Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:54:01.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evidence for late Ordovician amalgamation of volcanogenic terranes in the Iapetus suture zone, eastern Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Finbarr C. Murphy
Finbarr C. Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University College, Belfield, Dublin 4, Republic of Ireland.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A major transcurrent fault in the zone of the Iapetus suture in eastern Ireland separates Ordovician (pre-Ashgill) terranes. The stratigraphy of each terrane belongs to a dismembered volcanic arc system: the northern terrane is characterised by acid plinian eruptions and derivative sediments which are displaced relative to the andesitic southern terrane volcanism. Each was a separate palaeoenvironment with its own lithostratigraphical character and faunal elements which were juxtaposed across the fault. However, the late Ashgill to Silurian sediments in both terranes form part of a regional overstep sequence which links across the suture zone, such that the palaeogeographical contrasts were eliminated by the Silurian. The inference is that the detached terranes were gradually amalgamated by late Ordovician transtensional movements. This occurred when regional scale subduction-related volcanism had ended. Final assembly by early Devonian sinistral transpressive movements juxtaposed a northern terrane, akin to the Lake District/SE Ireland calcalkaline volcanic province, with a southern terrane in the tholeiitic province of eastern Ireland. As distinct from a singular fault trace, the Iapetus suture is regarded as a 100 km wide zone of anastomosing late Caledonian transcurrent faults whose precursors were active during late Ordovician (i.e. Taconic) terrane amalgamation.

Keywords

Caledonian suturelithostratigraphical groupsedimentary oversteptranscurrent faultvolcanic arc
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 78 , Issue 3 , 1987 , pp. 153 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnott, R. J., McKerrow, W. S. & Cocks, L. R. M. 1985. The tectonics and depositional history of the Ordovician and Silurian rocks of Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland. CAN J EARTH SCI 22, 607–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, D. K. & Halliday, D. K. 1962. Pillow-Lava Breccias and submarine sliding of pillow lavas. ABSTR GEOL SOC AM 107.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M. 1983. Biogeography, evolutionary relationships and biostratigraphic significance of Ordovician platform conodonts. FOSSILS STRATA 15, 35–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluck, B. J. & Leake, B. E. 1986. Late Ordovician to Early Silurian amalgamation of the Dalradian and adjacent Ordovician rocks in the British Isles. GEOLOGY 14, 917–919.Google Scholar
Brenchley, P. J., Harper, J. C., Mitchell, W. I. & Romano, O. 1977. A reappraisal of some Ordovician successions in Eastern Ireland. PROC R IRISH ACAD 77, 65–85.Google Scholar
Brück, P. M., Colthurst, J. R., Feeley, M., Gardiner, P. R. R., Penney, S. R., Reeves, T. J., Shannon, P. M., Smith, D. G. & Vanguestaine, M. 1979. Southeast Ireland: Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and depositional history. In Harris, A. L., Holland, C. H. and Leake, B. E. (eds) Caledonides of the British Isles—reviewed. GEOL SOC LONDON SPEC PUBL 8, 533–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brück, P. M. & Kennan, P. S. 1970. The Geology of Shenick's Island, Skerries, Co. Dublin. SCI PROC R DUBLIN SOC A3, 323–333.Google Scholar
Carlisle, D. 1963. Pillow breccias and their aquagene tuffs, Quadra Island, British Columbia. J GEOL 71, 48–71.Google Scholar
Chapin, C. E. & Elston, W. E. 1979. Ash-flow tuffs. SPEC PAP GEOL SOC AM 180.Google Scholar
Fitton, J. G. & Hughes, D. J. 1970. Volcanism and Plate Tectonics in the British Ordovician. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 8, 223–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
France, D. S. 1967. The Geology of Ordovician rocks at Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, Eire. GEOL J 5, 291–304.Google Scholar
