bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Geochronometry of the Eagle Plutonic Complex and the Coquihalla area, southwestern British Columbia
Authors: Greig C. J. , Armstrong R. L. , Harakal J. E. , Runkle D. , der Heyden P. van
Published: April 2011

New U–Pb, K–Ar, and Rb–Sr dates from the Eagle Plutonic Complex and adjacent map units place timing constraints on intrusive and deformational events along the southwestern margin of the Intermontane Belt. U–Pb zircon minimum dates for Eagle tonalite and gneiss (148 ± 6, 156 ± 4, and 157 ± 4 Ma) document previously unrecognized Middle to Late Jurassic magmatism and syn-intrusive deformation along the eastern margin of the Eagle Plutonic Complex and the southwestern margin of the Intermontane terrane. Widespread mid-Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) resetting of K–Ar and Rb–Sr isotopic systematics in Jurassic and older rocks is coeval and cogenetic with emplacement of plutons of the Fallslake Plutonic Suite (110.5 ± 2 Ma, U–Pb) which crosscut Jurassic plutons and structures but were themselves ductilely deformed along the Pasayten fault during sinistral, east-side-up, reverse displacement. K–Ar and Rb–Sr cooling dates for the Fallslake Suite of ca. 100 Ma, including dates from mylonites along the Pasayten fault, suggest that uplift, cooling, and unroofing of the Eagle Plutonic Complex occurred in mid-Cretaceous time along the Pasayten fault. Regional geologic evidence suggests that this thermal and unroofing event affected much of the southwest margin of the Intermontane Belt. Initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and U–Pb geochronometry for the Fallslake Plutonic Suite suggest that it was derived, in part, from preexisting and relatively nonradiogenic Paleozoic to Mesozoic crust. K–Ar dating of several stocks demonstrates widespread Early Eocene plutonism in the Coquihalla area, and dating of the Needle Peak pluton indicates plutonism continued into Middle Eocene time.
Mineralogy and U/Pb, Pb/Pb, and Sm/Nd geochronology of the Key Lake uranium deposit, Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada
Authors: Carl C. , Pechmann E. von , Höhndorf A. , Ruhrmann G.
Published: April 2011

The Key Lake deposit is one of several large, high-grade, unconformity-related uranium deposits located at the eastern margin of the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The deposit consists of the Gaertner orebody, now mined out, and the Deilmann orebody, which is presently being mined. In the past, radiometric dating efforts yielded an age of oldest ore-forming event of 1250 ± 34 Ma at the Gaertner orebody and 1350 ± 4 Ma at the Deilmann orebody. This unlikely age difference called for further investigation. Innovative preparation techniques were used to separate the paragenetically oldest U mineral, an anisotropic uraninite. Ore microscopy and U/Pb isotopic data show that the oldest event of uranium emplacement occurred simultaneously at the two orebodies, at 1421 ± 49 Ma. The primary ore-forming phase was followed by younger generations of U mineralization and periods of remobilization. Sm/Nd data of Key Lake uraninite form an isochron corresponding to an age of 1215 Ma. This is interpreted as the age of a uranium remobilization or a new mineralizing event. The lead found in the Athabasca Group above the Deilmann deposit and in galena appears to be a mixture of a common lead and radiogenic lead mobilized from the orebody over a time span of at least 1000 Ma.
Interpretation of the gravity anomaly field in the Noranda – Val d'Or region, Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Shield
Authors: Keating Pierre
Published: April 2011

Gravity data from the Noranda – Val d'Or region have been reprocessed: the Bouguer anomaly map, the first vertical derivative map, and an apparent density map have been used for geological interpretation of the gravity field in this region. It is found that variations in the Bouguer anomaly can be mainly explained by density structures located within the uppermost 5 km of the crust. The vertical derivative map helps to better locate some geological contacts, and the apparent density map allows the easy distinction between thin and thick batholiths. Generalized inversion was used to calculate density cross sections from the Bouguer anomaly values, and measured surface formation densities were used as constraints. Analysis of a detailed profile in the Rouyn–Noranda area shows that steep north-dipping reflectors observed in a seismic reflection survey are associated with a north-dipping density structure.
Late glacial ice margins and deglacial chronology for southeastern Baffin Island and Hudson Strait, eastern Canadian Arctic
Authors: Stravers Jay A. , Miller Gifford H. , Kaufman Darrell S.
Published: April 2011

Radiocarbon dates from marine piston cores and from onshore raised marine stratigraphic sections in the Hudson Strait region were used to reconstruct deglacial isochrons for 9900, 9500, 8800–8500, and 8000 BP. At the culmination of the Gold Cove readvance (9900 BP), Labrador–Ungava ice flowed northeastward across Hudson Strait and outer Frobisher Bay and stood for the last time on the Baffin Island continental shelf. Subsequent retreat by calving was rapid and profound, opening the entire Hudson Strait marine trough by 9500 BP. At this time, ice dispersal from Foxe Basin, Labrador–Ungava, and local ice on Meta Incognita Peninsula supported tidewater margins along much of the coastline, with the exception of northernmost Ungava Peninsula, where the ice margin stabilized onshore. This onshore margin remained in place throughout the Cockburn Substage while a major northeastward readvance of Ungava Bay ice (the Noble Inlet readvance from 8800 to 8500 BP) crossed outer Hudson Strait, grounding on the Hudson Strait sill and the south coast of Meta Incognita Peninsula. Sedimentation continued in an enclosed basin in western Hudson Strait, but marine circulation was prohibited by the ice dam, and upper water column salinities became too low to support a marine molluscan fauna. Ungava Bay ice was not thick enough to sustain flow across eastern Hudson Strait, and rising sea levels soon destroyed the Noble Inlet ice dam. By 8300 BP normal marine waters were circulating in eastern Hudson Strait, followed shortly thereafter (at 8100 BP) by the deglaciation of western Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay.
The Goldenville–Halifax transition, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia: relative sea-level rise in the Meguma source terrane
Authors: Waldron John W. F.
Published: April 2011

