Geology of the Frozen Ocean Lake - New Bay Pond area, north-central Newfoundland

• Main Author: Kusky, Timothy M.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholars Archive 1985
• Subjects: Frozen Ocean Group; Lewis Lake Formation; pull-apart basin formation; Geology; Sedimentology; Tectonics and Structure; Bursey; Newfoundland; Lynx
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cas_daes_geology_etd/49; https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=cas_daes_geology_etd

Rocks of the Frozen Ocean Group outcrop in the Frozen Ocean Lake-New Bay Pond Area, Newfoundland, and are here divided into four formations. The Lewis Lake Formation forms the base of the Frozen Ocean Group, and is composed predominantly of mafic volcanic flows; this is conformably overlain by the Blue Star Formation which is entirely sedimentary in nature. The Blue Star Formation is in turn conformably overlain.by the Bursey Point Formation, which is a mixed volcanic and sedimentary unit. The top of the Frozen Ocean Group is marked by the Lynx Pond Formation, a mixed silicic- and mafic-volcanic formation, with minor sedimentary intercalations. The Frozen Ocean Group is everywhere in fault contact with structurally underlying, medial to late Ordovician, rocks of the Shoal Arm Group and Point Leamington Formation: structural analysis of this fault zone reveals that the present juxtaposition is a result of an early Silurian back-thrusting event, although several later episodes of deformation have modified the original geometry. The back-thrusting event is believed to be a result of continued, post-Taconic convergence between the Taconic-modified margin of North America, and the remaining, open part of the Appalachian Ocean. The later deformation episodes which have affected rocks of the area include right-lateral strike-slip faulting associated with pull-apart basin formation, upright regional folding, batholith intrusion, and a second generation of dextral strike-slip faulting.