Revised upper Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Blacks Harbour-Beaver Harbour area, New Brunswick, Canada: evidence from new bedrock mapping and palynology

Authors

  • Steven J. Hinds Geological Surveys Branch, Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1, Canada
  • Adrian F. Park Geological Surveys Branch, Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5H1, Canada
  • Susan C. Johnson Geological Surveys Branch, Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, Sussex, New Brunswick E4E 7H7, Canada
  • Duncan McLean MB Stratigraphy Ltd, 11 Clement Street, Sheffield S9 5EA, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2024.003

Abstract

Upper Paleozoic sedimentary rocks form outliers delineated by large strike-slip faults in the Blacks Harbour-Beaver Harbour area in southwestern New Brunswick. Currently included in the Upper Devonian Perry Formation, and Visean–Pennsylvanian Mabou Group (Balls Lake Formation) and Cumberland Group (Lancaster Formation), these units have been subject to varied interpretations since the initial mapping during the 19th century. The Perry Formation, a red bed sequence consisting of coarse conglomerate, sandstone, minor shale, and mafic volcanic rocks, has yielded plant fossils (indeterminate debris and decorticated stem and root fossils) considered to be broadly Devonian, and most likely Famennian. The ‘Carboniferous’ strata have proven more intractable. Three units have been defined by mapping: Lighthouse Cove Formation (previously: ‘Fish Plant Beds’), Cripps Steam Formation, and Russels Point Formation (previously: ‘Beaver Harbour Formation’). These units have yielded plant fossils in the form of indeterminate debris and decorticated stem and root fragments that various workers have attributed to the Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, or Pennsylvanian. New palynological analyses from the Perry Formation (at Tunaville) and Russels Point Formation (at Woodland Cove and Russels Point) have yielded stratigraphically significant assemblages. The Tunaville assemblage, the first miospores from anywhere in the Perry Formation, and roughly in the middle of the local sequence, is lower to middle Famennian. Two miospore assemblages are from near the base of the Russels Point Formation: one shows a possible range from Tournaisian to Holkerian (middle Visean), and the second is better constrained between Chadian and Holkerian (lower to middle Visean). Only the Lighthouse Cove Formation (‘Fish Plant Beds’) failed to yield any miospore assemblages; however, mapping and structural considerations are compatible with this unit being older than the Russels Point Formation and younger than the Perry Formation and most likely Tournaisian to lower Visean. One new stratigraphic relationship has been located along the southern shore of Deadmans Harbour where an angular unconformity occurs between red beds of the Perry Formation and grey beds of the overlying Russels Point Formation. Contrasting deformation styles in these units related to displacement on the Belleisle Fault constrain a major phase of strike-slip movement to the Famennian–Tournaisian interval.

References

Alcock, F.J. and Perry, S.C. 1960. Geology St. George, Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Map 1094A, scale 1:63 360.

Bailey, L.W. 1865. Observations on the geology of southern New Brunswick. Queens Printer, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 158 p.

Bailey, L.W. 1890. On some relations between the geology of eastern Maine and New Brunswick. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 7(4), pp. 57–68.

Bailey, L.W. and Matthew, G.F. 1872. Geology of southern New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1870-71, Part 2, pp. 13–240.

Bailey, L.W. and Matthew, G.F. 1919. Some problems of New Brunswick geology. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Third Series, 12(4), pp. 105–130.

Bailey, L.W., Matthew, G.F., and Ells, R.W. 1880. Report on the geology of southern New Brunswick, embracing the counties of Charlotte, Sunbury, Queens, Kings, St. John and Albert. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1878–79, pp. 1–26D.

Barr, S.M. and White, C.E. 2005. Bedrock geology of the Musquash area (NTS 21 G/01), Saint John, Charlotte and Kings counties, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Plate 2005-26, scale 1:50 000.

Barr, S.M., White, C.E., and Miller, B.V. 2002. The Kingston Terrane, southern New Brunswick, Canada: evidence for an Early Silurian volcanic arc. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 114, pp. 964–982. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(2002)114<0964:TKTSNB>2.0.CO;2

Barr, S.M., White, C.E., and Miller, B.V. 2003. Age and geochemistry of Late Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian igneous rocks in southern New Brunswick: similarities and contrasts. Atlantic Geology, 39, pp. 55–73. https://doi.org/10.4138/1050

Barr, S.M., Bartsch, C.J., Miller, B.V., and White, C.E. 2014. U–Pb (zircon) age for the Beaver Harbour Porphyry, New River Belt, southern New Brunswick, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 50, pp. 155–166. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2014.010

Bartsch, C.J. and Barr, S.M. 2005. Distribution and petrochemistry of Late Neoproterozoic rocks in the southwestern New River Terrane, southern New Brunswick. In Geological Investigations in New Brunswick for 2004. Edited by G.L. Martin. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources; Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Mineral Resources Report 2005-1, pp. 1–22.

