Paleomagnetism of the Franklin Diabases

1971 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Fahrig ◽  
E. Irving ◽  
G. D. Jackson

Diabase intrusions, which have a probable mean age of 675 m.y., occur in a giant arc across the northern part of the Canadian Shield. They have a paleomagnetic pole position of 167° E, 8° N (α95 = 5°), and at least one reversal. The paleomagnetic results indicate that the northern Canadian Shield was near the equator at the time of intrusion, and this is in agreement with evidence of warm conditions of deposition found in erosional remnants of related late Proterozoic sediments. Some of the diabase, near the shores of Davis Strait, may have been partially remagnetized during the opening of Baffin Bay in the early Tertiary.


1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Evans ◽  
D. K. Bingham ◽  
E. W. McMurry

Stable remanent directions have been obtained from fifteen sites located in the Purcell, Shepard and Kintla Formations of the upper Belt – Purcell Supergroup. The geomagnetic polarity sequence revealed by these and other studies suggests that the frequency of reversals was probably an order of magnitude lower than that observed over the last few million years. The polarity transitions have considerable potential as regional, and possibly, global, time lines for geological correlation.The paleomagnetic pole obtained (142 °W, 17 °S, dp = 4°, dm = 7°) agrees well with other results from the Belt Supergroup. It falls in a cluster of poles derived from various geological provinces of the Canadian Shield, which may imply that the shield was an integral unit as early as 1400 m.y. ago. However, the constancy of the pole position obtained from Belt rocks thought by some workers to be as young as 1100 m.y. conflicts with the large northward polar excursion (the Logan Loop) derived from other provinces. Possible explanations of this apparent conflict are discussed.



1987 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
N Hald ◽  
J.G Larsen

Data on the Tertiary basalts in the Davis Strait region are reported from two exploration wells drilled by Arco and Mobil on the West Greenland shelf. Hellefisk 1 (67°53 'N, 56°44'W), situated only 60 km east of the mid-line in Davis Strait, penetrated the upper 690 m of a subaeriallava sequence continuous with the onshore volcanics of Disko and situated beneath 2.3 km of Paleocene to Quaternary sediments. The lavas are feldspar microporphyritic tholeiites and mostly unmetamorphosed despite the presence of laumontite and prehnite in the vesicular top zones. Nukik 2 (65°38'N, 54°46'W) penetrated 150 m of hyaloclastites and tholeiitic olivine dolerite sheets, presumably sills, some 200 km further to the south. These vo1canics are also deeply buried and are of unknown extension. The drilled rocks, except for the much altered hyaloclastites in the Nukik 2 well, have low contents of Ti02 (0.99-2.03%), K2O (0.09-0.18%) and P2O5 (0.08-0.21%), La/Sm ratios less than one and 87Sr/86Sr ratios of 0.7032 to 0.7044. Chemically they are related to the MORB-like picrites of Baffin Island rather than the less depleted tholeiites of West Greenland. In both areas the MORB affinity may be related to eruptions through a strongly attenuated lithosphere associated with the opening of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.



1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Fahrig ◽  
D. L. Jones

North-northwesterly striking Mackenzie diabase dikes of middle-Proterozoic (Helikian) age are profuse in the western part of the Canadian Shield. Published paleomagnetic data on dikes of this trend in Mackenzie District, on the Muskox Intrusion, the Coppermine River volcanic rocks, and the Sudbury dikes suggest that they are all products of closely related igneous events. This paper presents paleomagnetic data that suggest that the intrusion of extensive diabase sheets in the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, and of dikes as far to the northeast as Melville Peninsula and as far to the southeast as Manitoba, were also parts of these events. The mean paleomagnetic pole position for the Mackenzie dikes and for related intrusive and extrusive rocks is [Formula: see text], 171 °W with [Formula: see text]. Radioactive age determinations, some of which are unpublished, indicate an age of about 1200 m.y. for the formation of these rocks. It is suggested that for convenience all of these apparently related intrusive and extrusive igneous episodes be referred to as Mackenzie igneous events.



