Work

Geological Field Guide to the Baie Verte Margin, Newfoundland

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The Baie Verte Margin of western Newfoundland preserves one of the best-exposed examples of a reworked Laurentian continental margin in the Appalachian Orogen. The area records Mesoproterozoic basement formation, Neoproterozoic rifting and sedimentation, and Ordovician subduction, ultrahigh-pressure metamorphism, and exhumation associated with the Taconic orogeny. This excursion guide focuses on the tectonostratigraphic architecture of the Baie Verte Margin and examines the relationships between the newly defined Middle Arm Brook Complex (MABC), the East Pond Metamorphic Suite (EPMS), and the Fleur de Lys Supergroup (FdLS). The guide integrates field relationships, structural observations, metamorphic assemblages, and recent geochronological constraints to illustrate the polyphase evolution of the margin. Key stops include Laurentian basement granitoids, polymictic metaconglomerates, polyphase-deformed metasedimentary rocks, eclogite-bearing mafic boudins preserving evidence for ultrahighpressure metamorphism, and major tectonic boundaries such as the Bear Cove Road Shear Zone. This excursion emphasizes how multiscale structural and metamorphic heterogeneities can be used to decipher polydeformed collisional orogens and reconstruct complex tectonic histories.

Source: Geological Field Trips and Maps

DOI: 10.3301/gft.2026.14

Authors: Ludovico Giovanni Scorsolini, Cees R. van Staal

Institutions: Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador, Geological Survey of Canada, University of Waterloo

Language: English

Topic: Geological and Geochemical Analysis

Subfield: Geochemistry and Petrology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, University of Waterloo, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Award: G7051229008