Late Precambrian tectonism — the opening of the Iapetus Ocean

  • Nicholas Rast
Chapter
Part of the Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics book series (ICBT, volume 2)

Abstract

At the end of the Proterozoic/beginning of the Paleozoic, the Laurentian craton formed a passive continental margin facing the Iapetus Ocean. The evidence for this paleogeographic reconstruction, in North America, is as follows: (1) disparity in thicknesses and lithologies of lower Paleozoic sediments of the cratonic cover and the Appalachian orogenic belt; (2) the existance of graben-like Late Proterozoic basins at the edge of the craton; (3) the presence of the Late Proterozoic volcanic deposits in and at the edges of the grabens, implying extensional tectonics; and (4) the widespread occurrence of Late Proterozoic dikes that stretch parallel to the Laurentian margin. Cambrian sedimentary rocks rest unconformably to paraconformably on all these rocks and represent the shoreline facies of the Iapetus Ocean.

On the southeastern side of the northern Appalachian chain, the rocks of the Avalon composite terrane show some of the same characteristics — including the Late Proterozoic grabens; even more extensive volcanic rocks; dikes; and the lower Paleozoic sedimentary cover of moderate thickness. However, the detailed successional and faunal differences between the Avalon and Laurentian rocks are such that the Iapetus Ocean must have originally separated the two sides of the Appalachian system. It is suggested that this ocean began as a series of rifts.

Keywords

Passive Continental Margin Dike Swarm Geological Association Mafic Dyke Swarm West African Craton 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nicholas Rast
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Geological SciencesUniversity of KentuckyLexingtonUSA

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