Geology of the Branch-Point Lance area

Greene, Bryan A. (1962) Geology of the Branch-Point Lance area. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the largest of the Cambrian occurrences on the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland, that in the Branch - Point Lance area, on the western shore of St. Mary's Bay. The area is, in general, a gently rolling, marshy, drift-covered expanse, behind steep sea cliffs, and has a land area of approximately forty-five square miles. -- The oldest formation considered in this report is the supposedly late Precambrian Random quartzite, which disconformably underlies definite Cambrian strata throughout the area. Cambrian rocks begin with the thin conglomerates, sandstones, and shales of the Bonavista formation, which are followed by the limestones and shales of the Smith Point formation. Lower Cambrian strata end with the red and green shales at the base of the Redland Cove formation. -- The red and green shales of the upper part of the Redland Cove formation contain a Paradoxides bennetti fauna, and are hence of early Middle Cambrian age. These are overlain by the dark-grey shales and calcite-rich tuffe of the Deep Cove formation, which contains the Paradoxides hicksi and Paradoxides davidis zones. Middle Cambrian strata end with the siltstones of the Big Head formation. -- The Upper Cambrian Elliot Cove formation, of interbedded shales, siltstones, and sandstones, in the youngest consolidated sedimentary deposit in the area. -- Sille, dykes, and two small stocks, of gabbroic composition, intrude the Cambrian strata, and are affected by later folding and faulting. -- The strata, in general, are thrown into simple, north-northeast trending, open folds, with northwest-dipping axial planes, and doubly-plunging axes, probably the result of the Devonian Acadian orogeny. -- Faults in the area are steep and transverse to the regional strike, with right-lateral strike-slip displacements, and are younger than the folding.

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