Anticosti foreland basin offshore of western Newfoundland: Concealed record of northern Appalachian orogen development

The Anticosti foreland basin, largely concealed beneath the Gulf of St. Lawrence, preserves a critical record of tectonic events linked to the Ordovician to Devonian evolution of the northern Appalachian orogen. Geophysical data, including magnetic lineaments and seismic profiles, reveal that the basin's geometry and subsidence rates varied significantly over time, reflecting changes in orogenic loading during multiple collisional events. The Middle Ordovician Goose Tickle Group indicates intense arc-continent collision in northern Newfoundland, while the overlying Long Point Group suggests pro-arc loading by Taconian allochthons in Québec, with diachronous subduction polarity reversal placing it in a combined retro-arc and pro-arc setting. The uppermost Silurian to Lower Devonian Clam Bank Formation and Lower Devonian Red Island Road Formation represent later Salinian and Acadian orogenic phases, characterized by broad, shallow subsidence consistent with a cooler, stronger lithosphere.

White, S. E., Waldron, J. W. F., & Harris, N. B. (2019). Anticosti foreland basin offshore of western Newfoundland: Concealed record of northern Appalachian orogen development. Basin Research, 32(1), 25–50. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12364