Trans-Hudson Orogeny - Geographic Areas

Geographic Areas

The Trans-Hudson Orogen is the only fully preserved Early Proterozoic orogenic belt in North America. It is a network of belts formed by Proterozoic crustal accretion and the collision of pre-existing Archean continents: the Hearne-Rae provinces to the northwest, the Superior Province to the southeast, and the Wyoming province to the southwest. In the northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces, the 500-km-wide orogen includes four major lithotectonic zones:

1. a northwest hinterland zone (divided into smaller domains);
2. an Andean-type magmatic arc batholith;
3. an internal zone of juvenile Proterozoic crust;
4. a southeast foreland zone (with prominent, pervasive east-dipping seismic reflectors throughout the crust (not west-dipping as expected) where the orogen bounds the Superior Province).