Meguma terrane

Map of Nova Scotia, showing how the Meguma terrane forms the southern portion.

The Meguma terrane is a terrane exposed in southern Nova Scotia, that became joined to the present North American landmass as part of the Appalachian orogeny. Composed largely of Cambrian to Ordovician sedimentary deposits, it is joined to the Avalon terrane along the Minas Fault Zone, which runs east-west from Chedabucto Bay to Cobequid Bay and the Minas Basin. Numerous Devonian and Carboniferous plutons are also found. The extent of the formation is unclear; some geologists believe that a magnetic anomaly along the coast of Cape Cod may represent a suture between the Meguma and Avalon terranes in that region. Unlike the Avalon terrane, the Meguma terrane has not been definitely associated with territory on the other side of the Atlantic; it may be represented in the Galicia-Tras-Os-Montes Zone in Spain and Portugal. It appears to have been separated from Gondwana, but there are competing theories as to whether it came from the northern or southern coast.

Geologically this area is of interest not only to students of geological history, but because metamorphism produced gold deposits which were mined extensively in the latter half of the 19th century, and which remain potentially exploitable today.

References

• "Mineral Deposits of Canada: Metallogenic Summary, Meguma Gold Deposits". Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
• "Transpression and transtension along a continental transform fault: Minas Fault Zone, Nova Scotia". Retrieved 2008-02-04.
• Horne, Richard J. "Neoacadian Deformation Within The Meguma Terrane". Geological Society of America. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
• "A Pictorial Survey of the Bedrock Beneath Western Cape Cod, Massachusetts". Open-File Report 03-221. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2008-02-04.