In the Meguma Group of Nova Scotia, the transition from sand-rich turbidites of the Goldenville Formation to overlying mud-rich turbidites of the Halifax Formation shows unusually rapid vertical facies variations. The Tancook member of the Goldenville Formation is divided into four laterally continuous units. Unit 1 consists of generally thinly bedded classical turbidites interpreted as lobe facies. Unit 2 comprises mottled (bioturbated) and laminated muds. Units 3 and 4 contain packets of thick amalgamated sandstone beds, alternating with more thinly bedded muddy sections. A unique bioclastic bed occurs near the top of unit 3. In unit 4, burrowed sandstone packets traced along strike (across paleocurrent) are not significantly incised into underlying muds. Laminated slates and siltstones of the overlying Mosher's Island member (Halifax Formation) are enriched in manganese and trace metals and contain diagenetic concretions of manganoan carbonate rimmed by metamorphic garnet. The overlying Cunard member comprises dark grey to black, strongly cleaved, carbon-rich slates, interbedded with thin, pyrite-rich, graded siltstones.Changes in the transition zone can be explained by a relative sea-level rise in the Gondwanaland source area of the Meguma Group. During deposition of the Tancook member, turbidite sand supply was progressively and intermittently interrupted as sand became trapped on the shelf. In unit 1, deposition occurred in a submarine-fan system; in higher units, deposition of sandstone packets was probably controlled by transgressions and regressions in the source area. Expanded shelves, briefly colonized by a shelly fauna, led to high organic productivity and eventual anoxia. During deposition of the Mosher's Island member, manganese was concentrated in reducing waters, delivered to the sea floor close to the oxic–anoxic boundary, and trapped as carbonate during early diagenesis. Expansion of fully anoxic conditions led to deposition of black, sulphide-rich shales of the Cunard member.
Massive ice of the Tuktoyaktuk area, western Arctic coast, Canada
Authors: Mackay J. Ross , Dallimore Scott R.
Published: April 2011

The extensive coastal exposure of massive underground ice at Peninsula Point, southwest of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, is believed to be intrasedimental ice. The ice grew beneath a frozen diamicton during the downward aggradation of permafrost. The water source was probably glacier meltwater, with low negative δ18O values, that flowed, under a substantial pressure, through permeable unfrozen sands. Evidence for a high water pressure is shown by ice dikes, which extend upward from the massive ice into the superincumbent diamicton. The diamicton was frozen when the dike water was injected, as proven by the chill contacts and petrofabrics. The diamicton – massive ice contact is a conformable contact with features characteristic of downward freezing. The continuity of δ18O and δD profiles from the top of the massive ice downward to a depth of 10 m into the underlying frozen sand demonstrates a common water source for the massive ice and interstitial ice in the underlying sand. A similar continuity of δ18O profiles has been determined from three drill holes at another site 15 km northeast of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. The ages of both the diamicton and massive ice at the Peninsula Point site are uncertain, because of unexplained differences in published radiocarbon dates.
A reevaluation of the position of the Baie Verte – Brompton Line in the Quebec Appalachians: the influence of Middle Devonian strike-slip faulting in Gaspé Peninsula
Authors: Malo Michel , Kirkwood Donna , Broucker Gilles De , St-Julien Pierre
Published: April 2011

The Baie Verte – Brompton Line (BBL), the surface expression of the Taconian suture in the Canadian Appalachian Orogen, extends from southern Quebec to the northeast end of Newfoundland. In the Quebec Appalachians, the BBL was previously located under the post-Taconian cover rocks between the Eastern Townships and Gaspé Peninsula. New geological data and reinterpretation of gravimetric and aeromagnetic data suggest that the BBL follows the southern edge of the Cambrian–Ordovician rocks of northern Gaspé Peninsula and is displaced by Middle Devonian strike-slip faults on the southern part of the peninsula. On a pre-Middle Devonian palinspastic map, the BBL is parallel to the Quebec Reentrant – St. Lawrence Promontory and the Appalachian structural front.
Eclogitic rocks in the St. Cyr klippe, Yukon, and their tectonic significance
Authors: Erdmer Philippe
Published: April 2011