Bartsch, C.J., Barr, S.M., and White, C.E. 2007 (revised 2014). Bedrock geology of the Woodland Cove area (NTS 21 G/02b), Charlotte County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources; Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Plate 2007-2, scale 1:20 000.

Bell, W.A. 1927. Outline of Carboniferous stratigraphy and geologic history of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 21, pp. 75–108.

Bell, W.A. 1960. Mississippian Horton Group of type Windsor–Horton district, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 314, 112 p. https://doi.org/10.4095/100541

Brown, R.L. and Helmstaedt, H. 1970. Deformation history in part of the Lubec–Belleisle zone of southern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 7, pp. 748–767. https://doi.org/10.1139/e70-076

Brown, R.L., Helmstaedt, H., and Webb, G.A. 1969. Paleozoic wrench faults in the Canadian Appalachians: discussion and reply. In North Atlantic Geology and Continental. Edited by M. Kay. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir, 12, pp. 787–788.

Clayton, G. 1985. Dinantian miospores and inter-continental correlation. Compte rendu 7eme Congrès Internationale de Géologie et de Stratigraphie du Carbonifère, Madrid, 1983, 4, pp. 9–23.

Cumming, L.M. 1967. Geology of the Passamaquoddy Bay region, Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 65-29, 36 p. https://doi.org/10.4095/100976

Currie, K.L. 1988. St. George map area: the end of the Avalon Zone in southern New Brunswick. In Current Research, Part B, Geological Survey of Canada Paper 88-1B, pp. 9–16. https://doi.org/10.4095/122416

Dawson, J.W. 1861. On the pre-Carboniferous flora of New Brunswick, Maine and eastern Canada. Canadian Naturalist and Geologist, 6, pp. 162–180.

Dawson, J.W. 1862. On the flora of the Devonian Period in northeastern America. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 18, pp. 296–330. https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.JGS.1862.018.01-02.42

Ells, R.W. 1905. Geology of Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Summary Report for 1904, Part A, pp. 271–279.

Falcon-Lang, H.J. and Miller, R.F. 2007. Palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology of the Early Pennsylvanian Lancaster Formation (‘Fern Ledges’) of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 164, pp. 945–957. https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492006-189

Fyffe, L.R. 1998. Bedrock geology of the Jake Lee Mountain area (21G/02g), Charlotte County New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, Minerals and Energy Division, Plate 98-70, scale 1:20 000.

Fyffe, L.R., Johnson, S.C., Bartsch, C.J., Barr, S.M., and White, C.E. 2014. Bedrock geology of the Beaver Harbour area (NTS 21 G/02b), Charlotte County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Energy and Mines, Geological Surveys Branch, Plate 2014-25, scale 1:20 000.

Garnett, J.A. and Brown, R.L. 1973. Fabric variation in the Lubec–Belleisle Zone of southern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 10, pp. 1591–1599. https://doi.org/10.1139/e73-152

Gesner, A. 1839. First report on the geological survey of the Province of New Brunswick: Saint John, New Brunswick, 87 p.

Greenough, J.D., McCutcheon, S.R., and Papezik, V.S. 1985. Petrology and geochemistry of Cambrian volcanic rocks from the Avalon Zone in New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22, pp. 881–892. https://doi.org/10.1139/e85-092

Hacquebard, P.A. 1972. The Carboniferous of eastern Canada. Compte Rendu 7eme Congrès Internationale de Géologie et de Stratigraphie du Carbonifère, Krefeld, 1971, 1, pp. 69–90.

Helmstaedt, H. 1966. Upper Devonian plant fossils from Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick. Maritime Sediments and Atlantic Geology, 2 (4), pp. 171–174. https://doi.org/10.4138/1513

Helmstaedt, H. 1967. Note on plant fossils from Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick. Maritime Sediments and Atlantic Geology, 3 (4), pp. 119. https://doi.org/10.4138/1554

Helmstaedt, H. 1968. Structural analysis of the Beaver Harbour area, Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Unpublished Ph. D. thesis, University of New Brunswick, 196 p.

Hitchcock, C.H. 1861. General report upon the geology of Maine, pp. 146–328 and Geology of the wild lands, pp. 377–442. Maine Board of Agriculture, Sixth Annual Report, Augusta, Maine, 477 p.

