Stratigraphy of the Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian, Southwestern Ontario

The upper Silurian–Middle Devonian succession was dominated by carbonate and evaporite deposits, with minor siliciclastic sedimentation, and a significant hiatus across the Siluro-Devonian (S-D) boundary in southwestern Ontario. The stratigraphic units include, in ascending order: Late Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations and Salina G Unit, the Devonian Oriskany Formation, Bois Blanc Formation (including Springvale Member), Detroit River Group (including the Lucas, Amherstburg and Sylvania formations), Onondaga Formation, and Dundee Formation. Below the S-D unconformity, the upper Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations are predominantly dolostone of peritidal-sabkha origin and episodic subaerial exposure. Revised stratigraphic correlation shows that the Bertie Formation is older than the Bass Islands Formation, and the regional uplift of the study area has eroded the top of the Silurian deposits in the Niagara Peninsula. Four types of paleokarst systems are recognized in the strata below the S-D unconformity: 1) evaporite-dissolution; 2) syn-depositional brecciation; 3) surface karstification below S-D unconformity; and 4) deep burial dissolution. Climatic conditions during S-D boundary interval were probably semi-arid and the regional uplift of the North American craton led to marine regression and karstification. The S-D compound boundary comprises three unconformity surfaces. In the Niagara region, these unconformities are marked by three levels of regionally distributed siliciclastic sandstones, including the Oriskany Formation, Springvale Member of the Bois Blanc Formation and an unnamed sandstone unit below the Onondaga Formation. These units are interpreted as eolian sandstones, reworked and remobilized during the regional-scale regressions and exposure of large parts of Laurentia. In the Michigan Basin, the lower two unconformities merge into one and the upper sandstone unit may be coeval with the Sylvania Formation. In Ontario, the Lower-Middle Devonian Onondaga Formation is restricted to the Niagara area. Onondaga facies reveal fossiliferous carbonate deposition on a carbonate ramp sloped easterly into the Appalachian Basin centre. Temporally, the Onondaga facies in Ontario reflect one third-order sequence. The open marine facies of the Onondaga Formation grade southwestward into the intracratonic and lagoonal facies of the Amherstburg Formation and the Lucas Formation. The Dundee Formation in Niagara area can be correlated to the upper Moorehouse and Seneca Members of the Onondaga Formation, evidenced by the conodont data and the regional occurrence of Tioga ash bed. The sequence stratigraphic framework shows that the depositional systems are influenced by both eustatic changes and the migration of paleo-highlands in Ontario

Satellite and surface geophysical expression of anomalous crustal structure in Kentucky and Tennessee

An equivalent layer magnetization model is discussed. Inversion of long wavelength satellite magnetic anomaly data indicates a very magnetic source region centered in south central Kentucky. Refraction profiles suggest that the source of the gravity anomaly is a large mass of rock occupying much of the crustal thickness. The outline of the source delineated by gravity contours is also discernible in aeromagnetic anomaly patterns. The mafic plutonic complex, and several lines of evidence are consistent with a rift association. The body is, however, clearly related to the inferred position of the Grenville Front. It is bounded on the north by the fault zones of the 38th Parallel Lineament. It is suggested that such magnetization levels are achieved with magnetic mineralogies produced by normal oxidation and metamorphic processes and enhanced by viscous build-up, especially in mafic rocks of alkaline character

Carbonates in Skeleton-poor Seas: New Insights From Cambrian and Ordovician Strata of Laurentia

Calcareous skeletons evolved as part of the greater Ediacaran–Cambrian diversification of marine animals. Skeletons did not become permanent, globally important sources of carbonate sediment, however, until the Ordovician radiation. Representative carbonate facies in a Series 3 (510–501 Ma) Cambrian to Tremadocian succession from western Newfoundland, Canada, and Ordovician successions from the Ibex area, Utah, USA, show that, on average, Cambrian and Tremadocian carbonates contain much less skeletal material than do post-Tremadocian sediments. Petrographic point counts of skeletal abundance within facies and proportional facies abundance in measured sections suggest that later Cambrian successions contain on average <5% skeletal material by volume, whereas the skeletal content of post-Tremadocian Ordovician sections is closer to ~15%. A compilation of carbonate stratigraphic sections from across Laurentia confirms that post-Tremadocian increase in skeletal content is a general pattern and not unique to the two basins studied. The long interval (~40 myr) between the initial Cambrian appearance of carbonate skeletons and the subsequent Ordovician diversification of heavily skeletonized organisms provides an important perspective on the Ordovician radiation. Geochemical data increasingly support the hypothesis that later Cambrian oceans were warm and, in subsurface water masses, commonly dysoxic to anoxic. We suggest that surface waters in such oceans would have been characterized by relatively low saturation states for calcite and aragonite. Mid-Ordovician cooling would have raised oxygen concentrations in subsurface water masses, establishing more highly oversaturated surface waters. If correct, these links could provide a proximal trigger for the renewed radiation of heavily skeletonized invertebrates and algae

