Volcanic rocks of the Blake River Group, Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Ontario, and their sulfur content

1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Naldrett ◽  
A. M. Goodwin

Six hundred and ninety samples of volcanic rocks from the Blake River Group of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt have analysed for sulfur on a Leco sulfur analyser. Basaltic rocks have been subdivided into komatiites, Fe-rich tholeiites, Al-rich basalts, and intermediate basalts with more than 1% TiO2 and with less than 1% TiO2. Andesites have been subdivided into Fe-rich types, Al-rich types, and others. All dacites are grouped together as are all rhyolites. Rocks of many of these subdivisions occur at more than one level within the Blake River stratigraphy. Within a given rock subdivision, the sulfur content is distributed log normally. When the geometric mean of the sulfur content of each of the subdivisions outlined above is plotted against the arithmetic mean of the FeO content, a smooth curve is obtained, with sulfur increasing markedly with increase in FeO. The data give no indication of any change in sulfur content of a given rock subdivision with stratigraphic height. The arithmetic mean of the sulfur content of each rock subdivision also increases with the mean FeO content, although less smoothly than the geometric mean. The arithmetic means of sulfur content fall within the scatter of points obtained experimentally for the sulfur content of sulfur saturated basalts, supporting the contention that the Blake River rocks may have been saturated with sulfur at the time of their extrusion.

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1448-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Laflèche ◽  
C. Dupuy ◽  
J. Dostal

The late Archean Blake River Group volcanic sequence forms the uppermost part of the southern Abitibi greenstone belt in Quebec. The group is mainly composed of mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB)-like tholeiites that show a progressive change of several incompatible trace element ratios (e.g., Nb/Th, Nb/Ta, La/Yb, and Zr/Y) during differentiation. The compositional variations are inferred to be the result of fractional crystallization coupled with mixing–contamination of tholeiites by calc-alkaline magma which produced the mafic–intermediate lavas intercalated with the tholeiites in the uppermost part of the sequence. The MORB-like tholeiites were probably emplaced in a back-arc setting.


1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.D. Wilkie

ABSTRACTThe risk premium on ordinary shares is investigated, by studying the total returns on ordinary shares, and on both long-term and short-term fixed-interest investments over the period 1919 to 1994, and by analysing the various components of that return. The total returns on ordinary shares exceeded those on fixed-interest investments by over 5% p.a. on a geometric mean basis and by over 7% p.a. on an arithmetic mean basis, but it is argued that these figures are misleading, because most of the difference can be accounted for by the fact that price inflation turned out to be about 4.5% p.a. over the period, whereas investors had been expecting zero inflation.Quotations from contemporary authors are brought forward to demonstrate what contemporary attitudes were. Simulations are used along with the Wilkie stochastic asset model to show what the results would be if investors make various assumptions about the future, but the true model turns out to be different from what they expected. The differences between geometric means of the data and arithmetic means are shown to correspond to differences between using medians or means of the distribution of future returns, and it is suggested that, for discounting purposes, medians are the better measure.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1120-1134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Sylvester ◽  
Kodjo Attoh ◽  
Klaus J. Schulz

The tectono-stratigraphic relationships, depositional environments, rock associations, and major- and trace-element compositions of the late Archean (2744–2696 Ma) bimodal basalt–rhyolite volcanic rocks of the Michipicoten (Wawa) greenstone belt, Ontario, are compatible with an origin along a convergent plate margin that varied laterally from an immature island arc built on oceanic crust to a more mature arc underlain by continental crust. This environment is similar to that of the Cenozoic Taupo–Kermadec–Tonga volcanic zone. Michipicoten basaltic rocks, most of which are proximal deposits compositionally similar ([La/Yb]n = 0.63–1.18) to modern oceanic island-arc tholeiites, are interpreted as having formed along the largely submerged island arc. Voluminous Michipicoten rhyolitic pyroclastic rocks ([La/Yb]n = 4.3–18.7, Ybn = 5.7–15.9) probably erupted subaerially from the continental arc, with distal facies deposited subaqueously on the adjacent oceanic island arc and proximal facies deposited in subaerial and shallow subaqueous environments on, or along the flanks of, the continental arc. The compositional similarity between the lower (2744 Ma) and upper (2696 Ma) volcanic sequences of the belt suggests that this island- and continental-arc configuration existed for at least 45 Ma. The Michipicoten belt may be a remnant of a larger, laterally heterogeneous volcanic terrane that also included the Abitibi greenstone belt.


