Kinematic model for southwestern Newfoundland based upon Silurian sinistral shearing

Southwest Newfoundland consists of a mosaic of subzones or terranes recognized by distinctive lithostratigraphy, plutonism, and metamorphism. Subzone boundaries trending east-west exhibit north-over-south thrusting, but northeast-trending boundaries exhibit sinistral transcurrent motion. The pattern suggests sinistral shear around a promontory of late Precambrian rocks on the south shore of the island, and so terranes to the north were thrust southwest, and low-angle thrusts form the lobate boundaries of southern Newfoundland. Radiometric dating suggests a Silurian age for shearing, but sense of shear reversed before Carboniferous time.