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Facies development of a Late Ordovician mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp proximal to the developing Taconic orogen: Lourdes Formation, Newfoundland, Canada

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Abstract

The Upper Ordovician (late Whiterockian to Mohawkian) Lourdes Formation represents a narrow (tens of kilometers), short-lived [∼5–7 million years (my)], open-ocean (high-energy) mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramp that onlapped allochthonous strata along the orogen side of the local Taconic foreland basin. Platform development followed a 6–8 my hiatus during which weathering had concentrated chemically mature siliciclastics that were admixed with initial carbonate sediments. A cross-platform facies gradient contains paleokarst and peritidal carbonates and sandstones, shallow-ramp carbonate bioherms and skeletal shoals, and deeper ramp calcareous shales. Transgressive systems tracts are marked by ramp-wide sheets and shoals of skeletal grainstone and low accumulation rates, and highstand systems tracts are marked by significant admixture and interbedding of siliciclastics with cross-ramp carbonate facies. Platform demise coincides with increased siliciclastic input, which is likely tectonically influenced. The Lourdes platform is equivalent to epicontinental foreland ramps along eastern Laurentia, but its narrower width precluded formation of oceanographically restricted platform-interior facies.

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Acknowledgments

This work represents part of PhD research by K. Batten Hender funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to G. R. Dix. We thank Peter Jones for assistance with microprobe analysis and mineral identification, and Elliot Burden, Paul Gammon, and André Desrochers for helpful discussions and suggestions. Thin sections were prepared at Carleton University by Mike Jackson and Al Alcazar. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions and comments, which greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences and Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

    Kelly L. Batten Hender & George R. Dix

  2. PDI Production Inc, Suite 201, 10 Fort William Place, St. John’s NL, A1C 1K4, Canada

    Kelly L. Batten Hender

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  1. Kelly L. Batten Hender
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Correspondence to Kelly L. Batten Hender.

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Table 4.

Table 4 Selected geochemical data for siliciclastic samples from the Port au Port Peninsula
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Batten Hender, K.L., Dix, G.R. Facies development of a Late Ordovician mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp proximal to the developing Taconic orogen: Lourdes Formation, Newfoundland, Canada. Facies 54, 121–149 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-007-0126-0

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