Structural Succession, Nomenclature, and Interpretation of Transported Rocks in Western Newfoundland

Abstract

The Humber Arm and Hare Bay Allochthons of Western Newfoundland are made up of a variety of sedimentary rocks and volcanic and plutonic rocks that originated toward the east and record the evolution and destruction of the ancient continental margin of Eastern North America. Five contrasting rock assemblages that constitute different structural slices are defined and delineated in the Humber Arm Allochthon. Six contrasting rock assemblages constitute the Hare Bay Allochthon. In each allochthon, the lower structural slices consist of sedimentary rocks and the highest structural slice consists of the ophiolite suite. The stacking order and mode of assembly indicate that progressively higher slices travelled increasingly greater distances, so that their present vertical superposition represents a former west-to-east juxtaposition.Most of the transported rocks have direct lithic correlatives in central Newfoundland. These occur west of the Dunnage Mélange, so that if the Dunnage marks the vestige of a North American subduction zone, then all the transported sequences once lay between a continental margin and a nearby oceanic trench.