Until recently, the Nisutlin allochthonous assemblage, a part of the Yukon–Tanana composite terrane interpreted as trench mélange from a late Paleozoic – Mesozoic arc system, was the only tectonic assemblage known to include subducted material in the northern Cordillera. The discovery of eclogitic rocks in two parts of a klippe of the Anvil allochthonous assemblage, which comprises mafic ophiolitic rocks, above the Cassiar terrane west of the Tintina fault confirms other evidence that subducted oceanic crust was also returned to the surface. The eclogitic rocks have been largely retrograded by postsubduction metamorphism. Their existence is interpreted as additional evidence of the link between nappes above the Cassiar terrane and their inferred root, the Teslin suture zone. The Nisutlin and Anvil allochthonous assemblages can now be interpreted, not simply as crustally metamorphosed assemblages with minor, structurally interleaved high-pressure components, but as deeply metamorphosed and intensely strained slices of continental and oceanic crust switched from subducting slab to overriding plate and returned to the surface during collision of the arc with the North American margin.
The age of unconformity-related uranium mineralization in the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan
Authors: Cumming G. L. , Krstic D.
Published: April 2011

Age data are presented for major Athabasca Basin uranium deposits at Cigar Lake, Cluff Lake, Collins Bay, Dawn Lake, Eagle Point, McArthur River, Midwest, and Rabbit Lake, as well as for several minor or undeveloped deposits, including Hughes Lake and Nisto. The best constrained data indicate that almost all the deposits formed in a restricted time interval between about 1330 and 1380 Ma. This range of ages is believed to be real and not the result of uncertainties in the calculation of ages based on discordant data. The one major exception is the recently discovered NiAs-free deposit at McArthur River, for which a well-determined age of 1514 ± 18 Ma (2σ) has been obtained. Even this deposit yields an age in the1330–1380 Ma range for some material. Periods of reworking–redeposition occurred at ~1280, ~1000, ~575, and ~225 Ma. These may be basin-wide, affecting to some degree all the deposits that we have studied. Other times of redeposition are less well determined, but may be present as well. No ages that approach the ~1700 Ma age of the Athabasca Group have been found to date for unconformity-related deposits, and the Athabasca Basin mineralization is unrelated to the ~1750 Ma pitchblende vein deposits in the Beaverlodge Lake area.
Liquefaction features on the Fraser delta: evidence for prehistoric earthquakes?
Authors: Clague John J. , Naesgaard Ernest , Sy Alex
Published: April 2011

Sand dykes and sills and vented sand boils on the Fraser River delta and adjacent Serpentine River floodplain in southwestern British Columbia record one or more major liquefaction events. The source of the dykes is a shallow subsurface saturated sand unit that was deposited in foreslope and distributary-channel environments during Holocene progradation of the Fraser delta. The dykes cut steeply through a crust of delta topset muds and locally flatten out as sills in overlying peaty sediments. At two sites, evidence was found for venting of sand onto a subaerial or intertidal surface. Liquefaction and upward movement of sand and water locally deformed the intruded sediments, causing some subsidence and uplift of the delta surface. All observed liquefaction features are younger than ca. 3500 BP, and at least some are younger than 2400 BP. It is not clear, however, whether they formed during one or several separate events. A review of possible causes suggests that the liquefaction features probably are seismically generated; they thus may provide the first direct evidence for moderate to large, prehistoric earthquakes in the Vancouver metropolitan area.
A structural analysis of a metamorphic fold–thrust belt, northeast Gagnon terrane, Grenville Province
Authors: Brown Dennis , Rivers Taoby , Calon Tom
Published: April 2011

Northeast Gagnon terrane is located within the Parautochthonous Belt of the Grenville Orogen, near the projected intersection of the front zones of the Grenville and New Quebec orogens. The area consists principally of supracrustal units of the Early Proterozoic Knob Lake Group, and a newly recognized unit, the Equus Lake formation. Both are intruded by the Middle Proterozoic Shabogamo gabbro. Structural elements in the rocks record evidence of a polyorogenic history that is attributed to both the ca. 1800 Ma Hudsonian and the ca. 1000 Ma Grenvillian orogenies. This paper is concerned with the latter.Grenvillian deformation resulted in the formation of a relatively deep-level fold–thrust belt. Three thrust sheets can be defined on the basis of basal thrusts, variations in morphology and orientation of structural elements, and internal thrust sheet geometry. The polydeformational style of the area, rotation of fold axes into subparallelism with the tectonic transport direction, and internal imbrication lead to a complex internal thrust sheet geometry. Thrusting has produced and inverted the metamorphic gradient, with lower greenschist facies in the basal thrust sheet and upper greenschist facies in the upper thrust sheet.Documentation of the northeastern margin of Gagnon terrane as a north- to northwest-directed metamorphic fold–thrust belt corroborates similar interpretations for Gagnon terrane from elsewhere along the Grenville Front and is in accord with the models of the Grenville Province as a collisional orogen. Furthermore, it is suggested that northeast Gagnon terrane is an exhumed, internal, ductile part of a fold–thrust belt.
Holocene emergence at Cape Herschel, east-central Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada: implications for ice sheet configuration
Authors: Blake Jr. Weston
Published: April 2011

