The Rivière-des-Plante ultramafic Complex lies along the Baie Verte–Brompton line in southern Québec and has previously been interpreted as an ophiolitic mélange. It is bounded on the northwest by a northwest-dipping thrust fault and unconformably overlain by conglomerates belonging to the Saint-Daniel Mélange to the southeast. It consists of harzburgite, serpentinite, ophicalcite, gabbro, granite, and granofelsic to mylonitic fragmental rocks. The latter have been interpreted as “exotic” metasedimentary rocks correlative with those of the Chain Lakes massif of western Maine. Our mapping suggests that the Rivière-des-Plante ultramafic Complex is not a mélange, but rather a deeply eroded ophiolitic remnant mostly represented by mantle peridotites that correlate with those of the Thetford-Mines ophiolite. The granofelsic to mylonitic rocks represent xenolith-bearing granitoids crosscutting the peridotites rather than “exotic” blocks derived from the Chain Lakes massif. These granites are similar to ca. 470 Ma peridotite-hosted granitoids of the Thetford-Mines ophiolite, which were generated by anatexis of the Laurentian margin during ophiolite obduction. A comparison of metasedimentary rocks of the Chain Lakes massif with those of the southern Québec Laurentian margin, as well as stratigraphic and geochronological data for both the southern Québec and western Maine Appalachians, suggests that the Chain Lakes likely represents more or less in situ Laurentian margin, and that metamorphism and anatexis dated at 469 Ma may have been caused by the obduction of the southern Québec ophiolites.

ABSTRACT This three-day field trip focuses on the stratigraphy and the structural characteristics of the late- and post-Taconian sedimentary basins of the southern Québec Appalachians, with a particular emphasis on N-to-S and W-to-E structural and lithological variations. In order to discuss various aspects of the regional structural evolution of these basins, we will visit a series of key outcrops following three sections, the Beauce/Thetford-Mines sections, the Sherbrooke section, and the Coaticook section. RÉSUMÉ Cette excursion de trois jours se concentre sur la stratigraphie et les caractéristiques structurales des bassins sédimentaires tardi- et post-Taconien des Appalaches du sud du Québec, en mettant l’accent sur les variations structurales et lithologiques du nord au sud et d’ouest en est. Afin de discuter des divers aspects de l’évolution structurale régionale de ces bassins sédimentaires, nous visiterons une série d’affleure ments clés en suivant trois sections, soient les sections de Beauce/Thetford-Mines, de Sherbrooke, et de Coaticook.

Abstract A correlation between allochthonous units exposed in the NW Iberian Massif and the southern Armorican Massif is carried out based on lithological associations, structural position, age and geochemistry of protoliths and tectonometamorphic evolution. The units on both sides of the Bay of Biscay are grouped into Upper, Middle and Lower allochthons, whereas an underlying allochthonous thrust sheet identified in both massifs is referred to as the Parautochthon. The Lower Allochthon represents a fragment of the outermost edge of Gondwana that underwent continental subduction shortly after the closure of a Palaeozoic ocean which, in turn, is represented by the Middle Allochthon. The latter consists of supra-subduction ophiolites and metasedimentary sequences alternating with basic, mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-type volcanics, with inheritances suggesting the proximity of a continental domain. Seafloor spreading began at the Cambro-Ordovician boundary and oceanic crust was still formed during the Late Devonian, covering the lifetime of the Rheic Ocean, which is possibly represented by the Middle Allochthon. The opening of the oceanic domain was related to pulling apart the peri-Gondwanan continental magmatic arc, which is represented by the Upper Allochthon.

