Early Ordovician Age Research Articles

LATE CAMBRIAN (~490 MA) ARC VOLCANIC ROCKS OF THE NORTH TIANSHAN OF KYRGYZSTAN: AGE CONSTRAINTS FROM U–Pb ZIRCON DATING

In the present contribution, we aim to determine the age of the oldest arc-related volcanic units in the North Tianshan of Kyrgyzstan (NTS) to better understand the early evolution of subduction systems in the western part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. We conducted zircon U–Pb dating (LA–ICP–MS) on andesitic tuffs from the Sultansary and Tashtambektor formations, which were previously believed to be of early Cambrian and middle Cambrian to early Ordovician age, respectively. Our results reveal age estimates of 491 ± 3 and 487 ± 3 Ma for these formations, indicating that both units are late Cambrian in age. The volcanic rocks belong to a major magmatic arc with a heterogeneous basement that evolved in the NTS during the late Cambrian and early Ordovician.

Current knowledge of the Ordovician System in Antarctica

Abstract Evidence of Early Ordovician deposition and intrusion in East Antarctica is best known from the Ross Orogen, postdating the 495–489 Ma Ross Orogeny. Here, c. 490–475 Ma granites (with related dykes and sills) of the Granite Harbour Intrusives represent roots of a continental margin arc. Detrital zircon grains in the upper Byrd Group (Central Transantarctic Mountains) are of comparable Early Ordovician age. Contemporaneous fossils are rare. In northern Victoria Land they include latest Cambrian to earliest Ordovician conodonts and microbrachiopods in allochthonous limestones of the Handler Formation (Robertson Bay Group) in the Robertson Bay Terrane, and probable Early Ordovician trace fossils in the Camp Ridge Quartzite of the Leap Year Group in the Bowers Terrane. In the Shackleton Range of Coats Land, West Antarctica, the Blaiklock Glacier Group contains a diverse ichnofossil fauna of probable Ordovician age associated with undescribed bivalved arthropods and segmented crustacea. The Swanson Formation of the Ross Province in Marie Byrd Land (correlated with the Robertson Bay Group of the Ross Orogen) is a turbiditic unit dominated by quartz-rich sandstones. Its Ordovician age is based on a post-depositional whole rock K–Ar metamorphic age of 448–444 Ma, with detrital zircon grains indicating a late Cambrian maximum depositional age.

Early Ordovician Age of Fluorite-Rare-Metal Deposits at the Voznesensky Ore District (Far East, Russia): Evidence from Zircon and Cassiterite U–Pb and Fluorite Sm–Nd Dating Results

This article presents new isotope-geochronological results for the granites of the Voznesensky ore district (southeastern part of the Khanka massif). The granites are associated with extensive rare-metal–fluorite, tin and tantalum mineralization. Despite the numerous published results of Rb–Sr, Sm–Nd and U–Pb dating of ore-bearing granites and associated ores, the issues of age correlation and the genetic relationship of igneous rocks and mineralization remain unclear. U–Pb zircon SHRIMP dating reveals synchronous ages of 478 ± 4 Ma and 481 ± 7 Ma for two samples of biotite leucogranites as the age of magmatic crystallization of the Voznesensky granites. The composition of the studied zircon demonstrates the typical features of magmatic zircon and has the typical features of zircon exposed to fluids at the late/post-magmatic stage. Sm–Nd ID-TIMS dating of the fluorite of the Voznesenskoe deposit yields an age of 477 ± 9 Ma, and U–Pb ID-TIMS dating of cassiterite from the Yaroslavskoe and Chapaevskoe tin deposits yields an age of 480 ± 4 Ma, which confirms the direct genetic and age relationship of ore formation with granite magmatism.

The Glafirinskoe and related skarn Cu-Au-W-Mo deposits in the Northern Altai, SW Siberia, Russia: Geology, igneous geochemistry, zircon U-Pb geochronology, mineralization, and fluid inclusion characteristics