1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. N. Athavale ◽  
P. V. Sharma

Paleomagnetic investigations have been carried out on about 250 oriented block samples collected from Early Tertiary lava flows representing an altitude span of about 1200 m on the Disko Island and 600 m on the Nûgssuaq Peninsula of West Greenland. The results reveal a record of two polarity transitions on the Disko Island and the existence of normal (N) and reverse (R) groups of lava flows on the Nûgssuaq Peninsula. A tentative correlation of the lava sequences from the two areas, on the basis of polarity of magnetization, has been suggested. Subject to the assumption of relatively uniform extrusion rates in northern Disko, a correlation of the comparatively thick sequence of reverse (R) polarity flows with the relatively long reverse epoch between the anomaly no. 25 (ca. 63 m.y.) and anomaly no. 24 (ca. 60.5 m.y.B.P.), has been attempted and an age estimate of the lava flows has been obtained.The Early Tertiary paleomagnetic pole for Greenland, computed from stable remanent magnetic directions of the Disko lavas is located at 67.5 °N and 165 °W. This pole position and the one for contemporaneous lava flows on the Baffin Island of Canada have been used in testing the models proposed by various workers for a paleogeographic reconstruction of Greenland and Canada, involving a closure of the Baffin Bay – Labrador Sea. The results of this paleomagnetic test suggest the existence of an ocean basin in the area, prior to the eruption of Early Tertiary lava sequences on Baffin Island and West Greenland, and also that this ocean basin had a much wider extent in Pre-Tertiary times.A model for the evolution of Baffin Bay – Labrador Sea has been suggested in the light of available geological/geophysical information about the region. It involves the opening of this sea in the Mesozoic and its partial closure during the Cenozoic as a consequence of the drift of Greenland in the northwesterly direction.



1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1287-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Fahrig ◽  
A. Larochelle

The Michael gabbro forms a belt of thick, predominantly southerly-dipping sheets which extends 200 km inland from the south-central coast of Labrador. The intrusions lie largely within the Makkovik subprovince, have a radioisotopic age of 1500 m.y., and are reversely magnetized with a paleomagnetic pole position of 163 °E, 10 °N. The paleomagnetic results indicate that most of the rocks internal to this belt have not been deformed since the intrusions acquired a stable remanent magnetization, presumably at the time of cooling 1500 m.y. ago. However, the Michael pole position differs significantly from those of rocks of similar age elsewhere in North America. This suggests rotation of the block containing the Michael intrusions relative to these other rocks. The Aillik dikes which also lie within the Makkovik sub-province have a radioisotopic age of about 1100 m.y. and a pole position consistent with that of rocks of similar age elsewhere in the Canadian Shield. The postulated Michael rotation must then have taken place between 1500 and 1100 m.y. ago.The rock at two of the most southerly sites sampled for paleomagnetic study proved to be magnetically unstable and the rock at a third such site, though stably magnetized has a magnetization significantly different from the main body of Michael gabbro intrusions. These three sites may indicate a post-consolidation thermal and tectonic event and their position may help define the Grenville Front in this region.



2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry L. Stern ◽  
Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  




1972 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
J. D. Ives ◽  
G. K. Guennel ◽  
J. L. Wray

A thin, impure limestone was found in situ on Precambrian bedrock at latitude 70°36.6′ N and longitude 75°20′ W some 26 km northwest of the Barnes Ice Cap. The unit consists of undulating laminations composed of alternating fine- and coarse-grained sediment, which are interpreted as a series of algal mats or algal-laminated sediments. An analysis of enclosed palynomorphs indicates the presence of Ulmus, Taxodiutm, Liriodendron, Carpinus, and Engelhardtia plus other genera. On the basis of the microflora a Paleogene age is assigned to the unit. The climate at that time was warm-temperate and the environment suggested is a freshwater marsh or swamp. The outcrop is restricted to a single hill summit and its location suggests considerable Neogene geomorphological activity, primarily river-cutting associated with vertical movements along the western margin of the Davis Strait/Baffin Bay Tift.



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