the 5000 km of exposure in North America (e.g. Mosher et al 2004Mosher et al , 2008Tollo et al 2004;McLelland et al 2010McLelland et al , 2013Rivers et al 2012), and hence that it comprised a single orogen.…”

Section: Achievements Of the Lithoprobe Years -A Retrospective Summarymentioning

confidence: 94%

Tectonic Setting and Evolution of the Grenville Orogen: An Assessment of Progress Over the Last 40 Years

Rivers

2015

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SUMMARYThe Grenville Province is known for its high grade of metamorphism, complex ductile gneissic structure, and polyphase reworking, features indicative of residence in the deep crust (orogenic infrastructure) that hamper recognition of protoliths and original relationships and render tectonic interpretations especially challenging. This paper charts the evolving understanding from the 'Grenville Problem' of the 1950s before the plate tectonic paradigm, through a speculative quasiplate tectonic stage in the 1970s that effectively proved to be a dead end, and the first constrained plate tectonic models for pre-Grenvillian Laurentia in the 1980s, to the recent LHO (large hot orogen) and collapsed LHO models for the Grenville Orogen itself. The collapsed LHO model is based on the finding that significant amounts of the superstructure (upper orogenic crust) are preserved, and that the present crustal architecture can be explained by tectonic juxtaposition of infrastructure and superstructure in a late extensional event associated with crustal-scale collapse of a high-strain channel under an orogenic plateau. Conceptual breakthroughs and critical datasets assembled in the period 1980-2000 that were influential in guiding tectonic thinking are discussed and it is argued that present understanding was contingent on the results of 2-D numerical forward modelling of orogenesis, in particular the LHO experiments and the more recent models of orogenic collapse. As a result, for the first time a conceptual plate tectonic model for the convergence and collapse stages of the Grenville Orogen based on empirical field data (the inverse model) is broadly supported by numerical forward-modelling experiments constrained by physically plausible processes in a LHOand both are available for future testing and refinement. Moreover, they may also have application to other enigmatic high-grade Proterozoic orogens that have resisted simple incorporation within the plate tectonic narrative.

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Section: Achievements Of the Lithoprobe Years -A Retrospective Summarymentioning

confidence: 94%

Tectonic Setting and Evolution of the Grenville Orogen: An Assessment of Progress Over the Last 40 Years

Rivers

2015

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“…The Sveconorwegian orogen in southwestern Scandinavia is regarded as a direct continuation of the Grenville Orogen to the northeast [Hoffman, 1991;Dalziel, 1997;Andersson et al, 2008]. In general, the Grenville-Sveconorwegian Orogen (GSNO) is a combination of crustal fragments that differ from one another in structure and formation history, which were assembled in a single tectonic unit over a vast territory under the influence of vigorous pulses of Meso-Neoproterozoic thermal, magmatic, and tectonic activity from ~1.19 to 0.96 Ga [Wardle et al, 1986;Cosca et al, 1998;Tollo et al, 2004;Cawood et al, 2007;Andersson et al, 2008;Rivers, 2009;Mints, 2014]. The Grenville Orogen contains both Allochthonous and Para-autochthonous belts.…”

Section: Superplume-related Evolution Within Lauoroscandiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and isotopic geochemical characteristics of Archean carbonatites and alkaline rocks of the Baltic shield

