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Paul's Island or Paul Island is an island off the coast of Labrador, near the town of Nain in Canada.
The island is the geological type area of the mineral labradorite, which is a plagioclase feldspar. [1] Labradorite is the principal component of the igneous rock type anorthosite. The Nain anorthosite batholith is a large igneous plutonic rock complex that covers a large area of this part of Labrador.
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the plagioclase (sodium-calcium) feldspars and the alkali (potassium-sodium) feldspars. Feldspars make up about 60% of the Earth's crust, and 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight.
Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more properly known as the plagioclase feldspar series. This was first shown by the German mineralogist Johann Friedrich Christian Hessel (1796–1872) in 1826. The series ranges from albite to anorthite endmembers (with respective compositions NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8), where sodium and calcium atoms can substitute for each other in the mineral's crystal lattice structure. Plagioclase in hand samples is often identified by its polysynthetic crystal twinning or 'record-groove' effect.
Labradorite ((Ca, Na)(Al, Si)4O8) is a calcium-enriched feldspar mineral first identified in Labrador, Canada, which can display an iridescent effect (schiller).
Anorthosite is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by its composition: mostly plagioclase feldspar (90–100%), with a minimal mafic component (0–10%). Pyroxene, ilmenite, magnetite, and olivine are the mafic minerals most commonly present.
Hypersthene is a common rock-forming inosilicate mineral belonging to the group of orthorhombic pyroxenes. Its chemical formula is (Mg,Fe)SiO3. It is found in igneous and some metamorphic rocks as well as in stony and iron meteorites. Many references have formally abandoned this term, preferring to categorise this mineral as enstatite or ferrosilite. It forms a solid solution series with the minerals enstatite and ferrosilite, being a mid-way member between the two. Pure enstatite contains no iron, while pure ferrosilite contains no magnesium; hypersthene is the name given to the mineral when a significant amount of both elements are present. Enstatite is stable at atmospheric pressure, but ferrosilite is stable only at elevated pressure, decomposing into quartz and fayalite at atmospheric pressure unless stabilized by magnesium or other impurities.
Norite is a mafic intrusive igneous rock composed largely of the calcium-rich plagioclase labradorite, orthopyroxene, and olivine. The name norite is derived from Norge, the Norwegian name for Norway.
The Grenville orogeny was a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. Its record is a prominent orogenic belt which spans a significant portion of the North American continent, from Labrador to Mexico, as well as to Scotland.
The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's crust. It has been tilted and eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great geological basin: the Transvaal Basin. It is approximately 2 billion years old and is divided into four different limbs: the northern, southern, eastern, and western limbs. The Bushveld Complex comprises the Rustenburg Layered suite, the Lebowa Granites and the Rooiberg Felsics, that are overlain by the Karoo sediments. The site was first discovered around 1897 by Gustaaf Molengraaff.
Troctolite is a mafic intrusive rock type. It consists essentially of major but variable amounts of olivine and calcic plagioclase along with minor pyroxene. It is an olivine-rich anorthosite, or a pyroxene-depleted relative of gabbro. However, unlike gabbro, no troctolite corresponds in composition to a partial melt of peridotite. Thus, troctolite is necessarily a cumulate of crystals that have fractionated from melt.
Type locality, also called type area, is the locality where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit or mineral species is first identified. If the stratigraphic unit in a locality is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the standard of reference for unlayered rocks is the type locality.
South Aulatsivik Island is a Canadian island in northeastern part of Labrador in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Bravo Lake Formation is a mafic volcanic belt and large igneous province located at the northern margin of the Trans-Hudson orogeny on central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is exposed along a nearly continuous east–west passage for 120 km (75 mi) and changes in stratigraphic thickness from 1 to 2.5 kilometers. The formation is a rare alkaline-suite that formed as a result of submarine rifting during the Paleoproterozoic period. The Bravo Lake Formation is surprisingly undeformed by the Himalayan-scale forming event during the Trans-Hudsonian orogeny.
The Skaergaard intrusion is a layered igneous intrusion in the Kangerlussuaq area, East Greenland. It comprises various rock types including gabbro, ferro diorite, anorthosite and granophyre.
The North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) is a large igneous province in the North Atlantic, centered on Iceland. In the Paleogene, the province formed the Thulean Plateau, a large basaltic lava plain, which extended over at least 1.3 million km2 (500 thousand sq mi) in area and 6.6 million km3 (1.6 million cu mi) in volume. The plateau was broken up during the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean leaving remnants preserved in north Ireland, west Scotland, the Faroe Islands, northwest Iceland, east Greenland, western Norway and many of the islands located in the north eastern portion of the North Atlantic Ocean. The igneous province is the origin of the Giant's Causeway and Fingal's Cave. The province is also known as Brito–Arctic province and the portion of the province in the British Isles is also called the British Tertiary Volcanic Province or British Tertiary Igneous Province.
Voisey's Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean in Labrador, Canada. The bay is located 38 kilometres (24 mi) south of the community of Nain. The bay is heavily indented with numerous inlets and islands and is extremely rocky. It is the site of the Voisey's Bay Mine.
In Labrador, Canada, the North Atlantic Craton is known as the Nain Province. The Nain geologic province was intruded by the Nain Plutonic Suite, which divides the province into the northern Saglek block and the southern Hopedale block.
Nigel Foster is an English sea kayaker, kayak designer, instructor and author. He is the first and youngest paddler to circle Iceland by kayak.
The Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen(ah-lah-coh-jin) (help·info) is a failed rift, or failed rift arm (aulacogen), of the triple junction that became the Iapetus Ocean spreading ridges. It is a significant geological feature in the Western and Southern United States. It formed sometime in the early to mid Cambrian Period and spans the Wichita Mountains, Taovayan Valley, Anadarko Basin, and Hardeman Basin in Southwestern Oklahoma. The Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen is primarily composed of basaltic dikes, gabbros, and units of granitic rock.
The geology of Quebec involves several different geologic provinces, made up of ancient Precambrian crystalline igneous and metamorphic rock, overlain by younger sedimentary rocks and soils. Most of southern Quebec is dominated by the Grenville Province, while the vast north is divided between the large Superior Province and the Churchill Province to the east, near Labrador.
The geology of Newfoundland and Labrador includes basement rocks formed as part of the Grenville Province in the west and Labrador and the Avalonian microcontinent in the east. Extensive tectonic changes, metamorphism and volcanic activity have formed the region throughout Earth history.
Coordinates: 56°31′N61°30′W / 56.517°N 61.500°W