The Glafirinskoe and related skarn Cu-Au (+Mo, W) deposits represent an Early Paleozoic (Late Cambrian to very early Ordovician) mineralization in the Altaid Belt, also known as the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. They are associated with multiphase plutons of high-K calc-alkaline to shoshonitic rocks that are related to a low-degree partial melting of metasomatically-enriched upper mantle, followed by amphibole fractionation in a deep (lower crustal ?) magma chamber and then by magma fractionation and emplacement at shallower crustal levels. Isotopic U-Pb zircon dating of the igneous rocks yields early Ordovician (ca. 480–478 Ma and 483 Ma) age. These rocks were emplaced in a continental magmatic arc after the Late Cambrian collision, in a post-collisional setting involving the stall and break-off of the subducting slab during the Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician.The deposits comprise prograde and retrograde skarns that are characterized by abundant andradite-rich garnet, which defines their oxidized type. Wider zones of potassic (quartz-K-feldspar) and calc-potassic (quartz-K-feldspar-calcite-garnet) alteration occur in the igneous rocks, with their further overprint by propylitic (with abundant scapolite) and phyllic (carbonate-phyllic) alteration. All these alteration assemblages bear abundant chalcopyrite and minor bornite. Phyllic alteration assemblages also contain various As, Sb, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni sulfides and sulfosalts, tellurides, Bi minerals, and native Au. Scheelite and/or molybdenite are locally present in some mineralized zones. The Cu-Au-Mo(-W) mineralization occurs as skarn orebodies that are spatially associated with porphyry-style alteration assemblages reflecting the high exploration potential for additional, but concealed, skarn-porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposits in the vicinity.The retrograde skarn and potassic (calc-potassic) alteration assemblages were formed from high temperature (570–580 °C), high salinity, aqueous chloride magmatic-hydrothermal fluid, with its boiling and phase separation indicating hydrostatic conditions at a relatively deep (~6 km) skarn-porphyry environment. Propylitic alteration assemblages were formed at lower temperatures (~380–420 °C) from a Ca-Na-chloride, low salinity (~8 wt% NaCl-eq.) magmatic-hydrothermal fluid. Fluid inclusions in minerals from phyllic alteration assemblages indicate the influx of a CO2-rich fluid at about 270–290 °C and 1400 ± 50 bars and subsequent mixing with more saline (20 wt% NaCl-eq.) and cooler (~240 °C) hydrothermal fluids.

Unraveling the origins and P-T-t evolution of the allochthonous Sobrado unit (Órdenes Complex, NW Spain) using combined U–Pb titanite, monazite and zircon geochronology and rare-earth element (REE) geochemistry

Abstract. The Sobrado unit, within the upper part of the Órdenes Complex (NW Spain) represents an allochthonous tectonic slice of exhumed high-grade metamorphic rocks formed during a complex sequence of orogenic processes in the middle to lower crust. In order to constrain those processes, U–Pb geochronology and rare-earth element (REE) analyses of accessory minerals in migmatitic paragneiss (monazite, zircon) and mylonitic amphibolites (titanite) were conducted using laser ablation split stream inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LASS-ICP-MS). The youngest metamorphic zircon age obtained coincides with a Middle Devonian concordia monazite age (∼380 Ma) and is interpreted to represent the minimum age of the Sobrado high-P granulite facies metamorphism that occurred during the early stages of the Variscan orogeny. Metamorphic titanite from the mylonitic amphibolites yield a Late Devonian age (∼365 Ma) and track the progressive exhumation of the Sobrado unit. In zircon, cathodoluminescence images and REE analyses allow two aliquots with different origins in the paragneiss to be distinguished. An Early Ordovician age (∼490 Ma) was obtained for metamorphic zircons, although with a large dispersion, related to the evolution of the rock. This age is considered to mark the onset of granulite facies metamorphism in the Sobrado unit under intermediate-P conditions, and related to intrusive magmatism and coeval burial in a magmatic arc setting. A maximum depositional age for the Sobrado unit is established in the late Cambrian (∼511 Ma). The zircon dataset also record several inherited populations. The youngest cogenetic set of zircons yields crystallization ages of 546 and 526 Ma which are thought to be related to the peri-Gondwanan magmatic arc. The additional presence of inherited zircons older than 1000 Ma is interpreted as suggesting a West African Craton provenance.