Johnson, S.C. 2001. Contrasting geology in the Pocologan River and Long Reach areas: implications for the New River belt and correlations in southern New Brunswick and Maine. Atlantic Geology, 37, pp. 61–79. https://doi.org/10.4138/1972

Johnson, S.C., McLeod, M.J., Barr, S.M., and White, C.E. 2005. Bedrock geology of the Saint John area (NTS 21/08), Saint John, Kings, Queens and Charlotte counties, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Plate 2005-31, scale 1:50 000.

Landing, E., Johnson, S.C., and Geyer, G. 2008. Faunas and Cambrian volcanism on the Avalonian marginal platform, southern New Brunswick. Journal of Paleontology, 82, pp. 884–905. https://doi.org/10.1666/07-007.1

Leger, A. and Williams, P.F. 1986. Transcurrent faulting history of southern New Brunswick. In Current Research, Part B, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 86-1B, pp. 111–120. https://doi.org/10.4095/120636

Mackenzie, G.S. 1940. The St. Stephen map-area, Charlotte County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Lands and Mines, Paper 40-6, 46 p.

Mackenzie, G.S. and Alcock, F.J. 1960. Geology of St. Stephen, Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1096A, scale 1:63 360. https://doi.org/10.4095/107809

Massone, H-J., Barr, S.M., White, C.E., and Miller, B.V. 2018. The Pocologan metamorphic suite of southern New Brunswick, Canada: new constraints on age and conditions of medium- to high-pressure metamorphism on the Ganderian margin of the Rheic Ocean. Tectonophysics, 748, pp. 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2018.09.006

McGregor, D.C. and McCutcheon, S.R. 1988. Implications of spore evidence for Late Devonian age of the Piskahegan Group, southwestern New Brunswick. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 25, pp. 1349–1364. https://doi.org/10.1139/e88-130

McIlwaine, W.H. 1967. Age and origin of the Perry Formation, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada. Maritime Sediments and Atlantic Geology, 3, pp. 56–60. https://doi.org/10.4138/1538

McIlwaine, W.H. 1968. Age and origin of the Perry Formation (Devonian), Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 86 p.

McLeod, M.J. and Johnson, S.C. 1998. Bedrock geological compilation of the St. George area (NTS 21 G/02), Charlotte County, New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, Minerals and Energy Division, Plate 98-23, scale 1:50 000.

McLeod, M.J., Johnson, S.C., and Ruitenberg, A.A. 1994. Geological map of Southwestern New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy; Mineral Resources Division, Plate NR-5, scale 1:250 000.

McLeod, M.J., Johnson, S., Barr, S.M., and White, C.E. 2005 (revised 2014). Bedrock geology of the St. George area (NTS 21 G/02), Charlotte County, New Brunswick, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Plate 2005-27, scale 1:50 000.

Park, A.F. and Hinds, S.J. 2020. Structure and stratigraphy in the Pennsylvanian tectonic zone of southern New Brunswick, Canada: the ‘Maritime coastal disturbance’ revisited. In Pannotia to Pangaea: Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic Orogenic Cycles in the Circum-Atlantic Region. Edited by J.B. Murphy, R.A. Strachan, and C. Quesada. Geological Society of London Special Publications, 503, pp. 443–468. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP503-2019-234

Park, A.F., Hinds, S.J., Stimson, M.R. and Stringer, P. 2016. An upper Visean–Serpukhovian unconformity in southern New Brunswick and its significance. Atlantic Geology, 52, p. 89.

Rast, N., Grant, R.H., Parker, J.S.D., and Teng, H.C. 1979. The Carboniferous succession in southern New Brunswick and its state of deformation. In Atlantic Coast Basins. Edited by H.H. Geldsetzer. Neuvieme Congrès International de Stratigraphie et de Géologie du Carbonifère. Compte Rendu, 3, pp. 13–22.

Richardson, J.B. and McGregor, D.C. 1986. Silurian and Devonian spore zones of the Old Red Sandstone continent and adjacent regions. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 364, 1–79. https://doi.org/10.4095/120614

Schluger, P.R. 1973. Stratigraphy and sedimentary environments of the Devonian Perry Formation, New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine, U.S.A. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 84, pp. 2533–2548. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1973)84<2533:SASEOT>2.0.CO;2

Schluger, P.R. 1976. Petrology and origin of the red beds of the Perry Formation, New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine, U.S.A. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 46, pp. 22–37. https://doi.org/10.1306/212F6EAB-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D

Smith, J. C. 1966. Geology of southwestern New Brunswick. In Guidebook: Geology of Parts of the Atlantic Provinces. Edited by W.H. Poole. Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting September 1966, Halifax Nova Scotia, pp. 1–18.

Smith, E. A. 2005. Geological map of Southwestern New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources; Mineral, Policy and Planning Division, Plate NR-5 (Second Edition), scale 1:250 000.