1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1916-1919 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kalliokoski

A belt of Archean quartzose metasedimentary gneisses with minor mafic volcanic rocks (the Pontiac Group) lies south of the Blake River and older Archean mafic volcanic rocks of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, and is separated from them by the Larder Lake – Cadillac Break. To the west of the Pontiac Group, on strike, is the Archean Larder Lake Group of turbidite conglomerate, argillite, limestone, and iron formation with abundant mafic flows and intrusions. These strata also lie south of the Larder Lake – Cadillac Break and south of the Blake River and older Archean mafic volcanic rocks. The western contact between the Pontiac and Larder Lake groups is covered by a narrow north–south strip of Proterozoic Cobalt sedimentary rocks. On the basis of gravity work that compares the Bouguer gravity anomaly gradient across the Cadillac Break with that across the west margin of the Pontiac Group, it is proposed that the Larder Lake and Pontiac groups are separated by a north–south fault and that the Pontiac Group represents a lithologically distinct uplifted block. The Pontiac block may be an Archean terrane.


1986 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ludden ◽  
Claude Hubert ◽  
Clement Gariépy

AbstractBased on structural, geochemical, sedimentological and geochronological studies, we have formulated a model for the evolution of the late Archaean Abitibi greenstone belt of the Superior Province of Canada. The southern volcanic zone (SVZ) of the belt is dominated by komatiitic to tholeiitic volcanic plateaux and large, bimodal, mafic-felsic volcanic centres. These volcanic rocks were erupted between approximately 2710 Ma and 2700 Ma in a series of rift basins formed as a result of wrench-fault tectonics.The SVZ superimposes an older volcanic terrane which is characterized in the northern volcanic zone (NVZ) of the Abitibi belt and is approximately 2720 Ma or older. The NVZ comprises basaltic to andesitic and dacitic subaqueous massive volcanics which are cored by comagmatic sill complexes and layered mafic-anorthositic plutonic complexes. These volcanics are overlain by felsic pyroclastic rocks that were comagmatic with the emplacement of tonalitic plutons at 2717 ±2 Ma.The tectonic model envisages the SVZ to have formed in a series of rift basins which dissected an earlier formed volcanic arc (the NVZ). Analogous rift environments have been postulated for the Hokuroko basin of Japan, the Taupo volcanic zone of New Zealand and the Sumatra and Nicaragua arcs. The difference between rift related ‘submergent’ volcanism in the SVZ and ‘emergent’ volcanism in the NVZ resulted in the contrasting metallogenic styles, the former being characterized by syngenetic massive sulphide deposits, whilst the latter was dominated by epigenetic ‘porphyry-type’ Cu(Au) deposits.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Bellefleur ◽  
Arthur Barnes ◽  
Andrew Calvert ◽  
Claude Hubert ◽  
Marianne Mareschal

Detailed reprocessing of east–west Lithoprobe seismic reflection line 29 includes cross-dip analysis to improve the continuity of the reflectors and median filtering to attenuate shear wave refractions. The interpretation provides additional constraints on the tectonic models of northern Abitibi, but cannot be used to invalidate either of the two models recently presented for the area. However, the seismic profile defines a large east-dipping faulted contact between the Brouillan tonalite and the volcanic rocks exposed west of the intrusion. The moderate dip of the reflectors and their extensive lateral continuity, combined with geological information, provide evidence for an east-dipping thrust sequence and suggest an allochthonous origin for the Brouillan tonalite. The maximum thickness of the volcanic sequence in the northern Abitibi greenstone belt is 8 km, but could be as low as 4 km if Opatica orthogneisses are considered to underthrust northern Abitibi. The mid-crustal reflections confirm the east–west continuity of south-vergent imbrications also observed on a north–south reflection line (28) through northern and central Abitibi. Breakage and displacement of some mid-crustal reflectors may define a west-to-east thrust sequence of sense opposite to that which thrust the Brouillan pluton over the volcanic rocks.


1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Paradis ◽  
John Ludden ◽  
Léopold Gélinas

The Flavrian pluton is a sill-shaped intrusion in the Blake River Group (BRG) volcanic rocks in the Noranda region of the Abitibi greenstone belt. The pluton is dominated by trondhjemites and tonalites, with minor peripheral quartz gabbro and hybrid phases. The BRG volcanic rocks consist of a bimodal suite of basalt–andesite and rhyolite. The Flavrian trondhjemites are geochemically identical to the rhyolitic lavas of the BRG (SiO2 ≥ 72%, La/Sm = 3.4, La/Yb = 3.6, Zr/Y = 3.9, Y/Nb = 3.1), and the Flavrian gabbroic and dioritic rocks are identical to the BRG basalts and andesites (SiO2 < 58%, La/Sm = 3.0, La/Yb = 5.5, Zr/Y = 4.2, Y/Nb = 3.3). However, the tonalitic rocks of the Flavrian pluton have no extrusive equivalents in the BRG. The different compositional spectra of the extrusive and intrusive rocks are interpreted as being a result of a transition in magma-chamber evolution from a zoned open system that was active during the evolution of the volcanic rocks to closed-system plutonic crystallization. The latter destroyed the compositional bimodality of the magma chamber and resulted in the evolution of intermediate compositions (tonalites) generated by both fractional crystallization and magma mixing.


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