Age correlations for the Acoite Formation (Lower Ordovician) at Aguas Blancas Creek in the Cordillera Oriental of Jujuy Province, Argentina

Here, we use conodont and graptolite assemblages to age correlate the ‘Sepulturas limestones’ facies of the Acoite Formation exposed at Aguas Blancas Creek, near Altos de Lipán in the Cordillera Oriental of Jujuy Province, Argentina. An association of autochthonous conodont species is identified consisting of Drepanodus arcuatus, Drepanoistodus pitjanti, Erraticodon patu, Gothodus andinus, Paroistodus parallelus and Zentagnathus argentinensis. Tubaria referable to the graptolite genera Acrograptus, Baltograptus and Tetragraptus are also present. This assemblage corresponds to the middle interval of the Gothodus andinus Zone, together with the upper Tetragraptus azkharensis Zone, or possibly the lower Baltograptus cf. B. deflexus Zone, which collectively indicate an early to middle Floian (Early Ordovician) age. Lithological and faunal characteristics of the studied succession imply deposition in a shallow marine environment. We also suggest that the Aguas Blancas section is stratigraphically younger than the other upper outcrops exposed around the town of La Ciénaga, where the ‘Sepulturas limestones’ were originally defined. G.L. Guillermo [guillermo.albanesi@unc.edu.ar], CICTERRA (CONICET-UNC), CIGEA, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1611, X5016GCA, Córdoba, Argentina; E.K. Rueda [ruedaroballo@gmail.com ]; G. Ortega [gladyscortega@gmail.com ] Museo de Paleontología, CIGEA, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 300, X5000JJC, Córdoba, Argentina; C.R Monaldi [crmonaldi@gmail.com ], Los Teros 197, 4401 Vaqueros, Salta, Argentina.

Lajishan Ayishan Formation Rhyolites: Implications for the Closure Time of the Proto‐Tethys Ocean

AbstractThe Qilian orogenic belt, as an important component of the central orogenic system, can be divided into three tectonic units from north to south: the North Qilian tectonic belt, the Central Qilian tectonic belt and the South Qilian tectonic belt. The Lajishan ophiolitic mélange zone is an important part of the South Qilian tectonic belt. The study of the formation age and tectonic attributes of the different rock units in the Lajishan is of great significance for reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the south Qilian tectonics belt and the Proto‐Tethys Ocean. The Ayishan formation is an important unit of the Lajishan mélange belt, but its stratigraphic age and formation environment are still not constrained, which limits the reconstruction of the early Palaeozoic tectonic evolution of the South Qilian tectonic belt and the closure time of the Proto‐Tethys Ocean. In recent years, a set of rock assemblages consisting of andesite, rhyolite, sandstone and pebbly sandstone have been identified in the Ayishan formation exposed in the Lajishan through detailed geological mapping in the field. They are in fault contact with the underlying ophiolite mélange.Regionally, a volcano‐sedimentary succession consisting of andesite, rhyolite, volcanic breccia, and volcaniclastic sandstone nonconformably overlies the Cambrian arc‐accretionarycomplex system in the Ayishan area. These rocks were originally assigned to the Ayishan formation and attributed an Early Ordovician age (BGMRQP, 1964, 1991). Our rhyolite samples from the Ayishan formation yielded a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 447 Ma using zircon U‐Pb dating, which can be interpreted as the eruption age of the volcanic rocks. These volcanic rock assemblages are distributed in sandstone, pebbled sandstone and conglomerate in the form of interlayers. Therefore, the zircon U‐Pb age of the volcanic rocks can constrain the age of Ayishan formation that it should belong to the late Ordovician rather than early Ordovician. Additionally, we propose that the Ayishan rhyolites were formed in collision‐related tectonic setting based on the geochemistry of the rhyolites, which means the initial continental collision between the Central Qilian block and the Qaidam block occurred at least in the Late Ordovician.Ayishan formation are in fault contact with the Cambrian Donggoumeikuang complex in the south. The Donggoumeikuang complex represents a Cambrian introceanic subduction system that formed in response to subduction of the Proto‐Tethyan Ocean (Yan et al., 2015; Fu et al., 2018). At 450 to 420 Ma, the Proto‐Tethyan Ocean closed and the Qaidam block collided against the central Qilian tectonics belt. Voluminous 450–440 Ma I‐type and S‐type granites (Yan et al., 2015; Tung et al., 2016) that straddle the Central and South Qilian belts formed a broad Andean‐type continental margin (Yan et al., 2019), which indicates that the transition from oceanic subduction to continental subduction occurred in 450–440Ma. At 440–420 Ma, the syncollisional and postcollisional granitoids extensively developed, accompanied by high‐pressure granulite‐facies metamorphism and anatexis in the South Qilian belt and the Qaidam block (Yu et al., 2014; Yan et al., 2015; Fu et al., 2018; Li et al., 2018).

