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The Ballantrae ophiolite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

W. R. Church  and
R. A. Gayer
W. R. Church
Affiliation:
Department of GeologyUniversity of Western OntarioLondon 72 Ontario Canada
R. A. Gayer
Affiliation:
Department of GeologyUniversity CollegeCathay's Park Cardiff Wales
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Summary

The Ballantrae complex, variously interpreted in the light of plate tectonics, is reappraised on the basis of comparisons with ophiolites of the Newfoundland Appalachians and the southwestern Pacific. All the main components of a typical ophiolite sequence can be recognized although the sequence has been greatly disturbed by post-emplacement Caledonian deformation. The presence of a garnet granulite-amphibolite ‘aureole’ beneath the peridotite member of the complex is confirmed, thus establishing the affinity of the complex to other ophiolite-amphibolite associations of the Appalachian and Alpine systems. Rock units previously described as agglomerates are re-interpreted as olistostromes, and the important Pinbain Beach ‘shaly group’ containing fragments of ophiolitic debris, garnet-ariegite, and glaucophane schist, is considered to be a Wildflysch unit of Middle Arenig age. The olistostromes were deposited following obduction of oceanic lithosphere represented by the ultramafic and mafic rocks of the Ballantrae complex. Recognition of the complex as overthrust ophiolite removes certain constraints on the position of a Lower Paleozoic subduction zone within the Southern Uplands.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 110 , Issue 6 , November 1973 , pp. 497 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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