Lower/Middle Ordovician (Arenigian) shallow-marine trace fossils of the Pochico Formation, southern Spain: palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic implications at the Gondwanan and peri-Gondwanan realm

Nineteen ichnospecies belonging to thirteen ichnogenera (Archaeonassa, Catenichnus, Cochlichnus, Cruziana, Didymaulichnus, ?Diplichnites, Gordia, Lingulichnus, Lockeia, cf. Monocraterion, Planolites, Ptychoplasma, and Rusophycus) occur in the Pochico Formation (Arenigian) in the Aldeaquemada section, Sierra Morena, southern Spain, just above the Armorican Quartzite. They belong to the archetypal Cruziana ichnofacies, indicating a lower shoreface-upper offshore zone. The low degree of sediment reworking may be due to a high rate of sedimentation. The trace fossil assemblage, rich in large Cruziana, is typical of the Armorican Quartzite that developed on the margins of Gondwana and peri-Gondwanan microcontinents. The distribution of ichnofauna during the Early Ordovician was partly palaeogeographically controlled, although ichnological data from the literature point to paths of migration between Gondwana, Baltica and Laurentia. Differences between the ichnofauna of Gondwana and Baltica could be conditioned by facies (clastics in Gondwana and carbonates in Baltica) causing a taphonomic filter, because Cruziana requires diversified clastic deposits for preservation. The ichnofauna would also be influenced by trophic group amensalism between filter feeding and deposit feeding fauna, the former prevailing in Baltica and the latter in Gondwana.Se presenta el análisis sedimentológico/icnológico de los materiales de la Formación Pochico (Arenigian) de la sección de Aldeaquemada, Sierra Morena, Sur de España, provincia de Jaén, justo por encima la Cuarcita Armoricana. Se han reconocido diecinueve icnoespecies pertenecientes a trece icnogéneros (Archaeonassa, Catenichnus, Cochlichnus, Cruziana, Didymaulichnus, ?Diplichnites, Gordia, Lingulichnus, Lockeia, cf. Monocraterion, Planolites, Ptychoplasma, y Rusophycus). Las características icnológicas junto con los rasgos sedimentológicos permiten asignarlas a las icnofacies arquetípicas de Cruziana, comunes de las zonas de shoreface inferior a offshore superior. El grado de bioturbación relativamente bajo puede estar relacionado con una alta tasa de depósito. La asociación registrada, dominada por grandes Cruziana, es típica de la Cuarcita Armoricana desarrollada en los márgenes de Gondwana y peri-Gondwana. La distribucción de icnofósiles del Ordovícico temprano posee, en gran medida, un control paleogeográfico, aunque datos icnológicos procedentes de la literatura indican la existencia de migraciones entre Gondwana, Baltica y Laurentia. Las diferencias entre las asociaciones de Gondwana y Báltica pueden estar asociadas a las diferentes facies, con el dominio de materiales clásticos en Gondwana y de carbonatados en Báltica, causando un filtro tafonómico ya que el potencial de conservación de Cruziana es mucho mayor en las facies clásticas heterolíticas. A estos factores habría que añadir las estrategias de alimentación asociadas, diferenciando entre filtradores y aquellos que se alimentan de las partículas existentes en el sedimento, los primeros podrían verse favorecidos en Báltica y los segundos en Gondwana.Research by R.-T. was supported by Projects CGL2008-03007, and CGL2012-33281 (Secretaría de Estado de I+D+I, Spain), Project RNM-3715 and Research Group RNM-178 (Junta de Andalucía)