Ordovician gastropods from pebbles in Cretaceous fluvial sandstones in south-east Disko, West Greenland

The gastropods Sinuopea sp. and Lecanospira cf. compacta (Salter 1859) of probable early Ordovician age are described from cherty limestone clasts within fluvial strata of the Cretaceous Atane Formation of south-east Disko, central West Greenland. The record of Sinuopea possibly suggests an earliest Ordovician (Tremadocian) age, slightly older than the Floian–Dapingian age suggested by the oldest known conodont assemblages described from West Greenland. The determinations provide supporting evidence for a former periodic cover of Ordovician strata in the Archaean terrane of south western Greenland, extending deep into the heart of the Laurentian landmass.

Early Ordovician Age of Suprasubduction Ophiolites in the Northeastern Part of Central Kazakhstan: U–Th–Pb (SIMS) Dating of Plagiogranites

Suprasubduction zone ophiolites in the Bayanaul and Maikain–Kyzyltas zones in the northeastern part of Central Kazakhstan were studied. U–Pb dating of plagiogranites that constitute the plutonic complexes of the ophiolite sections was performed. The Early Ordovician age estimates of 480 ± 3 Ma for the plagiogranites in the Bayanaul zone and 477 ± 2 Ma in the Maikain-Kyzyltas zone were obtained for the first time. It was demonstrated that the formation time span of the plutonic and volcanosedimentary complexes in the studied ophiolites does not exceed 7–10 Ma.

U-Pb detrital zircon ages of Cambrian–Ordovician sandstones from the Taebaeksan Basin, Korea: Provenance variability in platform shelf sequences and paleogeographic implications

Abstract The early Paleozoic paleogeography of East Gondwanan terranes, including the North China Craton (NCC), is contentious, primarily reflecting the paucity of integrated geochronological, biogeographic, and tectonic data sets. Our new sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe data from 14 sandstones of the Taebaeksan Basin, Korea, indicate that its platform shelf sequences, typified by trilobite faunal assemblages diagnostic of the NCC, record the vestige of coeval arc magmatism. Detrital zircons analyzed from the sandstones yielded Eoarchean to Early Ordovician ages, which define three distinct types of distribution patterns characterized by: (1) double peaks at ca. 1.85 Ga and 2.50 Ga diagnostic of basement rocks in the NCC; (2) minor peaks at ca. 1.75, 1.6, and 1.2–1.1 Ga in addition to double peaks; and finally (3) a scattered array of late Paleoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic zircons lacking double peaks. The marked contrasts among the three types reflect significant changes in provenance, most likely linked to variations in paleo-water depths during the “Sauk” transgression. Longshore- or onshore-directed currents, associated with an increase in water depth, apparently brought outboard oceanic detritus and benthic trilobites into the relatively flat outer shelf of the Taebaeksan Basin. As a result, fine-grained sandstones received a large amount of detritus from distal sources, yielding mixed signatures in zircon age patterns and trilobite assemblages. Excluding the basal sandstone-conglomerate unit, five siliciclastic formations contain syndepositional zircon populations, and their weighted mean 206Pb/238U ages decrease upsection from 512 ± 5 Ma to 483 ± 2 Ma, indicating a sedimentary influx from contemporaneous volcanic activity. In conjunction with arc-related bulk-rock geochemistry and juvenile Nd isotopic signature, early Paleozoic detrital zircons likely represent the first-cycle detritus supplied for ∼30 m.y. from the proto-Japan arc that initially formed at ca. 520 Ma. Together with the occurrence of ca. 700–500 Ma detrital Pacific Gondwana zircons in fine-grained sandstones, Paleozoic arc-sourced detritus suggests that the Korean Peninsula was paleogeographically linked to an ancient convergent margin, perhaps extending from the Terra Australis orogen.