Furness, H. 1972. Meta-Hyaloclastite breccias associated with Ordovician pillow lavas in the Solund area. West Norway. NOR GEOL TIDSSKR 52, 385–407.Google Scholar
Harper, D. A. T. & Mitchell, W. I. 1982. Upper Ordovician (Ashgill) Brachiopods from the Oriel Brook Formation, County Louth. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 5, 31–35.Google Scholar
Harper, D. A. T., Mitchell, W. I., Owen, A. W. & Romano, M. 1984. Upper Ordovician brachiopods and trilobites from the Clashford House Formation near Herbertstown, Co. Meath, Ireland. BULL BR MUS NAT HIST (GEOL) 38, 287–308.Google Scholar
Harper, J. C. & Rast, N. 1964. The faunal succession and volcanic rocks of the Ordovician near Bellewstown, Co. Meath. PROC R IRISH ACAD B64, 1–23.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H. 1981. A Geology of Ireland. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H., Kelling, G. & Walton, E. K. 1979. O. T. Jones and after: a multitude of models. In Harris, A. L., Holland, C. H. and Leake, B. E. (eds) Caledonides of the British Isles—reviewed. GEOL SOC LOND SPEC PUBL 8, 469–481.Google Scholar
Hull, E., Cruise, R. J. & Baily, W. H. 1871. Explanatory memoir to accompany sheets 91 and 92 of the maps of the Geological Survey of Ireland illustrating parts of Meath, Louth and Dublin. MEM GEOL SURV IRELAND.Google Scholar
Hutton, D. H. W. & Dewey, J. F. 1986. Palaeozoic Terrane accretion in the western Irish Caledonides. TECTONICS 5, 1115–1124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutton, D. H. W., & Murphy, F. C. 1987. The Silurian rocks of the Southern Uplands and Ireland as a successor basin to the end Ordovician closure of Iapetus. J GEOL SOC LONDON 144 (in press).Google Scholar
Ingham, J. K., McNamara, K. J. & Rickards, R. B. 1978. The Upper Ordovician and Silurian rocks, In Moseley, F. (ed.) The Geology of the Lake District. YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 3.Google Scholar
Jackson, D. 1978. The Skiddaw Group, In Moseley, F., (ed.) The Geology of the Lake District. YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 3.Google Scholar
Kennan, P. S. & Kennedy, M. J. 1983. Coticules—a key to regional correlation along the Appalachian–Caledonian orogen? In Schenk, P. E. (ed.) Regional Trends in the geology of the Appalachian-Caledonian–Hercynian–Mauritanide Orogen, pp. 355–361. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Kokelaar, B. P. 1982. Fluidization of wet sediments during the emplacement and cooling of various igneous bodies. J GEOL SOC LONDON 139, 21–33.Google Scholar
Leggett, J. K., McKerrow, W. S. & Soper, N. J. 1983. A model for the crustal evolution of southern Scotland. TECTONICS 2, 187–210.Google Scholar
Maltman, A. J. 1981. Primary bedding-parallel fabrics in structural geology. J GEOL SOC LONDON 138, 475–483.Google Scholar
Mason, J. 1961. The geology of the Lower Palaeozoic rocks around Balbriggan, North County Dublin. M.Sc. Thesis, The Queens University of Belfast.Google Scholar
McKee, K. 1976. The Geology of the Lower Palaeozoic rocks around Bellewstown, Co. Meath, Eire. Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis, National University of Ireland.Google Scholar
McKerrow, W. S. & Cocks, I. R. M. 1976. Progressive faunal migration across the Iapetus ocean. NATURE 263, 304–306.Google Scholar
Millward, D., Moseley, F. & Soper, N. J. 1978. The Eycott and Borrowdale Volcanic rocks. In Moseley, F. (ed.) The geology of the Lake District. YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 3.Google Scholar
Morris, J. H. 1987. The Northern Belt of the Longford-Down, Ireland and Southern Uplands, Scotland: an Ordovician back arc basin. J GEOL SOC LONDON 144 (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moseley, F. 1977. Caledonian plate tectonics and the place of the English Lake district. BULL GEOL SOC AM 88, 704–768.Google Scholar
Moseley, F. 1984. Lower Palaeozoic lithostratigraphical classification in the English Lake district. GEOL J 19, 239–247.Google Scholar
Murphy, F. C. 1984a. Fluidized breccias: a record of brittle transitions during ductile deformation. TECTONOPHYSICS 104, 325–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, F. C. 1984b. The lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and structural geology of the Balbriggan Inlier, Counties Meath and Dublin. (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Dublin).Google Scholar