Twenty-five radiocarbon age determinations on marine molluscs, basal organic pond sediments, charred remains in archeological sites, and a variety of other materials have allowed the construction of an emergence curve for Cape Herschel, east-central Ellesmere Island (78°35′N, 74°40′W). Only a narrow fringe of land is present between the Prince of Wales Icefield and Smith Sound, yet emergence of the order of 135 m has taken place during the last 8500–8700 radiocarbon years. The highest in situ shells were collected at an elevation of 107.5 m, and ages of 8470 ± 100 BP (GSC-3314) and 8230 ± 70 BP (TO-230) were obtained on this material.The spectacular and fresh-appearing glacial sculpture along both sides of Smith Sound, coupled with the rapid emergence in Holocene time and the fact that the oldest dates on marine shells at the fiord heads to the west are 3000–4000 years younger than those at Cape Herschel, provides convincing evidence that an ice stream filled Smith Sound (> 500 m deep) during the Late Wisconsinan glacial maximum. The Smith Sound Ice Stream drained southward from the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Innuitian Ice Sheet, which were confluent over Kane Basin, and it overrode the top of Pim Island (550 m asl). Massive melt-off of ice must have been occurring at the transition from Pleistocene to Holocene time, and this melting continued until the mid-Holocene, when all investigated outlet glaciers were behind their present positions.
Fluvial-transport equivalence of heavy minerals in the sand size range
Authors: Fletcher W. K. , Church M. , Wolcott J.
Published: April 2011

Sediments caught in two pit traps installed in Harris Creek, a small gravel-bed stream in southern British Columbia, were sieved to give five size fractions between 53 and 425 μm, which were then separated into their magnetic and nonmagnetic components. Estimates of transport-equivalent sizes of the higher density magnetic fractions were obtained by determining the grain sizes of magnetic and nonmagnetic particles that enter the traps at proportionally similar rates for a wide range of discharge conditions. The estimates of transport-equivalent sizes are compared with settling-velocity equivalents from settling-tube data. Each heavy-mineral size fraction is transported at a rate similar to a specific larger size fraction, which is approximated by the equivalent settling diameter of particles of lower density.
Surficial geology mapping at the Geological Survey of Canada: its evolution to meet Canada's changing needs
Authors: Fulton R. J.
Published: April 2011

The Geological Survey of Canada has been making surficial geology observations since it was founded in 1842. In addition to geological interest, early surficial geology information was gathered to aid in agriculture, forestry, hydrogeology, and engineering. The first regional surficial geology map was published in 1863, and since the early 1880's systematic surficial geology mapping has been a facet of the Survey's work.The first surficial geology specialist, R. Chalmers, worked for the Geological Survey during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. From then until 1930, when an official surficial geology unit was established, the Survey always had at least one surficial geologist on staff. From 1930 until 1960 groundwater-related studies were a major focus of surficial geology work. From 1950 to 1970 surficial geology mapping efforts were expanded to meet the demands generated by a booming economy. Since 1970 in addition to traditional uses, surficial geology information has been adapted to locating orebodies and evaluating environmental impacts.Early map legends presented surficial materials as stratigraphic units, or in terms of genesis and texture with little description or explanation. By the 1930's, the legend had evolved into a brief descriptive paragraph similar to that used on many Geological Survey of Canada maps today. With demands of the 1970's and 1980's for detailed descriptive information, especially to aid in assessing environmental impacts, new parameter legends were developed and extensive descriptive tables attached to maps. The current challenge is to adapt surficial geology mapping to the world of the geographic information system.
Transgressive–regressive (T–R) sequence analysis of the Jurassic succession of the Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Authors: Embry A. F.
Published: April 2011

Transgressive–regressive (T–R) sequence analysis has been applied to the Jurassic succession of the Sverdrup Basin with sequence boundaries drawn at subaerial unconformities or the correlative transgressive surfaces. A hierarchal system of sequence order that reflects the different nature of the boundaries has been formulated on the basis of boundary characteristics. Second- through fifth-order sequences have been recognized in the Jurassic succession, which itself is part of a first-order sequence of mid-Permian – Early Cretaceous age.The Jurassic strata occur within four second-order sequences. The boundaries of these sequences are characterized by widespread subaerial unconformities across which major changes in depositional and subsidence regimes occur. These boundaries are earliest Rhaetian, earliest Pliensbachian, earliest Bajocian, earliest Oxfordian, and Hauterivian in age.Each second-order sequence is divisible into a number of third-order sequences bounded mainly by basin-wide transgressive surfaces with subaerial unconformities present on the basin margins. The ages of the 10 Jurassic third-order sequences are Rhaetian – Hettangian, Sinemurian, Pliensbachian – Toarcian, late Toarcian – Aalenian, Bajocian, Bathonian, Callovian, Oxfordian – early Kimmeridgian, late Kimmeridgian – early Tithonian, and late Tithonian. The third-order sequences commonly contain three to six fourth-order sequences. These sequences are bound entirely by transgressive surfaces that can be correlated only over a portion of the basin.A good correlation between the second- and third-order transgressive events of the Sverdrup Basin and proposed global events is observed. This worldwide occurrence suggests that the events in part reflect eustatic sea-level changes. The characteristics of the second- and third-order boundaries also indicate that each had a tectonic influence that resulted in a rapid relative sea-level fall (uplift) followed by a rapid rise (subsidence). Given the apparent combination of tectonic and eustatic influence on the generation of the second- and third-order sequence boundaries, they are interpreted to reflect significant plate-tectonic reorganizations that affected the intraplate stress regimes of the oceanic (eustatic) and continental (tectonic) portions of each lithospheric plate.
Relationship between the Aspy and Bras d'Or "terranes" in the northeastern Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia
Authors: Lin Shoufa
Published: April 2011