Abstract The mineral resources of the non-ultramafic rocks of New Caledonia and its Exclusive Economic Zone can be classified according to their host rocks. The metallic mineral resources are essentially associated with volcanic and magmatic activity. Non-economic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits with Cu and Au are located in the Late Carboniferous Koh Ophiolite and in the Late Cretaceous Poya Terrane. Base metals, Au and Ag of the sedimentary–exhalative type are present in the metamorphic Diahot-Panié Metamorphic Complex, associated with syn-rift volcanism. An Au–Sb metallogenic province is associated with the post-obduction Late Oligocene granitoids and co-genetic hydrothermal silica–carbonate (listwanite) zones in the Peridotite Nappe; Au is disseminated in the granites and Sb occurs as lodes in the silica–carbonate. Among the non-metallic mineral resources, barite, gypsum, magnesite, phosphate, clays, dimension stones, limestone for use as cement and as a neutralizer, and aggregates are all present. Gemstones such as jade and chrysoprase are only used locally. Late Cretaceous coal, which was briefly exploited in the past, is now considered to be a source rock for an offshore potential oil and gas system. Petroleum prospectivity is currently focused on the Fairway Basin. Several low-enthalpy thermo-mineral springs with a weak geothermal energy potential are known on Grande Terre.

ABSTRACT This is an in-depth review and analysis of the long and untold history of development of earth science, geological thinking, research, and exploration on the Iranian Plateau within its historical, political, and socioeconomic context. Widespread mineral resources and ancient civilization helped in exploration, excavation, smelting, and usage of different metals, precious stones, and minerals since the Neolithic Period. Extant ancient Avestan and Middle Iranian Pahlavi Zoroastrian texts, as well as the classic Greek and Roman scholars, clearly demonstrate the Iranian geological activity through the Median (ca. 615 BCE), Achaemenid (550–330 BCE), Parthian (250 BCE–224 CE), and Sassanid (224–642 CE) Dynasties, interrupted by disrupting periods of socioeconomic and political problems, followed by foreign invasions and devastation in 330 BCE–250 CE and 637–652 CE, when the Iranians could no longer make scientific advancements. Long after the invasion of Alexander III of Macedon (330 BCE), scientific activity culminated in the establishment of the academies of Gundishāpur, Ctesiphon, and Resaina, the three higher educational centers of the Sassanid Dynasty that focused on comprehensive observation, painstaking research, and advanced education during the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Careful observation, research, and experiment by brilliant and genius scholars such as Karaji, Biruni, and Avicenna took place during a period of great activity and growth in science, engineering, medicine, literature, art, architecture, and philosophy in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE in Iran. This Iranian two-century “intermezzo intellectual zenith,” with a stable state and economic prosperity, was nurtured by the vast heritage of the ancient Iranian, Mesopotamian, Indian, and Egyptian civilizations and elements of the ancient Avestan, Sanskrit, and Pahlavi writings since ca. 1200 BCE. Social, economic, and political conflicts followed by invasions by Central Asian nomadic tribe warlords and their accompanying hordes in 1000–1040 CE (Saljuqs), 1218–1231 CE, and 1256 CE (Mongols), and 1370 CE (Timurids), and their occupation caused the process of irreversible decay, retrogression, and general intellectual decadence until the Safavids (1491–1772 CE). During this relatively long dark period, there was a drastic decline in interest in geological research and writing, though some old mining efforts were active. Throughout the eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, foreign travelers made some contributions to the geology and mineral resources of Iran. It was during the second half of the twentieth century when once again earth science research blossomed in Iran with the help of European geologists. This ushered in a new period of modern geologic studies of Iran by native geologists. In memory of Emil Tietze (1845–1931), Alexander von Stahl (b. 1850), Setrāk Ābdāliān ( 1894–1963), Eugène Rieben (1899–1972), Heinrich Martin Huber (1917–1992), Jovan Stöcklin ( 1921–2008), Ricardo Assereto (1939–1976), and all pioneers in the past, who enthusiastically and rigorously intruded ever deeper into virtually unexplored territories in difficult and uncomfortable circumstances, extremely devoted to scientific pursuits, and shaped our understanding of the geology, tectonics, mineral resources, earthquakes, and seismotectonics of the Iranian Plateau .