Mélanges and olistostromes in the Appalachians of the United States and mainland Canada; An assessment

Abstract

There is no completely accepted definition of a mélange, and the papers in this volume reflect this fact. In our regional assessment, the term mélange is principally used for a technically fragmented and mixed body of rock. A different term, olistostrome, is used for a chaotic and mixed rock body that formed by sedimentary processes such as slumping or gravity sliding. The term olistostromal mélange is used here if sedimentary processes and tectonic deformation were both involved in the fragmentation and mixing. In some cases there is evidence that these were effectively concurrent. Four main belts of Paleozoic mélanges and olistostromes have been recorded in the Appalachians of the northeastern United States and mainland Canada. These include: (1) olistostromes and olistostromal mélanges along Logan's line and the Taconic allochthons, which are related to thrusting during the Taconian orogeny; (2) mélanges associated with ophiolite fragments along the Baie Verte-Brompton line, which are thought to represent a Taconian suture; (3) mélanges containing ophiolite fragments along the Hurricane Mountain mélange belt (Boone and Boudette, this volume), which are thought to represent a Penobscottian terrane boundary; and (4) Acadian mélanges and olistostromes such as the Silurian Deadman Harbour mélange, an olistostromal mélange that probably formed at the front of an Acadian overthrust. In addition, Precambrian olistostromes have been recognized in southeastern New England and in the Green Head Formation of New Brunswick. These may have originated along normal faults on the rifted continental shelf of Gondwanaland, or they may relate to an earlier Pan-African cycle. These Precambrian olistostromes, therefore, accompany the extensional development of the Iapetus Ocean, whereas the Paleozoic olistostromes and mélanges mark its progressive closure. Five main sets of Paleozoic mélanges and olistostromes have been recorded in the central and southern Appalachians. These are: (1) a composite mélange-olistostrome belt in the Piedmont of Maryland and Virginia that includes olistostromes such as the Sykesville Formation (of unknown age) and mélanges such as those of the Morgan Run Formation (of debated age) and Mine Run Complex, some of which contain possible ophiolite fragments; (2) mélanges in the Blue Ridge Province from Virginia to Alabama, which contain possible ophiolite fragments; (3) Silurian or Early Devonian olistostromes of the Lay Dam Formation in the Talladega slate belt of Alabama; (4) mélanges, including the Falls Lake and Juliette mélanges in the Carolinas and Georgia, that border the Carolina terrane as defined by Secor and others (1983); and (5) broken formations and mélanges along major faults such as the Pulaski and Brevard, which are mostly related to Alleghanian thrusting. In addition, there is good evidence in the Ocoee Supergroup of the Blue Ridge Province for Late Proterozoic olistostromes related to the initiation of grabens prior to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.