Source terranes for Proterozoic sedimentary rocks in southern British Columbia: Nd isotopic and petrographic evidence

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 824-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Burwash ◽  
P. A. Cavell ◽  
E. J. Burwash

Quartz arenites of the Fort Steele Formation, the lowest exposed stratigraphic unit of the Purcell Supergroup, have Nd crustal residence times (Tcr) of 2.61–2.63 Ga. These overlap the low end of the Tcr range of the polymetamorphic Kenoran–Hudsonian basement of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. The Tcr values of overlying fine-grained Purcell rocks average 2.0 Ga.Near Lake Windermere, the basal Toby conglomerates of the Windermere Supergroup, apparently derived from underlying Purcell strata, have Tcr values of 1.98 and 2.03 Ga. Stratigraphically higher argillite and arkoses range from 2.35 to 2.54 Ga. This higher range indicates contributions from a source terrane different from the main body of the Purcell Supergroup.Our interpretation of events in the East Kootenay area is that early Purcell sedimentation (Fort Steele Formation) was derived from reworking of the crystalline basement of the Alberta shelf as the Beltian Sea transgressed. As the basin deepened, it was filled by fine-grained turbidites from a distal southern or southeastern source. Later Purcell strata have more complex paleocurrent direction patterns but relatively uniform Tcr values similar to those of the earlier turbidites. Following the East Kootenay orogeny, the basal conglomerate of the Windermere Supergroup (Toby Formation) consisted dominantly of locally derived clasts. These Purcell-derived strata grade upward into arkosic rocks with an admixture of Archean detrital material, probably from a proximal eastern source.


1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (12) ◽  
pp. 1603-1618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmala N. Garzione ◽  
P. Jonathan Patchett ◽  
Gerald M. Ross ◽  
JoAnne Nelson

Nd isotopes and trace elements in sedimentary rocks of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia are used to examine the source of sediments in the Canadian Cordilleran miogeocline. Previous Nd isotope studies in southern Alberta demonstrated that strata of Neoproterozoic to Late Ordovician age were derived from Archean and Proterozoic Canadian Shield sources, whereas by the Late Devonian, a shift of 6 εNd units to younger crustal sources (εNd (T) = −6 to −9) had occurred. In this study, we found that the shift to younger crustal Nd isotopic signatures in the Yukon and Northwest Territories occurred much earlier than in southern Alberta. Cambrian and older strata have εNd(T) values of −10.0 to −21.1, consistent with derivation from Canadian Shield sources. Lower Ordovician through Permian strata in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the Innuitian-derived Imperial Assemblage, have εNd(T) values of −5 to −11.4. In northern British Columbia, the shift to a younger source reflects a wider range of εNd(T) values, from -−8.7 to −14.6 in Middle Ordovician through Middle Devonian strata, suggesting continued input from Canadian Shield sources. By the Middle Devonian, a complete shift to younger crustal signatures (εNd(T) = −5.9 to −10.5) had occurred in northern British Columbia. Several sources for the more juvenile sediments include (1) a mixture of locally erupted volcanic rocks with Canadian Shield sources, (2) a Grenville source, and (3) an Innuitian source. We propose that Ordovician to Lower Devonian strata were derived from a mixture of locally erupted, juvenile volcanics and pre-Cambrian Canadian Shield sources, and post-Middle Devonian strata were sourced from the Innuitian orogen in the Canadian Arctic.



GeoArabia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-72
Author(s):  
Ruben Rieu ◽  
Philip A. Allen