According to previous interpretations, the Eastern Highlands shear zone separates Ordovician–Silurian volcano-sedimentary rocks to the west (Cheticamp Lake Gneiss of the Aspy "terrane") from late Precambrian sedimentary rocks and dioritic – tonalitic plutons and Early Ordovician granite to the east (Bras d'Or "terrane"). New mapping discovered a basal conglomerate of the Cheticamp Lake Gneiss that rests on deformed diorite of the Bras d'Or "terrane" and contains clasts similar or identical to rocks of the Bras d'Or "terrane." The late Precambrian rocks of the Bras d'Or "terrane" are also overlain by a volcano-sedimentary sequence of Silurian age (Clyburn Brook formation). These observations suggest that rocks of the Aspy "terrane" lie unconformably on those of the Bras d'Or "terrane." The Eastern Highlands shear zone is therefore not a terrane boundary. The Ordovician–Silurian rocks of the Aspy "terrane" are interpreted to have formed in an arc–back-arc basin system. The back-arc basin is interpreted to have formed by rifting in the Bras d'Or "terrane" and the Eastern Highlands shear zone to have been related to the closure of the basin.
Geochemistry and tectonic discrimination of Late Proterozoic arc-related volcaniclastic turbidite sequences, Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia
Authors: Murphy J. Brendan , MacDonald Deborah L.
Published: April 2011

The Late Proterozoic (ca. 618–610 Ma) Georgeville Group of northern mainland Nova Scotia lies within the Avalon Composite Terrane and consists of subgreenschist- to greenschist-facies mafic and felsic volcanic rocks overlain by volcaniclastic turbidites that were deposited in an ensialic basin within a rifted volcanic arc. Geochronological data indicate that the volcanic and sedimentary rocks are coeval. The geochemical and isotopic signatures of the sedimentary rocks are attributed to erosion of the coeval Avalonian volcanic rocks that flank the basin and are consistent with synorogenic deposition. There is no evidence of significant chemical contribution from Avalonian basement.Knowledge of the tectonic setting facilitates the testing of published geochemical discriminant diagrams for clastic sedimentary rocks. Discrimination diagrams using ratios such as K2O/Na2O and Al2O3/(CaO + Na2O) give inconclusive results, probably due to elemental mobility during secondary processes. Plots involving MgO, TiO2, and Fe2O3 detect the chemical contribution of mafic detritus, give much tighter clusters of data, and plot between Aleutian- and Cascade-type arc-derived sediments, suggesting a moderate thickness of continental crust beneath the arc.The arc-related signature of the Georgeville sedimentary rocks is clearly recognizable on ternary plots involving inter-element ratios of high field strength elements (e.g., Ti–Y–Zr, Nb–Y–Zr, and Hf–Ta–Th) in which the samples plot as mixing trends between mafic and felsic end members. Diagrams of this type may have widespread application to tectonic discrimination of sedimentary rocks because in most suites these ratios are relatively insensitive to sedimentary and metamorphic processes.
Sedimentology of an Early Silurian carbonate ramp: the Manitoulin Formation, southern Ontario
Authors: Anastas A. S. , Coniglio M.
Published: April 2011

The Manitoulin Formation is a pervasively dolomitized Lower Silurian carbonate unit that was deposited in the Michigan Basin and locally in the Appalachian Basin. The formation reaches a maximum thickness of 11.1 m in southern Ontario and can be subdivided into eight facies and four regionally correlatable facies assemblages. Owing to the relatively continuous transition of shallow to deeper water facies from the northern to southern portions of the study area, the Manitoulin Formation is interpreted as having formed on a carbonate ramp with a southerly component of dip. Our study suggests that the Algonquin Arch, which is transected by the outcrop belt, did not significantly influence deposition or separate the Michigan and Appalachian basins.Depending on its location on the ramp, the Manitoulin Formation shows evidence of varying degrees of episodic storm events alternating with fair-weather processes such as wave shoaling, sediment reworking, and bioturbation. Apart from bioturbation, these fair-weather processes became less prevalent to the south. The gently dipping antecedent topography, the temporary lack of frame-builders, and a shallow basin setting led to the creation of a carbonate ramp rather than a rimmed shelf.
The Dog Bay Line: a major Silurian tectonic boundary in northeast Newfoundland
Authors: Williams H. , Currie K. L. , Piasecki M. A. J.
Published: April 2011

