The Geochemistry and Origin of the Devonian Granitic Rocks of Southwest Nova Scotia

INTRODUCTION Approximately one-third of southwest Nova Scotia (7,000 km²) is underlain by Devonian granitic rocks (Malcolm, 1912; Sage, 1954; Fairbairn and others, 1960, 1964; Leech and others, 1963; Lowdon, 1960; Lowdon and others, 1963; Cormier and Smith, 1973; Reynolds and others, 1973), penetrating a conformable pile of lower Paleozoic meta-sedimentary and metavolcanic rocks at least 12 km thick (Taylor and Schiller, 1966; McKenzie and Clarke 1975). These stratified rocks were compressed into a series of tight upright folds during the Acadian orogeny and show no evidence of deformation during the Taconic orogeny. Most of the metasediments and metavolcanics have been recrystallized in the greenschist facies and rocks characteristic of the almandine-amphibolite facies are known only from the southernmost part of Nova Scotia (Taylor and Schiller, 1966, Fig. 1).