ALBERT

Description: The Boat Harbour Formation constitutes the upper part of the Lower Ordovician St. George Group on the Northern Peninsula, western Newfoundland. It ranges in thickness from 140 m (459 ft) at Main Brook to 96 m (315 ft) at Daniel's Harbour. Dolomitization of the carbonate sequence is more pervasive in the lower 30 to 40 m (98 to 131 ft) at Main Brook, whereas at Daniel's Harbour, the section is entirely dolomitized. Petrography suggests that the Boat Harbour Formation has been affected by three phases of dolomitization. The earliest (near surface or synsedimentary) phase is D1 dolomicrite (4–55 μm), which exhibits dull to no luminescence. It commonly occurs as laminae-capping cycles and as breccias in the younger dolomite phases. It has low Sr (228 ± 30 ppm) and an average 18 O value of –6.0 ± 0.8 (Vienna Peedee belemnite [VPDB]) in the Main Brook section but more depleted signatures for 18 O of –8.8 ± 1 (VPDB) and lower Sr contents (45 ± 8 ppm) in the Daniel's Harbour section. The geochemical composition suggests that D1 was developed from fluids of a mixture of meteoric and marine waters. The midburial phase D2 dolomite consists of coarse planar subeuhedral crystals (30–400 μm) that show concentric cathodoluminescence zoning and are also crosscut by microstylolites. Its 18 O values range between –6.6 ± 1.3 (VPDB) at Main Brook and –9.0 ± 0.5 (VPDB) at Daniel's Harbour. This dolomite likely precipitated from fluids that circulated through crustal rocks with progressive burial ( T h value of 114°C ± 11°C and salinity value of 23 ± 1.8 eq. wt. % NaCl). The late-stage D3 dolomite has large and coarse nonplanar crystals (125 μm–7 mm) that exhibit sweeping extinction under crossed polars, which is characteristic of saddle dolomite and also sometimes shows thin brightly luminescent rims. It was likely precipitated during deeper burial in pulses and from hot fluids ( T h values of 148°C ± 19°C and 115°C ± 19.6°C and mean salinities of 23 ± 2 and 22 ± 2 eq. wt. % NaCl at Main Brook and Daniel's Harbour, respectively). This is also supported by their relatively more depleted 18 O (–11.1 ± 1.2 and –12.3 ± 1.4 VPDB, respectively) and low Sr contents (88 ± 36 and 38 ± 5.9 ppm, respectively). Porosity in the Boat Harbour Formation is mainly associated with the midburial D2 dolomite. Intercrystalline porosity is the dominant type, and it ranges in the formation from less than 1% to 8% at Main Brook and from 7% to 12% at Daniel's Harbour. Vugs are less common but are associated with D3 dolomite. The porous zone in the formation at Main Brook starts approximately 10 to 15 m (33 to 49 ft) below the lower Boat Harbour disconformity and extends down to the lower formational boundary, whereas porous zones in the formation at Daniel's Harbour are indiscriminately distributed throughout the section.

Description: The Sigma REE and shale-normalized (PAAS) REESN values of modern brachiopods (biogenic low-Mg calcite: bLMC) represented by several species from high- to low latitudes, from shallow- to deep waters and from warm- and cold-water environments, define three distinct average 'seawater' trends. The warm- and cold-water brachiopods define two indistinguishable (p〈0.050) groups that mimic open-ocean seawater REE chemistry, exhibiting the typical LREE enrichment with a slightly positive to negative Ce anomaly followed by an otherwise invariant series. Other recent brachiopods from an essentially siliciclastic seabed environment are distinct in both Sigma REE and REESN trends from the previous two populations, showing a slight enrichment in the MREEs and an increasing trend in the HREEs. Other groups of modern brachiopods are characterized by elevated REESN trends relative to the 'normal' groups as well as by complexity of the series trends. The most characteristic feature is the decrease in the HREEs in these brachiopods from areas of unusual productivity (i.e., such as upwelling currents, fluvial input and aerosol dust deposition). Preserved brachiopods from the Eocene and Silurian exhibit REESN trends and Ce anomalies similar to that of the 'open-ocean' modem brachiopods, although, their enriched Sigma REE concentrations suggest precipitation of bLMC influenced by extrinsic environmental conditions. Preservation of the bLMC was tested by comparing the Sigma REE and REESN trends of preserved Eocene brachiopods to those of Oligocene brachiopods that were altered in an open diagenetic system in the presence of phreatic meteoric-water. The altered bLMC is enriched by approximately one order of magnitude in both Sigma REE and REESN trends relative to that in bLMC of their preserved counterparts. Similarly, the Sigma REE and REESN of preserved Silurian brachiopod bLMC were compared to those of their enclosing altered lime mudstone, which exhibits features of partly closed system, phreatic meteoric-water diagenesis. Despite these differences in the diagenetic alteration systems and processes, the Sigma REEs and REESN trends of the bLMC of altered brachiopods and of originally mixed mineralogy lime mudstones (now diagenetic low-Mg calcite) are enriched by about one order of magnitude relative to those observed in the coeval and preserved bLMC In contrast to the changes in Sigma REE and REESN of carbonates exposed to phreatic meteoric-water diagenesis, are the REE compositions of late burial calcite cements precipitated in diagenetically open systems from burial fluids. The 2,REE and REESN trends of the burial cements mimic those of their host lime mudstone, with all showing slight LREE enrichment and slight HREE depletion, exhibiting a 'chevron' pattern of the REESN trends. The overall enrichment or depletion of the cement REESN trends relative to that of their respective host rock material reflects not only the openness of the diagenetic system, but also strong differences in the elemental and REE compositions of the burial fluids. Evaluation of the (Ce/Ce*)(SN) and La = (Pr/Pr*)(SN) anomalies suggests precipitation of the burial calcite cements essentially in equilibrium with their source fluids. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.