Smith A.H.V. and Butterworth, M.A. 1967. Miospores in the coal seams of the Carboniferous of Great Britain. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 1, pp. 1–324.

Smith, G.O. and White, D. 1905. Geology of the Perry Basin in southeastern Maine. US Geological Survey Professional Paper 35, 107 p. https://doi.org/10.3133/pp35

St. Peter, C.J. and Johnson, S. C. 2009. Stratigraphy and structural history of the late Paleozoic Maritimes Basin in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Minerals, Policy and Planning Division, Memoir 3, 363 p.

Stearns, C. and van der Voo, R. 1987. A paleomagnetic reinvestigation of the Upper Devonian Perry Formation; evidence for late Paleozoic remagnetization. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 86, pp. 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(87)90185-3

Stimson, M.R., Miller, R.F., Lucas, S.G., Park, A.F., and Hinds, S.J. 2016. Redescription of tetrapod trackways from the Mississippian Mabou Group, Lepreau Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 52, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2016.001

Stopes, M.C. 1914. The ‘Fern Ledges’ Carboniferous flora of St. John, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoirs 41, 168 p. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.64206

Stringer, P., Burke, K.S., and Dunn, T. 1991. Stratigraphy, structure and associated igneous rocks of the Upper Devonian Perry Formation in the St. Andrews area, southwest New Brunswick, and adjacent coastal Maine. In Geology of the Coastal Lithotectonic Block and Neighboring Terranes, Eastern Maine and Southern New Brunswick. Edited by A. Ludman. New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference, 83rd Annual Meeting, September 27–29, 1991, Princeton, Maine. Field Guide, Trip B-7, pp. 222–264.

Utting, J. 1987. Palynology of the Lower Carboniferous Windsor Group and Windsor–Canso boundary beds of Nova Scotia, and their equivalents in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 374, pp. 1–93. https://doi.org/10.4095/122454

Utting, J. 1989. Palynostratigraphic investigation of the Albert Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of New Brunswick, Canada. Palynology, 11, pp. 73–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.1987.9989320

Utting, J., Giles, P.S. and Dolby, G. 2010. Palynostratigraphy of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian rocks, Joggins area, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada. Palynology, 34, pp. 43–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916121003620569

Utting, J., Keppie, J.D., and Giles, P.S. 1989. Palynology and stratigraphy of the Lower Carboniferous Horton Group, Nova Scotia. Contributions to Canadian Palaeontology, Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 396, pp. 117–143. https://doi.org/10.4095/127720

Waldron, J.W.F., Barr, S.M., Park, A.F., White, C.E., and Hibbard, J. 2015. Late Paleozoic strike-slip faults in Maritime Canada and their role in the reconfiguration of the northern Appalachian orogen. Tectonics, 34, pp. 1661–1684. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015TC003882

Webb, G.W. 1969. Paleozoic wrench faults in the Canadian Appalachians. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 12, pp. 754–786. https://doi.org/10.1306/M12367C55

Williams, G.L., Fyffe, L.R., Wardle, R.J., Colman-Sadd, S.P., and Boehner, R.C. (editors). 1985. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy Volume VI. Atlantic Region. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary Canada, 572 p.

Wilmarth, M.G. 1938. Lexicon of geologic names of the United States (including Alaska). US Geological Survey Bulletin 896, 2396 p.

Wood, G.D., Gabriel, A.M., and Lawson, J.C. 1996. Palynological techniques – processing and microscopy. In Palynology: Principles and Applications. Edited by J. Jansonius, and D.C. McGregor.American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation, 1, pp. 29–50.

Yeo, C.M. 1989. Petrology and depositional environment of the Foord seam, Pictou Coalfield, Nova Scotia. Atlantic Geology, 25, pp. 1–112. https://doi.org/10.4138/1675

Downloads

Published

2024-03-11

How to Cite

Hinds, S. J., Park, A. F., Johnson, S. C., & McLean, D. (2024). Revised upper Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Blacks Harbour-Beaver Harbour area, New Brunswick, Canada: evidence from new bedrock mapping and palynology. Atlantic Geoscience, 60, 037–061. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeo.2024.003

Issue

Vol. 60 (2024)

Section

Articles

License

As of January 1, 2025, Atlantic Geoscience is adopting Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)  This license requires that re-users give credit to the creator. It allows re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes.

Copyright to material published in Atlantic Geoscience is normally retained by the author.  Alternate arrangements can be made on request for government employees.

Permission to use a single graphic for which the author owns copyright is considered “fair dealing” under the Canadian Copyright Act and “fair use” by the journal, and no other permission need be granted, subject to the image being appropriately cited in all reproductions. The same fair dealing/fair use policy applies to sections of text up to 100 words in length.