Detrital zircon fission-track thermochronology and U-Pb geochronology of syn-rift, Lower Cretaceous Hibernia Formation strata, Jeanne d’Arc basin, offshore Newfoundland

• Main Author: Johns-Buss, Emily
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2022
• Subjects: Newfoundland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48336/0zna-rg97; https://research.library.mun.ca/15294/

The Newfoundland margin was established after Mesozoic continental rifting broke up supercontinent Pangea and opened the North Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe. Normal faults cut through the lithosphere to accommodate extension and created a dynamic landscape that shifted as the rift system evolved over ~150 million years. Upper Triassic to Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rock units of the Jeanne d’Arc basin, Grand Banks, offshore Newfoundland, have been broadly correlated to rift processes, however, the precise timing of riftrelated exhumation and details of ancient drainage systems were uncertain. New stratigraphic and sediment provenance results for Lower Cretaceous Hibernia Formation strata, including those that are known reservoir units at the Hibernia oil field, confirm rift-related exhumation was occurring in the Grand Banks during the Triassic to Jurassic and Early Cretaceous and can be tied to rift processes occurring further offshore in deep-water settings. North-flowing, Early Cretaceous rivers and delta systems drained highlands that were located south of the Jeanne d’Arc basin and comprised both uplifted rocks of the Appalachian orogen and active, syn-rift volcanic centers.