Stratigraphy of eastern Bay of Exploits, Newfoundland

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: McKerrow, W. S., Cocks, L. R. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1981
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e81-069; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e81-069

Fossils from the Fanners Island Formation (new name) show that, southwest of New World Island, Newfoundland, a thick (over 3 km) sequence of late Llandeilo turbidites and basalts overlies the Dunnage mélange. These are overlain by a thicker (6 km) sequence of turbidites, conglomerates, and associated olistostromes assigned to the Sansom Formation. The recognition of olistostromes in the Upper Ordovician (Caradoc and Ashgill) Sansom Formation (some of which contain olistoliths with early Ordovician fossils) eliminates the necessity of postulating repeated stratigraphic sequences by major faults. The field evidence indicates that the olistoliths slipped into a basin with more or less continuous sedimentation of turbidites and debris-flow conglomerates. Major faults separate distinct sequences of turbidites and olistostromes, suggesting that some of the faulting may have been contemporaneous with sedimentation.