Pre-Variscan tectonic setting of the south margin of Armorica: Insights from detrital zircon ages distribution and Hf isotopic composition of the St-Georges-sur-Loire Unit (S. Armorican Massif, France)

The Armorican Massif experienced a poly-orogenic evolution, represented by the Neoproterozoic Cadomian and the Devonian-Carboniferous Variscan tectonothermal events. In the southernmost part of the Armorican Domain (or Armorica microcontinent), the St-Georges-sur-Loire Unit consists of a block-in-matrix subunit, and a turbiditic subunit in the South and North, respectively. The St-Georges-sur Loire unit is interpreted as a remnant back-arc basin formed in Silurian-Early Devonian (ca. 440–400 Ma), and was deformed during the Variscan orogeny. Most of the sedimentary and magmatic blocks enclosed in clastic matrix are olistoliths derived from an assumed southern area called the “missing domain”, presently exposed as the Variscan Mauges Nappe composed of the Cadomian rocks and Early Paleozoic sedimentary cover. The “missing domain” was subducted beneath the Armorican massif during the Variscan collision. Detrital zircon age spectra from sandstones and siltstones from the olistostrome matrix reveal Neoproterozoic and Early Paleozoic age clusters, and less abundant Paleoproterozoic and Archean ages. Hf isotopic compositions of detrital zircons indicate dominantly negative εHf (t) values which are in agreement with a recycled continental source. Minor positive values correspond to a juvenile component that was formed during the Neoproterozoic Cadomian orogeny or Archean-Paleoproterozoic events. The Cambrian and Early Ordovician ages can be related to the pre-Variscan rifting of the Pannotia megacontinent that separated the Armorica microcontinent from Gondwana. Neoproterozoic ages imply a source of the magmatic rocks exposed in the Cadomian belt of the northern part of the Armorica microcontinent, and in the Mauges Nappe.

Ordovician gabbro-tonalite-trondhjemite complex and associated volcanic rocks in the paleozoic suture between Urals and Kazakhstan

This paper reports new data on the Early Ordovician age established for granitoids of the gabbro-tonalite-trond- hjemite complex in the Denisovka ophiolite zone (suture) on the boundary between the Paleozoic structures (Paleozoides) of the Urals and Kazakhstan. The ages of 482.6 ± 3.6 Ma and 486.2 ± 6.7 Ma were established by the U/Pb method (SHRIMP II) on the age data for zircon extracted from granitoids. The plutonic complex associates with the Early-Middle Ordovician effusive complex, composed of a series of rocks differentiated from basalts to rhyolites. The volcano-plutonic association was formed in the supra-subduction settings, as is evidenced by the composition of the rocks.

Tectonic Evolution of the Western Margin of the Burma Microplate Based on New Fossil and Radiometric Age Constraints

AbstractResults of biostratigraphic and geochronological investigations in eastern Nagaland and Manipur, NE India, provide new constraints on the tectonic evolution of the western margin of the Burma microplate. U/Pb zircon ages indicate that the Naga Hills ophiolite developed in a suprasubduction zone setting as part of an intraoceanic island arc developed during late Early Cretaceous (mid‐Aptian) time and is younger than similar rocks exposed along the Indus‐Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone. Radiolarian microfossils provide Jurassic and Cretaceous age constraints for Tethyan ocean floor sediments that were subducted beneath the forming ophiolite. Timing of the emplacement of these rocks onto the passive margin of eastern India is constrained by Paleocene/Eocene radiolarians in sediments over which the ophiolitic assemblage has been thrust. Previously undated schists and gneisses in the Naga Metamorphics are of Early Ordovician age, and their sedimentary protolith was most likely derived from sources in the south of Western Australian and East Antarctica. After Barrovian‐style metamorphism, these rocks were uplifted and eroded becoming an important source of detritus shed into the Eocene Phokphur Formation. This unit also contains abundant clasts sourced from the disrupted basement of the Naga Hills ophiolite, which it overlies. It also contains Permo‐Triassic‐aged detritus eroded off an enigmatic source that was possibly a continental convergent margin arc system somewhere along the northern margin of Gondwana.

The Ordovician Gabbro–Tonalite–Trondhjemite Complex and Associated Volcanic Rocks in the Paleozoic Suture between the Urals and Kazakhstan

This paper reports new data on the Early Ordovician age established for granitoids of the gabbro-tonalite-trond- hjemite complex in the Denisovka ophiolite zone (suture) on the boundary between the Paleozoic structures (Paleozoides) of the Urals and Kazakhstan. The ages of 482.6 ± 3.6 Ma and 486.2 ± 6.7 Ma were established by the U/Pb method (SHRIMP II) on the age data for zircon extracted from granitoids. The plutonic complex associates with the Early-Middle Ordovician effusive complex, composed of a series of rocks differentiated from basalts to rhyolites. The volcano-plutonic association was formed in the supra-subduction settings, as is evidenced by the composition of the rocks.