The Dog Bay Line separates different Silurian rock groups in northeast Newfoundland. West of the line, terrestrial volcanic rocks and sandstones (Botwood Group) overlie marine greywackes and conglomerates (Badger Group). East of the line, red sandstones overlie shallow marine shales and limestones (Indian Islands Group). Throughout Dog Bay, the line is marked by a disrupted zone of dark grey to black shales, volcanic rocks, and gabbros. Pervasive dextral, transpressive ductile deformation followed by successively more brittle extension with renewed dextral movements mark the northwest side of the line on the coast.The Dog Bay Line is traceable for 100 km and it is open-ended. Dextral offset is deduced to be many tens of kilometres. The line trends northeast, parallel to outcrop belts, and both the line and outcrop belts are curved eastward at the coast. The Mount Peyton Batholith, dated at 420 ± 8 Ma, apparently cuts the line.The Dog Bay Line occurs within the Dunnage Zone whose Cambrian–Ordovician rocks represent vestiges of the Iapetus Ocean. Northwest of the line, the Silurian rocks were deposited on Ordovician rocks already accreted to Laurentia. Southeast of the line, the Silurian rocks were deposited on Ordovician rocks already amalgamated with the continental Gander Zone. Timing of major movement and a Silurian marine to terrestrial depositional change recorded on both sides of the line agree within error with isotopic ages for the onset of plutonism, regional deformation, and metamorphism in central Newfoundland. The Dog Bay Line may mark the terminal Iapetus Ocean.
A paleomagnetic study of the lava flows within the Copper Harbor Conglomerate, Michigan: new results and implications
Authors: Diehl J. F. , Haig T. D.
Published: April 2011

New paleomagnetic data have been obtained from the interbedded lava flows within the Copper Harbor Conglomerate on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. Previous paleomagnetic studies of these lava flows, known collectively as the Lake Shore Traps, have produced contradictory results. To investigate the cause of these conflicting results, 30 sites encompassing the most complete section of lava flows possible were collected and analyzed.Well-defined characteristic directions of magnetization were isolated using either alternating-field or thermal demagnetization or a combination of both. These directions of magnetization are interpreted as primary magnetizations acquired during the original cooling of the lavas. Hysteresis, thermomagnetic, and petrographic analyses suggest the carrier of magnetization is a pseudo-single-domain, titanium-poor magnetite that has undergone some high-temperature oxidation.Site means determined from the 30 lava flows define three distinct directional clusters. Each cluster of directions corresponds to a different stratigraphic package of lava flows with the Copper Harbor Conglomerate. Between-site dispersion for each stratigraphic package or unit is much less than the expected value for Keweenawan-age rocks. Therefore, we suggest that most of the lava flows in each unit were extruded rapidly and that within an individual stratigraphic unit, paleosecular variation has not been adequately sampled. This explains why previous studies on the Lake Shore Traps have produced such different results; each study did not sample the entire range of directions possible in these lava flows.The paleomagnetic pole calculated from the 30 site-mean virtual geomagnetic poles is located at 22.2°N, 180.8°E (k = 35.0; A95 = 6.5°). The new Copper Harbor pole is now located in the appropriate chronological position with respect to the underlying Portage Lake Volcanics and the overlying Nonesuch Shale on the Keweenawan apparent polar wander path. The similarity of our Copper Harbor pole to that of the Portage Lake Volcanics reinforces the idea that the Copper Harbor Conglomerate is more closely related in time to the Portage Lake Volcanics than to the Nonesuch Shale.
Albitization at 1700 ± 2 Ma in the Sudbury – Wanapitei Lake area, Ontario: implications for deep-seated alkalic magmatism in the Southern province
Authors: Schandl E. S. , Gorton M. P. , Davis D. W.
Published: April 2011

U–Pb geochronology of hydrothermal monazite in albitized rocks from two gold deposits east of the Sudbury complex indicates that albitization in the Sudbury – Wanapitei Lake area occurred at 1700 ± 2 Ma and was coeval with a period of granitic plutonism in the Southern structural province between 1750 and 1700 Ma.A variety of rare earth element (REE) minerals, such as two generations of hydrothermal monazite, bastnäsite, synchysite, and gadolinite were identified in the albitized Huronian sediments in the Espanola – Sudbury – Wanapitei Lake areas. The presence of these REE minerals, the extraordinary light rare earth element enrichment in rocks from the Sheppard gold property east of the Sudbury igneous complex and the elevated REE concentrations in some albitized rocks suggests that sodium-rich fluids may have been generated by carbonatitic or alkalic intrusions at depth.Gold mineralization occurs in rocks that have been altered by at least two different types of fluids: (1) peralkaline; Na–REE bearing and (2) low pH, Co bearing. The high Co content of most mineralized samples and the relatively weak correlation between Au and Na2O suggests that gold was probably concentrated to economic grade by the low pH, Co-bearing fluids. The spatial association of albite and gold suggests that the albitized rocks may represent earlier fluid conduits that were subsequently refractured and invaded by the mineralizing solutions.
40Ar/39Ar whole-rock phyllite ages from late Precambrian rocks of the Avalon composite terrane, New Brunswick: evidence of Silurian–Devonian thermal rejuvenation
Authors: Dallmeyer R. David , Nance R. Damian
Published: April 2011

