The Indian Bay Formation: fossiliferous Early Ordovician volcanogenic rocks in the northern Gander Terrane, Newfoundland, and their regional significance

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Authors: Wonderley, Patricia F., Neuman, Robert B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1984
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Indian; Big Pond; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e84-057; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e84-057

The first reported fossiliferous rocks in the northern Gander Terrane of the Newfoundland Appalachians occur at Indian Bay Big Pond, in an area previously mapped as unfossiliferous quartzose sedimentary rocks of the Gander Group. Brachiopods, trilobites, and bryozoans in argillaceous tuff indicate a late Arenigian (late Early Ordovician) age. The rocks associated with the fossils are similar to coeval rocks of the Dunnage Terrane in Newfoundland, but are atypical of the Gander Terrane. The sequence that includes the fossiliferous rocks at Indian Bay Big Pond is here named the Indian Bay Formation. The Indian Bay Formation may overlie the Gander Group stratigraphically, but structural, geophysical, and geochemical data suggest that the rocks of the Indian Bay Formation are contained in a klippe thrust onto the Gander Terrane.