Murphy, F. C. 1985. Non-axial planar cleavage and Caledonian sinistral transpression in Eastern Ireland. GEOL J 20, 257–279.Google Scholar
Murphy, F. C. 1987. Late Caledonian granitoids and timing of deformation in the Iapetus suture zone of Eastern Ireland. GEOL MAG 124, 135–142.Google Scholar
Murphy, F. C. & Hutton, D. H. W. 1986a. Is the Southern Uplands of Scotland really an accretionary prism? GEOLOGY 14, 354–357.Google Scholar
Murphy, F. C. & Hutton, D. H. W. 1986b. Replies to Comments on “Is the Southern Uplands of Scotland really an accretionary prism?” GEOLOGY 14, 1043–1048.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettijohn, F. J. 1975. Sedimentary rocks. New York: Harper International.Google Scholar
Phillips, W. E. A., Stillman, C. J. & Murphy, T. 1976. A Caledonian plate tectonic model. J GEOL SOC LONDON 132, 579–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rickards, R. B., Burns, V. & Archer, J. 1973. The Silurian sequence at Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. PROC R IRISH ACAD B73, 303–316.Google Scholar
Robinson, K. W. 1971. Gravity and magnetic investigations of the area between Lambay Island and Kildare, Eastern Ireland. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Dublin.Google Scholar
Romano, M. 1970. The stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Ordovician rocks of eastern central Ireland. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Liverpool.Google Scholar
Romano, M. 1980a. The stratigraphy of the Ordovician rocks between Slane (Co. Meath) and Collon (Co. Louth), Ireland. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 3, 53–79.Google Scholar
Romano, M. 1980b. The Ordovician rocks around Herbertstown (Co. Meath) and their correlation with the succession at Balbriggan (Co. Dublin), Ireland. J EARTH SCI R DUBLIN SOC 3, 205–215.Google Scholar
Sigvaldson, G. E. 1968. Structure and products of subaquatic volcanoes in Iceland. CONTRIB MINERAL PETROL 18, 1–16.Google Scholar
Simpson, S. 1956. On the trace-fossil Chondrites. Q J GEOL SOC 112(4), 475.Google Scholar
Soper, N. J. & Hutton, D. H. W. 1984. Late Caledonian Sinistral displacements in Britain: Implications for a three plate collision model. TECTONICS 3, 781–794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soper, N. J. & Nueman, N. M. S. 1974. Structure and stratigraphy of the Borrowdale Volcanic rocks of the Kentmere area, English Lake District. GEOL J 9, 147–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparks, R. S. J., Self, S. & Walker, G. P. L. 1973. Products of Ignimbrite Eruptions. GEOLOGY 1, 115–118.Google Scholar
Stanley, D. J. & Unrug, R. 1971. Submarine channel deposits, fluxoturbidites and other indicators of slope and base-of-slope environments in modern and ancient marine basins. In Rigby, J. K. and Hamblin, W. K. (eds) Recognition of ancient sedimentary environments. SOC ECON PALAEONT MINERAL SPEC PUBL 16, 287–340.Google Scholar
Stillman, C. J., Downes, K. & Schiner, E. J., 1974. Caradocian Volcanic activity in east and south-east Ireland. SCI PROC R DUBLIN SOC 5A, 87–98.Google Scholar
Stillman, C. J. & Williams, C. T. 1978. Geochemistry and tectonic setting of some Upper Ordovician volcanic rocks in east and southeast Ireland. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 41, 288–310.Google Scholar
Sylvestri, S. C. 1963. Proposal for a genetic classification of hyaloclastites. BULL VOLCANOL 25, 315–321.Google Scholar
Wadge, A. 1978. Classification and stratigraphical relationships of the Lower Ordovician rocks. In Moseley, F. (ed) The Geology of the Lake District. YORKSHIRE GEOL SOC 3.Google Scholar
Williams, A., Strachan, I., Bassett, D. A., Dean, W. T., Ingham, J. K., Wright, A. D. & Whittington, H. B. 1976. A correlation of Ordovician rocks in the British Isles. GEOL SOC SPEC REP 3.Google Scholar
Williams, H. 1979. Appalachian orogen in Canada. CAN J EARTH SCI 16, 792–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodcock, N. H. 1984. Early Palaeozoic sedimentation and tectonics in Wales. PROC GEOL ASSOC 95, 323–335.Google Scholar
Wright, A. D. 1970. The stratigraphic distribution of the Ordovician brachiopod Orthisocrania divaricata (M'Coy) in the British Isles. GEOL MAG 107, 97–103.Google Scholar