Agglutinated tubes as a feature of Early Ordovician ecosystems

Agglutinated tubes are produced by a variety of marine organisms. Such tubes will readily break down after the death of the producer, and hence are likely to be found only in deposits with rapid burial and/or exceptional preservation. Here we document agglutinated tubes from four localities of Early Ordovician age. The Lower Ordovician (upper Tremadocian) Afon Gam Biota of North Wales, UK, contains a diverse fossil assemblage including algae, worms, sponges, hyoliths, tergomyans, echinoderms, trilobites, and other arthropods. The biota also includes locally abundant agglutinated tubes composed largely of echinoderm fragments, in particular glyptocystitid (including Macrocystella) stem and brachiole ossicles. The tube producer appears to have preferentially selected echinoderms for use in tube building, with trilobites and tergomyans only rarely incorporated in the tubes. These tubes are named Echinokleptus anileis n. gen. n. sp. Similar tubes, although incorporating individual echinoderm ossicles rather than complete animals, occur in the Lower Ordovician (lower Floian) Tonggao Formation of South China. Possible additional agglutinated tubes are found in the Tremadocian–Floian Fezouata Shale of Morocco; these examples are composed of a range of bioclasts including echinoderm remains and hyolithids. Further possible tubes composed of mixed shelly material were observed in the Floian Landeyran Formation, Montagne Noire, France. The occurrence of morphologically similar agglutinated tubes on different continental blocks and at different palaeolatitudes indicates that the group responsible (inferred to be a polychaete annelid) was diversifying as part of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, and similar interpretations should be considered for problematic bioclastic accumulations elsewhere.

The Early Ordovician Alkaline-Ultramafic Zhilandy Complex of Central Kazakhstan: Structure and Geochronology

The first U–Pb dating of amphibole-bearing quartz monzodiorites from the alkaline-ultramafic Zhilandy Pluton in Central Kazakhstan gave an Early Ordovician age of 479 ± 3 Ma. The data obtained allow confident recognition of three stages of intraplate magmatism in the western part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Late Neoproterozoic with intrusion of alkaline syenites of the Karsakpai Complex; Early Cambrian with emplacement of ultramafic–gabbro plutons of the Ulutau Complex; and late Cambrian–Early Ordovician with formation of the Zhilandy Pluton and the intrusions of the Krasnomai Complex.

Cambrian biostratigraphy of the Bowers back-arc basin, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica — A review

The Bowers Mountains in Northern Victoria Land contain the richest Cambrian Series 3 (Miaolingian, middle Cambrian) and Cambrian Series 4 (Furongian, late Cambrian) fossiliferous successions in Antarctica. Almost all the fossils are found within the Bowers Supergroup, which outcrops within the Bowers Terrane, a fault-bounded northwest-southeast oriented strip in Northern Victoria Land. The fossils provide the main age control on the history and evolution of the Bowers volcanic arc and back-arc basin. The great bulk of the fossils occur within the Spurs Formation. The fossil assemblages are dominated by agnostoids and polymerid trilobites with most ranging in age from Drumian to Paibian, although one fauna is of Jiangshanian age. Over 40 agnostoid taxa and over 100 polymerid trilobite taxa have been recorded from the rocks of the Bowers Supergroup. The youngest fauna occurs within the adjacent Robertson Bay Terrane, where a limited fauna of polymerid trilobites and conodonts from within a limestone olistolith have a very late Cambrian or early Ordovician age. Faunal affinities are mainly with Australia, New Zealand, North and South China and the Himalaya with lesser ties to Iran, Kazakhstan, Siberia and Laurentia.

The Early Ordovician Middle Shale Member (Am3) of the Amdeh Formation and further evidence of conodont faunas from the Sultanate of Oman

