Geochemistry of the Boil Mountain ophiolitic complex, northwest Maine, and tectonic implications

Abstract

A coherent ophiolitic complex of pyroxenite, serpentinite, metagabbro, mafic volcanics, felsic volcanics and sediments crops out in NW Maine, adjacent to the Chain Lakes massif. The complex (here informally referred to as the Boil Mountain ophiolitic complex) is about 500 m.y. old. The volcanic sequence is not typical of ophiolites in that it contains a large proportion of felsic volcanics. The mafic volcanics are divided into two geochemical groups. A stratigraphically lower group is depleted in Ti, Zr, Y, Cr and REE contents similar to basalts from supra-subduction zone ophiolites. An upper mafic group has trace element contents similar to normal mid-ocean ridge basalts. The felsic volcanics are mostly rhyolitic and similar to low-K rhyolites found in the forearc of the Marianas trench and in an island arc sequence in the Klamath Mountains, California. The flat REE patterns of the felsic volcanic rocks are similar to those found in siliceous rocks in the Oman ophiolite. The presence of thick sequences of felsic volcanics, the abundance of pyroxenite, the low Ti, Zr and REE contents of some mafic rocks, the flat REE patterns of the felsic volcanics, and the composition of clinopyroxene all suggest the complex was formed in the vicinity of a subduction zone. The complex may be correlated with ophiolitic fragments in the eastern part of the Dunnage Zone in Newfoundland, rather than the main ophiolite belt of the western Appalachians.