ABSTRACT The Huqf Supergroup in Oman contains an exceptionally well-preserved and complete sedimentary record of the Late Neoproterozoic era, including the oldest components in some of Oman’s hydrocarbon plays. Outcrops of the Huqf Supergroup in northern and central Oman are now well-documented. However, a key succession in the Mirbat area of southern Oman, the Mirbat Group, which includes a stratigraphic interval missing elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, remains poorly understood. The <1.5 km-thick Cryogenian (850–635 Ma) Mirbat Group comprises an essentially continuous succession of little-deformed sedimentary rocks containing two glacial intervals separated by c. 1 km of non-glacial marine deposits. The lowermost glacial interval (Ayn Formation) occupies deep paleovalleys incised into crystalline basement. The overlying Arkahawl Formation records at its base a major post-glacial transgression over the previous basin margin and a 300 to 400 m-thick turbidite complex consisting of 1 to 5 km-wide, coarse-grained depositional lobes embedded vertically and laterally in fine-grained distal turbidite fan deposits. Ayn Formation paleovalleys continued to serve as sediment transport routes for the coarse-grained turbidite complexes of Arkahawl times. The turbidite complex deposits gradationally pass up into a c. 500 m-thick unit of distal-marine mudstone and siltstone. The overlying c. 100 m-thick Marsham Formation records highstand deposition and the pulsed progradation of shallow-marine and fluvial deposits over offshore mudstone and siltstone in the approach to a second glaciation, represented by the Shareef Formation. The sedimentary succession described in this paper is believed to largely fill the stratigraphic gap present between the Ghubrah and Fiq formations in the Al Jabal al-Akhdar in northern Oman represented by an unconformity.



1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1454-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf W. Mathewes ◽  
John A. Westgate

Ash-grade Bridge River tephra, identified as such on the basis of shard habit, modal mineralogy, and composition of ilmenite, occurs in sedimentary cores from three lakes located to the south of the previously documented plume and necessitates a significant enlargement of the fallout area of that tephra in southwestern British Columbia.These new, more southerly occurrences are probably equivalent to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra, although it can be argued from the evidence at hand that the 14C dates and biotite-rich nature support relationship to a slightly earlier Bridge River event.Large differences exist in the 14C age of sediments immediately adjacent to the Bridge River tephra at these three lake sites; maximum ages of 3950 ± 170 years BP (GX-5549) and 3750 ± 210 years BP (I-10041) were obtained at Phair and Fishblue lakes, respectively, whereas the corresponding age at Horseshoe Lake is only 2685 ± 180 years BP (GX-5757). The two older dates are considered to be significantly affected by old carbon contamination for the bedrock locally consists of calcareous sedimentary rocks and the lacustrine sediments are very calcareous. The 14C date from Horseshoe Lake, which occurs in an area of igneous rocks, appears to be only slightly too old relative to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra.Well-dated tephra beds, therefore, can be very useful in assessing the magnitude of old carbon errors associated with radiocarbon dates based on limnic sediments. Calcareous gyttja deposits beneath Bridge River tephra within the study area exhibit old carbon errors of the order of 1350–1550 years.





1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1541-1552 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Hofmann ◽  
E. W. Mountjoy ◽  
M. W. Teitz

Shallow-water clastic beds flanking stromatolitic carbonate mounds in the upper part of the Vendian Miette Group (Windermere Supergroup) of the Rocky Mountains contain a poorly preserved, soft-bodied fauna that comprises morphologically very variable discoid remains; these include the taxa Beltanella sp., cf. B. grandis, Charniodiscus? sp., Irridinitus? sp., Nimbia occlusa, Protodipleurosoma sp., cf. P. rugulosum, and Zolotytsia? sp. and seven types of dubiofossils.



2021 ◽  
pp. 103614
Author(s):  
Juye Shi ◽  
Zhijun Jin ◽  
Quanyou Liu ◽  
Tailiang Fan ◽  
Zhiqian Gao


2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 875-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Moyer ◽  
S. N. Acharya

Weeds, especially dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber in F.H. Wigg.), tend to infest a forage alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) stand 2 to 4 yr after establishment. To develop better weed management systems, experiments were conducted at Lethbridge, Alberta, from 1995 to 2002 and Creston, British Columbia, from 1998 to 2001, which included the alfalfa cultivars Beaver (standard type) and AC Blue J (Flemish type) and annual applications of metribuzin and hexazinone. These herbicides are registered for weed control in irrigated alfalfa in Alberta and alfalfa grown for seed. In addition, two sulfonylurea herbicides, metsulfuron and sulfosulfuron, and glyphosate were included. All of the herbicides except glyphosate controlled or suppressed dandelion and mustard family weeds. Metsulfuron at 5 g a.i. ha-1 almost completely controlled dandelion at both locations. However, after metsulfuron application at Lethbridge, dandelion was replaced with an infestation of downy brome, which is unpalatable for cattle. None of the herbicides increased total forage (alfalfa + weed) yield, and in some instances herbicides reduced forage quality by causing a shift from a palatable to an unpalatable weed species. However, it was observed that AC Blue J consistently yielded more than Beaver, and weed biomass was consistently less in the higher-yielding cultivar. AC Blue J was developed primarily for the irrigated area in southern Alberta and for southern British Columbia. Therefore, additional experiments should be conducted to determine which alfalfa cultivars have the greatest ability to compete with weeds in other regions of western Canada. Key words: Alfalfa yield, dandelion, forage quality, weed control