Several variably deformed and metamorphosed, late Precambrian volcanic–sedimentary successions have been recognized within the Avalon composite terrane exposed in the Caledonian Highlands of southern New Brunswick. Whole-rock samples of metasedimentary phyllite and phyllitic metatuff from the oldest (ca. 600–635 Ma) Avalonian succession display similar, internally discordant 40Ar/39Ar age and apparent K/Ca spectra. Intermediate-temperature gas fractions were experimentally evolved solely from very fine grained, cleavage-aligned white micas. These yield apparent ages between ca. 430 and 410 Ma, and are interpreted to closely date a static Late Silurian – Early Devonian thermal rejuvenation.Evidence for a Silurian – Devonian thermal event has not been previously documented in Avalonian rocks of the Caledonian Highlands (Caledonia assemblage). However, a thermal overprint of similar age (ca. 400 Ma) is recorded by metamorphic muscovite in high-grade gneisses and platformal metasedimentary rocks (Brookville assemblage), which are in tectonic contact with the low-grade Caledonia assemblage. These potentially correlative thermal overprints may provide minimum age constraints on the juxtaposition of these contrasting tectono-stratigraphic assemblages, which are likely to have been palinspastically separate tectonic elements during the earliest Paleozoic.
New seismic, magnetic, and gravity constraints on the crustal structure of the Lincoln Sea continent–ocean transition
Authors: Forsyth D. A. , Argyle M. , Okulitch A. , Trettin H. P.
Published: April 2011

A new seismic model of Canada's northeasternmost margin indicates a complex continent to ocean transition with similarities to both volcanic and nonvolcanic margins. The crustal structure beneath the Lincoln Sea includes: (i) a continental shelf with a uniform 3 km thick cover (velocity = 1.8–3.6 km/s) overlying at least 6 km of synrift(?) basinal strata (velocity = 4.3–4.9 km/s) that terminate near the base of the slope; (ii) a thick unit of oceanic layer 2-type velocity (5.4–5.8 km/s) overlying a velocity structure resembling a volcanic margin; (iii) a high-velocity lower crust (> 7.4 km/s) resembling North Atlantic volcanic margins or the Alpha Ridge but different from the Lomonosov Ridge near the North Pole; (iv) a change in velocity structure 15–25 km seaward of the shelf–slope break that coincides with a distinct short-wavelength, high-amplitude magnetic anomaly and the centre of a steep gravity gradient; and (v) a suggested Moho depth of 23 km beneath the Lincoln Sea margin along 63°W.The velocity structure beneath the Lincoln Sea is transitional from thinned continental crust beneath the shelf to a structure with oceanic affinities to the north. Typical, 10 km thick oceanic crust is not apparent beneath the northern Lincoln Sea. The upper crustal structure resembles a rifted, nonvolcanic margin such as the Goban Spur, while the high lower crustal velocity resembles a volcanic margin like the Hatton Bank or an oceanic complex like the Alpha Ridge. North of the seismic survey, the enigmatic Lincoln Sea plateau may be an intruded Lomonosov Ridge segment or a volcanic complex similar to the Alpha Ridge or the Morris Jesup Plateau.
Early Holocene deglaciation of Expedition and Strand fiords, Canadian High Arctic
Authors: Lemmen Donald S. , Aitken Alec E. , Gilbert Robert
Published: April 2011

Terrestrial and marine records provide the first reconstruction of past glacial events on west-central Axel Heiberg Island. Lateral moraines along Expedition Fiord define an early Holocene ice margin when a trunk glacier occupied the inner half of the fiord. Limited sediment accumulation in the outer fiord (< 10–40 m) questions whether this ice margin records the limit of the last glaciation. Ice retreat began > 8.4 ka BP, principally by calving of an unstable ice front to a position well upvalley of the present ice limit. Rapid deglaciation is evidenced by (i) an absence of ice marginal landforms and related marine biofacies; (ii) a scarcity of raised marine sediments; and (iii) exceptionally thin sediments (< 5–20 m) in the inner fiord. A transition from a Hiatella arctica – Mya truncata macrofossil assemblage to an Astarte borealis – Mya truncata assemblage reflects a change from moderate to low energy depositional environments at the fiord head by 7.9 ka BP.The extensive ice advance into Expedition Fiord is contrasted by a more restricted advance in adjacent Strand Fiord, which contains both glacial and marine features that appear to predate the last glaciation. The difference in ice extent between the two fiords is explained by drainage basin morphometry and fiord bathymetry, and reflects modern analogues. Initial retreat of trunk glaciers may have occurred in response to rising sea level, with regionally synchronous ice retreat occurring at 8.4 ka BP when climatic factors were dominant. Glacier dynamics controlled the rate of ice retreat, with tidewater glaciers retreating much more rapidly than those with terrestrial margins.
40Ar/39Ar dating of white micas from the epidote to the omphacite zones, northern New Caledonia: tectonic implications
Authors: Ghent E. D. , Roddick J. C. , Black P. M.
Published: April 2011

An 40Ar/39Ar study of white micas from high-pressure metamorphic rocks of northern New Caledonia yielded cooling ages of 37 ± 1 Ma for both epidote and omphacite zone samples. Whole-rock samples from the lawsonite zone yielded ages in the range 44–51 Ma with complicated age spectra, probably reflecting both detrital and newly grown micas. The areal extent of the mica samples, over 300 km2, suggests that the epidote and omphacite zone rocks cooled through the muscovite closure temperature, about 350 °C, as a coherent cooling unit. Simple thermal modeling suggests that these rocks could have closed at similar times if the unroofing rate were greater than 2–10 mm∙a−1. Lawsonite zone rocks occur structurally within about 0.5 km of garnet–omphacite rocks, suggesting the possibility of major postmetamorphic tectonic displacement.
Deformation of shale and dolomite in the Lewis thrust fault zone, northwest Montana, U.S.A.
Authors: Erickson S. Gregg
Published: April 2011