2007

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Paradoxically, the lists of "proxies" of both plate-and plume-related settings are devoid of even a mention of the high-grade metamorphic rocks (granulite, amphibolite and high-temperature eclogite facies). However, the granulite-gneiss belts and areas which contain these rocks, have a regional distribution in both the Precambrian and the Phanerozoic records. The origin and evolution of the granulite-gneiss belts correspond to the activity of plumes expressed in vigorous heating of the continental crust; intraplate magmatism; formation of rift depressions filled with sediments, juvenile lavas, and pyroclastic flow deposits; and metamorphism of lower and middle crustal complexes under conditions of granulite and high-temperature amphibolite facies that spreads over the fill of rift depressions also. Granulite-gneiss complexes of the East European Craton form one of the main components of the large oval intracontinental tectonic terranes of regional or continental rank. Inclusion of the granulite-gneiss complexes from Eastern Europe, North and South America, Africa, India, China and Australia in discussion of the problem indicated in the title to this paper, suggests consideration of a significant change in existing views on the relations between the plate-and plume-tectonic processes in geological history, as well as in supercontinent assembly and decay. The East European and North American cratons are fragments of the long-lived supercontinent Lauroscandia. After its appearance at ~2.8 Ga, the crust of this supercontinent evolved under the influence of the sequence of powerful mantle plumes (superplumes) up to ~0.85 Ga. During this time Lauroscandia was subjected to rifting, partial breakup and the following reconstruction of the continent. The processes of plate-tectonic type (rifting with the transition to spreading and closing of the short-lived ocean with subduction) within Lauroscandia were controlled by the superplumes. Revision of the nature of the granulite-gneiss complexes has led to a fundamental new understanding of: a more important role than envisaged previously for mantle-plume processes in the juvenile additions to the continental crust, especially during the Neoarchaean-Proterozoic; the existence of the supercontinent Lauroscandia from ~2.80 to 0.85 Ga; the leading role of mantle plumes in the interaction of plate-and plume-tectonics in the Neoarchaean-Proterozoic history of Lauroscandia and perhaps of the continental crust as a whole. We propose that the evolution of the geodynamic settings of the Earth's crust origin can be represented as a spiral sequence: the interaction of mantle-plume processes and embryonic microplate tectonics during the Palaeo-Mezoarchaean (~3.8-2.8 Ga) → plume-tectonics and local plume-driven plate-tectonics (~2.80-0.55 Ga) → Phanerozoic plate tectonics along with a reduced role of mantle plumes.Key words: Precambrian; plate-tectonics; plume-tectonics; granulite-gneiss belts; supercontinent; intracontinent oval orogenRecommended by E.V. Sklyarov Аннотация: Ка...

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“…A complex history of progressive and superposed folding, shearing and igneous intrusion during the 1. 25-1.19 Ga Elzevirian (McLelland et al, 1996;Moore and Thompson, 1980;Rivers, 1997Rivers, , 2008, 1.19-1.14 Ga Shawinigan (Rivers, 1997), and 1.08-0.98 Ga Grenvillian (Gower and Krogh, 2002;Rivers, 1997Rivers, , 2008Tollo et al, 2004) orogenies has been interpreted for the Bondy gneiss complex and overlying Sourd group by Corriveau and van Breemen (2000), Blein et al (2003) and Harris et al (2001). In the detailed structural analysis of Harris et al (2001), a metamorphic foliation S 1 host to peak-pressure mineral assemblages is folded by two generations of folds (F 2 and F 3 ) and crosscut by leucosomes that host peak-temperature assemblages.…”

Section: Bondy Gneiss Complexmentioning

confidence: 93%

Gravity evidence for a mafic intrusion beneath a mineralized zone in the Bondy gneiss complex, Grenville Province, Quebec — Exploration implications

Dufréchou

Harris

Corriveau

et al. 2011

Journal of Applied Geophysics

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Proterozoic tectonic evolution of the Grenville orogen in North America: An introduction

Cited by 56 publications

References 0 publications

Tectonic Setting and Evolution of the Grenville Orogen: An Assessment of Progress Over the Last 40 Years

Tectonic Setting and Evolution of the Grenville Orogen: An Assessment of Progress Over the Last 40 Years

Age and isotopic geochemical characteristics of Archean carbonatites and alkaline rocks of the Baltic shield

Gravity evidence for a mafic intrusion beneath a mineralized zone in the Bondy gneiss complex, Grenville Province, Quebec — Exploration implications

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