Geochronology of calcite‐filled joints, southeast Canada: Insight into Late Cretaceous deformation of eastern North America

Resolving the timing of brittle tectonism is a challenge. We examined intra‐cratonic Middle Ordovician limestone bedrock that overlies Mesoproterozoic crystalline basement, which are both cut by ENE‐WSW trending fault zones that have historic M4‐5 earthquakes along their trace. Calcite‐filled mode I joints are ubiquitous within the strata, and are parallel to the modern stress field. Calcite δ 18 O and δ 13 C values are analogous to the bulk composition of Middle Ordovician limestones, and suggest vein formation from a source dominated by connate fluids of the host rock. U‐Pb geochronology of six calcite veins sealing ENE‐WSW oriented joints produced similar Cretaceous dates and were regressed together yielding a date of 96.8 ± 1.1 Ma (MSWD: 2.9). A Cenomanian age is consistent with the most recent reorientation of North America's compressive stress field, which is attributed to a change in spreading direction along the northern Mid‐Atlantic Ridge and is linked to a global plate reorganization event at ca. 105–100 Ma. These results suggest that the most recent redistribution of lateral stress was not a passive event, and generated brittle deformation and fluid flow at least 500 km inland of North America's Atlantic passive margin.