Deformation of the western margin of the Omineca Belt near Crooked Lake, east-central British Columbia

Abstract

The western margin of the Omineca Belt near Crooked Lake, British Columbia, consists of metasedimentary rocks (Snowshoe Group) and orthogneisses of the Barkerville terrane, structurally overlain by a mafic volcanic – sedimentary package of rocks belonging to the allochthonous Slide Mountain (Crooked Amphibolite) and Quesnel terranes (Triassic phyllite and Nicola Group). At least two episodes of regional deformational (phases 2 and 3) affected this composite package. Deformation and metamorphism (phase 1) in the Snowshow Group predate the formation of this package and are nowhere evident within the allochthonous terranes.Middle Jurassic metamorphism ranging from chlorite zone through sillimanite zone affected all units. Isograds are folded, together with the junction between the terranes, indicating that the metamorphic assemblages developed prior to folding of this boundary. Granitic orthogneiss (Boss Mountain, Quesnel Lake, and Perseus gneisses), having a minimum age of Late Devonian to Early Pennsylvanian, was intruded into and deformed with the Snowshoe Group during the earliest recognizable phase of deformation in the Barkerville terrane (phase 1). Slide Mountain terrane rocks occupy a narrow zone where large eastward displacement occurred during overthrusting of the Intermontane superterrane upon the western margin of North America in Middle Jurassic time.