The Nicola Group: Late Triassic and Early Jurassic subduction-related volcanism in British Columbia
Mafic lavas of the Nicola Group are divided into three distinct petrographic and geochemical types: type 1 lavas are strongly augite-porphyritic picrites, basalts, and andesites that belong to a high-potassium to shoshonitic rock series; type 2 lavas are augite- and plagioclase-porphyritic basalts and andesites that belong to a low-potassium calc-alkaline series; and type 3 lavas are petrographically variable tholeiitic to transitional basalts and andesites.Low concentrations of Ti, Zr, Y, and Nb and moderate to high concentrations of K, Rb, Ba, and Sr in type 1 and 2 lavas clearly indicate a subduction-related tectonic setting of eruption. Type 3 lavas show chemical affinities intermediate between modern-day island-arc and intraplate volcanics. Type 1 (shoshonitic) lavas generally lie east of and are younger than type 2 (calc-alkaline) lavas, a relationship that implies an east-dipping early Mesozoic subduction zone beneath the Nicola arc. These interpretations resolve previous uncertainties regarding th...