AbstractThe Middle Shale Member of the Amdeh Formation is interpreted to be of Early Ordovician age based on its trace fossils, stratigraphic context and a newly discovered fauna of conodonts. The member abruptly overlies the Lower Quartzite Member, which may be Early Cambrian, and passes gradationally-upward into the Upper Quartzite Member, which is probably Early–Middle Ordovician. The 542.5 m thick Middle Shale Member can be divided into two parts: a shaly lower part, and a sandy upper part that contains an influx of heavy minerals. Bioturbation by marine trace fossils is one of the most obvious characteristics of the member. The shales and sandstones are interpreted to be ofCruzianaandSkolithosichnofacies and represent shallow-marine shelf, shoreface, beach and coastal deposits. Sparse shelly fossils occur in the sandy upper part, principally bivalves, inarticulate brachiopods, ostracods and conodonts. The small assemblage of conodonts includes elements interpreted to be Tremadocian (Tetraprioniodus,Drepanoistodus,Drepanodus,Scolopodus, ?Tropodus,SemiacontiodusandTeridontus), and others which may be Floian or ancestral forms of Floian taxa (Balognathidae gen. et sp. indet. A & B and aff.Erraticodon). No acritarchs have been recovered, probably due to high temperatures experienced during burial to >6 km. It is likely that the Middle Shale Member is the seaward equivalent of the Mabrouk and Barakat formations, and an outcrop gamma-ray log supports such a correlation. The trace fossils, sedimentology, conodont fauna and the general lack of macrofossils are in keeping with the regional Tremadocian–Floian of the Arabian margin of Gondwana.

Insights into the evolution of the Thomson Orogen from geochronology, geochemistry, and zircon isotopic studies of magmatic rocks

Zircon U–Pb ages, εHf(t), and δ18O isotopic data together with geochemistry and limited Sm–Nd results from magmatic rocks sampled in deep-basement drill cores from undercover parts of the Thomson Orogen provide strong temporal links with outcropping regions of the orogen and important clues to its evolution and relationship with the Lachlan Orogen. SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages show that magmatism of Early Ordovician age is widespread across the central, undercover regions of the Thomson Orogen and occurred in a narrow time-window between 480 and 470 Ma. These rocks have evolved εHf(t)zrn (−12.18 to −6.26) and εNd (−11.3 to −7.1), and supracrustal δ18Ozrn (7.01–8.50‰), which is in stark contrast to Early Ordovician magmatic rocks in the Lachlan Orogen that are isotopically juvenile. Two samples have late Silurian ages (425–420 Ma), and four have Devonian ages (408–382 Ma). The late Silurian rocks have evolved εHf(t)zrn (−6.42 to −4.62) and supracrustal δ18Ozrn (9.26–10.29‰) values, while the younger Devonian rocks show a shift toward more juvenile εHf(t)zrn, a trend that is also seen in rocks of this age in the Lachlan Orogen. Interestingly, two early Late Devonian samples have juvenile εHf(t)zrn (0.01–1.92) but supracrustal δ18Ozrn (7.45–8.77‰) indicating rapid recycling of juvenile material. Two distinct Hf–O isotopic mixing trends are observed for magmatic rocks of the Thomson Orogen. One trend appears to have incorporated a more evolved supracrustal component and is defined by samples from the northern two-thirds of the Thomson Orogen, while the other trend is generally less evolved and from samples in the southern third of the Thomson Orogen and matches the isotopic character of rocks from the Lachlan Orogen. The spatial association of the Early Ordovician magmatism with the more evolved metasedimentary signature suggests that at least the northern part of the Thomson Orogen is underlain by older pre-Delamerian metasedimentary rocks.

U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry from the northeastern New River belt, southern New Brunswick, Canada: significance of the Almond Road Group to the Ganderian platformal margin

The Almond Road Group in the northeastern New River belt comprises two formations: the basal Snider Mountain Formation contains orthoquartzite, feldspathic quartzite, and quartzite pebble conglomerate; the gradationally overlying Ketchum Brook Formation is composed of feldspathic sandstone, laminated dark siltstone and shale, overlain by mafic lithic tuffs and basaltic flows. The Almond Road Group overlies latest Ediacaran to earliest Cambrian (early Fortunian) pyroclastic, volcaniclastic, and epiclastic rocks of the Belleisle Bay Group. Based in part on this relationship, the Almond Road Group was thought to be Early Cambrian, although an upper age limit had never been determined. A U–Pb (zircon) age of 475 ± 2 Ma for the West Scotch Settlement porphyry, a small felsic hypabyssal intrusion emplaced into the Ketchum Brook Formation, demonstrates that the Almond Road Group is no younger than Early Ordovician (early Floian) age. Its age is further constrained by LA ICP-MS detrital zircon data from a basal quartzite in the Snider Mountain Formation. Results show a dominant peak in the Ediacaran (ca. 575 Ma), with the youngest coherent cluster of ages at ca. 530–520 Ma. Together these data support a Cambrian age for the quartz-rich Almond Road Group and its platformal relationship to Ganderia.