Author(s):  
Jordan A. Roberts ◽  
Lee A. Groat ◽  
Paul G. Spry ◽  
Jan Cempírek

ABSTRACT The Deer Horn deposit, located 150 km south of Smithers in west-central British Columbia, is an Eocene polymetallic system enriched in Au-Ag-Te with lesser amounts of Bi-Pb-W; the Au and Ag are hosted in Te-bearing minerals and Ag-rich gold (Au-Ag alloy). A quartz-sulfide vein system containing the main zones of Au-Ag-Te mineralization and attendant sericite alteration occurs in the hanging wall of a local, spatially related thrust fault and is genetically related to the nearby Eocene Nanika granodiorite intrusive suite. Tellurium-bearing minerals commonly form isolated euhedral to subhedral grains or composite grains (up to 525 μm in size) of Ag-, Bi-, Pb-, and Au-rich tellurium-bearing minerals (e.g., hessite, tellurobismuthite, volynskite, altaite, and petzite). Panchromatic cathodoluminescence imaging revealed four generations of quartz. Within remnant cores of quartz I, local oscillatory zoning occurs in quartz II. Fine-grained veinlets of quartz III and IV crosscut quartz I and II, showing evidence of at least two deformation events; late-forming veinlets of calcite crosscut all generations of quartz. The tellurides and Ag-rich gold occur in stage III quartz. Three types of fluid inclusions were observed in stage III and IV quartz: (1) aqueous liquid and vapor inclusions (L-V); (2) aqueous carbonic inclusions (L-L-V); and (3) carbonic inclusions (vapor-rich). Primary fluid inclusions related to the telluride mineralization within quartz III were tested with microthermometry, along with a few primary inclusions from quartz IV. Homogenization temperatures are 130.0–240.5 °C for L-V inclusions and 268.0–336.4 °C for L-L-V inclusions. Aqueous carbonic inclusions had solid CO2 melting temperatures from –62.1 to –56.8 °C, indicating the presence of ≈1 to 30 mol.% dissolved methane in these inclusions. The Deer Horn Au-Ag-Te-(Bi-Pb-W) deposit is a reduced intrusion-related gold system characterized by sheeted veins, metal zoning, low salinity aqueous-carbonic fluids, and a genetic relationship to an Eocene granodiorite. Values of δ34S of pyrite vary from –1.6 to 1.6 per mil and are compatible with a magmatic source of sulfur.



2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-312
Author(s):  
Zhao Mengli ◽  
Han Bing ◽  
Walter D Willms

Mountain rough fescue (Festuca campestris Rydb.) is a tufted native grass in southern Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and has attracted interest for use in reclamation. However, its seed is often available from only a few localized sources and may not be adapted for areas removed from the collection site. We conducted a study to determine the genetic variability among rough fescue populations to assess its potential adaptation. Thirty plants were collected from each of six populations and analyzed using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD). One population (Kamloops, BC) was separated by several mountain ranges from the five easterly Alberta populations.The Kamloops population was also separated from the Alberta populations by genetic distance in two clusters. Of the total genetic variation present in the data, 21% was found among populations while the remaining (79%) was found within populations. Nei’s genetic distances among populations were related to their geographical distances. Genetic differences among populations appeared to be caused primarily by differences in gene frequencies rather than rare genes. Also, genetic diversity appeared to increase from west to east suggesting that the more easterly populations had greater adaptation potential. We speculate that the more easterly populations are less likely to share genes since the prevailing winds are from the west. Germplasm from the more easterly populations may be used with suitable precautions within Alberta and possibly around Kamloops. Key words: Genetic distance, geographic distance, reclamation, potential adaptation



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