The Geology and Geochemistry of Ophiolitic Rocks Exposed at Ming's Bight, Newfoundland

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: Norman, Ryburn E., Strong, D. F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1975
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Verte; Baie Verte; Ming's Bight; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e75-068; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e75-068

The Baie Verte Group, as exposed on the peninsula between Baie Verte and Ming's Bight, consists of an ophiolite assemblage ranging from interlayered ultramafic and gabbroic rocks to sheeted diabase dikes overlain by pillow lavas and volcanic sediments. The sequence has been disrupted into five structural blocks separated by fault zones containing serpentinized peridotite and/or talc-carbonate; units within each block are separated by less significant faults. These structures and other deformation features in the Baie Verte Group are interpreted to be related to early Ordovician emplacement with some effects of later Acadian deformation.The Baie Verte Group is chemically similar, both in major and trace elements, to other ophiolite sequences such as in Oman and Papua. A low-Ti and low-K tholeiitic magma crystallized under conditions of low oxygen fugacity in the upper crust beneath a mid-ocean ridge, producing the observed peridotite–pyroxenite–gabbro–diabase–pillow lava sequence.