A dike swarm (American spelling) or dyke swarm (British spelling) is a large geological structure consisting of a major group of parallel, linear, or radially oriented magmatic dikes intruded within continental crust or central volcanoes in rift zones. Examples exist in Iceland[1] and near other large volcanoes, (stratovolcanoes, calderas, shield volcanoes and other fissure systems) around the world. They consist of several to hundreds of dikes emplaced more or less contemporaneously during a single intrusive event, are magmatic and stratigraphic, and may form a large igneous province.
The occurrence of mafic dike swarms in Archean and Paleoproterozoic terrains is often cited as evidence for mantle plume activity associated with abnormally high mantle potential temperatures.
Dike swarms may extend over 400 km (250 mi) in width and length. The largest dike swarm known on Earth is the Mackenzie dike swarm in the western half of the Canadian Shield in Canada, which is more than 500 km (310 mi) wide and 3,000 km (1,900 mi) long.[2]
About 25 giant dike swarms are known on Earth. The primary geometry of most giant dike swarms is poorly known due to their old age and subsequent tectonic activity.
Dike swarms have also been found on Venus and Mars.[3][4]
Sedimentary clastic dike swarms also exist on Earth; for example in Chile.[5]
Examples
editAfrica
edit- Cape Peninsula dyke swarm (South Africa)
- Okavango Dyke Swarm (Botswana)
- Dolerite dikes in Guéra Massif (Chad, Central Africa)[6]
Antarctica
edit- Vestfold Hills dike swarms (East Antarctica)
Asia
edit- North China dike swarm (North China craton, China)
- Sayan dike swarm (Russia)
- Shirotori-Hiketa dike swarm (northeastern Shikoku, Japan)
Australia
edit- Gairdner dyke swarm (South Australia)
- Mundine Well dyke swarm (Western Australia)
- Wood's Point dyke swarm (Victoria, Australia)
Europe
edit- Barents Sea dike swarm
- Egersund dike swarm (southwest Norway)
- Kattsund-Koster dyke swarm (southeast Norway, Swedish west coast)
- Kildonan dyke swarm (Isle of Arran, Scotland)
- Kirov dike swarm (Russia)
- Mull and Skye dyke swarms, Scotland
- Orano dike swarm (Elba, Italy)
- Satakunta dike swarms, Finland
- Sayda-Bergiesshuebel dike swarm (Saxony, Germany)
- Scourie dyke swarm (northwest Scotland)
- Uralian dike swarm, Russia[7]
North America
editCanada
edit- Bella Bella and Gale Passage dike swarms (central British Columbia Coast)
- Franklin dike swarm (Northern Canada)
- Grenville dike swarm (Ontario and Quebec)
- Mackenzie dike swarm (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario)
- Marathon dike swarm (northwestern Ontario)
- Matachewan dike swarm (eastern Ontario)
- Mistassini dike swarm (western Quebec)
- Sudbury dike swarm (northeastern Ontario)
- Long Range dikes (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Greenland
edit- Kangaamiut dike swarm (western Greenland)
United States
edit- Chief Joseph dike swarm (southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon)
- Kennedy dike swarm (southeastern Wyoming)
- Magdalena radial dike swarm (central New Mexico)
- San Rafael Swell dike swarm (Utah)
- Spanish Peaks Dike Swarm, southern Colorado[8]
- Warm Springs Mountain dike swarm (Nevada)
- Independence dike swarm (southeastern California)[9]
South America
edit- Dyke swarms associated with the Paraná and Etendeka traps
- Cuaró dyke swarm, Uruguay
- Eastern Paraguay dyke swarm[10]
- Ocros dyke swarm, Peru
- Uruguayan dyke swarms
- Florida dyke swarm
- Nico Perez dyke swarm
- Treinta y Tres dyke swarm
- Dyke swarms of Tandil and Azul (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)
- Rio Ceará-Mirim dyke swarm
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Re. Iceland see eg.: A. Gudmundsson: Emplacement and arrest of sheets and dykes in central volcanoes. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 116 (2002) 279^298 Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Mackenzie dike swarm". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. geological feature, Canada.
- ^ Galgana, Gerald A.; Grosfils, Eric B.; McGovern, Patrick J. (2013). "Radial dike formation on Venus: Insights from models of uplift, flexure and magmatism". Icarus. 225 (1): 538–547. Bibcode:2013Icar..225..538G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2013.04.020.
- ^ Ernst, R.E.; Grosfils, E.B.; Mège, D. (2001). "Giant Dike Swarms: Earth, Venus, and Mars". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 29 (1): 489–534. Bibcode:2001AREPS..29..489E. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.473.1821. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.29.1.489.
- ^ Winslow, M.A. (1983). "Clastic dike swarms and the structural evolution of the foreland fold and thrust belt of the southern Andes". GSA Bulletin. 94 (9): 1073–1080. Bibcode:1983GSAB...94.1073W. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1983)94<1073:CDSATS>2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Nkouandou, Oumarou Faarouk; Bardintzeff, Jacques-Marie; Mahamat, Oumar; Fagny Mefire, Aminatou; Ganwa, Alembert Alexandre (22 May 2017). "The dolerite dyke swarm of Mongo, Guéra Massif (Chad, Central Africa): Geological setting, petrography and geochemistry". Open Geosciences. 9 (1): 138–150. Bibcode:2017OGeo....9...12N. doi:10.1515/geo-2017-0012. ISSN 2391-5447.
- ^ Puchkov, Victor; Ernst, Richard E.; Hamilton, Michael A.; Söderlund, Ulf; Sergeeva, Nina (2016). "A Devonian > 2000 km-long dolerite dyke swarm-belt and associated basalts along the Urals-Novozemelian fold-belt: part of an East-European (Baltica) LIP tracing the Tuzo Superswell". GFF. 138 (1): 6–16. Bibcode:2016GFF...138....6P. doi:10.1080/11035897.2015.1118406. S2CID 130648268.
- ^ Larson, E. E.; Strangway, D. W. (1 March 1969). "Magnetization of the Spanish Peaks Dike Swarm, Colorado, and Shiprock Dike, New Mexico". Journal of Geophysical Research. 74 (6): 1505–1514. Bibcode:1969JGR....74.1505L. doi:10.1029/JB074i006p01505.
- ^ Chen, J.-H.; Moore, James G. (1979). "Late Jurassic Independence dike swarm in eastern California". Geology. 7 (3): 129–133. Bibcode:1979Geo.....7..129C. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1979)7<129:LJIDSI>2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Druecker, M.D.; Gay, S.P. Jr., Mafic dyke swarms associated with Mesozoic rifting in eastern Paraguay, South America[full citation needed]