The Lewis thrust fault zone at Marias Pass, northwest Montana, is an example of a fault zone in which hanging-wall dolomite and footwall shale deformed at relatively shallow levels (~7 km). Fabric in the fault zone depends on the rock type. Deformation of dolomite involved coalescence and widening by cataclasis of fractures, formation of anastomosing cataclasite zones that isolate less deformed clasts, and rounding and reduction in size of clasts to produce random-fabric cataclasite. Whereas dolomite deformed by progressive widening of cataclasite zones, shale deformation localized along ultracataclasite zones and slip surfaces that bound shale duplexes. Fault rocks that include both footwall shale and hanging-wall carbonate are characterized by isoclinal, intrafolial folds and a foliation that is defined by alternating shale- and carbonate-rich bands, elongate lenses of carbonate, and preferred orientation of phyllosilicates. Calcitization and subsequent solution of hanging wall rocks incorporated in the shale contributed to the development of this planar fabric. Lenses of hanging-wall carbonate were isolated in footwall shale by the emplacement of shale tongues into the hanging wall along mesoscopic faults. Displacement on the Lewis fault was accommodated by deformation of both dolomite and shale. Grain-size reduction of dolomite, mixing of dolomite and shale, and calcitization of dolomite in the fault zone may have enhanced diffusional processes in the carbonate and thereby weakened the fault zone.
Proterozoic continental volcanism in the Belcher Islands: implications for the evolution of the Circum Ungava Fold Belt
Authors: Legault F. , Francis D. , Hynes A. , Budkewitsch P.
Published: April 2011

The Belcher Islands of eastern Hudson Bay expose a continuous sequence of Early Proterozoic volcanics, and continental and shallow-marine sedimentary rocks. The volcanic rocks comprise two sequences of continental basalts: the older Eskimo Formation and the younger Flaherty Formation. The flows of both formations are composed of tholeiitic basalts (MgO < 9 wt.%) which, in each formation, are divided into two groups based on the concentrations of high field strength elements. Both groups of Eskimo flows have fractionated rare earth element (REE) patterns, with negative Nb anomalies. Relative to Eskimo flows, the Flaherty flows have flatter REE profiles and higher Nb contents. The chemical variations observed in the Eskimo flows are consistent with an assimilation – fractional crystallization process, involving a lower continental crust contaminant. The major and most trace element trends of the Flaherty flows are attributed to gabbroic crystal fractionation of two parental liquids, which are interpreted to represent varying degrees of partial melting of a common mantle source. An increase in La/Sm with increasing La, however, requires that the Flaherty flows evolved under open-system conditions, possibly in a replenished magma chamber or by selective contamination. The interbedding of low- and high-Zr flows in the upper portion of the Flaherty Formation combined with the possibility that their parental magmas originated from a common source require a complex melt segregation process in a partially molten ascending mantle.The chemical compositions of coeval basalts exposed along the eastern Hudson Bay coast and in the Cape Smith Fold Belt (western and eastern Povungnituk Group) indicate that they can be divided into two groups that are the chemical equivalents of the Eskimo and Flaherty Formations. Presently, the chemical stratigraphy of the Belcher Islands offers the most reliable means of correlating the isolated segments of Proterozoic supracrustal volcanics that rim the Superior Province of northern Quebec.
Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of southwestern Saskatchewan
Authors: Klassen Rudy W.
Published: April 2011

The Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet reached the limit of glaciation along the north-facing slope of the unglaciated part of the Cypress Hills nunatak, but elsewhere around the Cypress Hills and Wood Mountain uplands of southwestern Saskatchewan it did not reach the limit of glaciation. An interval of deglaciation was followed by a readvance of the ice sheet, about 15 ka, to a position near the Late Wisconsinan limit, and was marked by strong flow of Keewatin ice from the north and weaker flow of Hudson ice from the northeast. Final deglaciation resulted in the formation of glacial lakes around the Cypress Hills nunatak. A network of ice-marginal and subglacial trenches, presently occupied by the Frenchman Valley and its tributaries, was formed when these lakes drained along, over, and under ice towards the western part of the Wood Mountain Upland to the east. The main trench joined an ancestral part of Frenchman Valley along the ice-free southern slopes of Wood Mountain Upland. Meltwater from the ice bordering the northern margin of the upland drained southward, excavating trenches across the highest parts of the upland and deepening ancestral valleys across the southern slopes. A succession of proglacial lakes fronted parts of the ice margin as it retreated downslope to the north. The area was deglaciated about 13.5 ka. The southern limit of a north to south forest–grassland transition was established by 13 ka along the regional drainage divide across the study area. Prairie grassland vegetation covered the southern slopes of the uplands and forests of deciduous and coniferous trees covered the highest parts of uplands and drift-mantled parts of the continental glacier to the north. The belt of forest–grassland transition had shifted well to the north of the study area by 9 ka, and a climate that was warmer and drier than at present continued to about 5 ka, when conditions became somewhat cooler.