The Central Slave Basement Complex, Part II: age and tectonic significance of high-strain zones along the basement-cover contact

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1111-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Bleeker ◽  
John WF Ketchum ◽  
W J Davis
Keyword(s):  
High Strain ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
Maximum Displacement ◽  
Regional Deformation ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Group A ◽  
Extensional Model

The basement-cover high-strain zone enveloping parts of the Sleepy Dragon Complex, northeast of Yellowknife, Slave Province, Canada, has been reinvestigated. Integrated stratigraphic, structural, and geochronological data show that the high-strain zone is of regional extent and is best interpreted as a décollement between crystalline, ca. 2.9-3.3 Ga rocks of the Central Slave Basement Complex and pre-2687 Ma cover rocks. Three temporally distinct mafic dyke swarms occur within the high-strain zone. The two oldest of these constrain the timing of the high-strain event to between 2734 ± 2 and 2687 ± 1 Ma. At the time of décollement development, the cover stratigraphy consisted of (i) the Central Slave Cover Group, a thin, pre-2734 Ma succession of mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks, conglomerates, fuchsitic quartzites, minor rhyolites, and banded iron formation; and (ii) an overlying sequence of tholeiitic pillow basalts. The Central Slave Cover Group is considered to be autochthonous, whereas a variety of evidence suggests that the pillow basalts are parautochthonous to possibly allochthonous. The transport direction in the décollement was from northeast to southwest, and maximum displacement was probably on the order of 10 to several tens of kilometres. Presently, the décollement appears discontinuous due to younger intrusive and erosional events. Around most of the southern flanks of the Sleepy Dragon Complex, the crystalline core of the complex consists of post-décollement intrusive rocks and (or) is unconformably overlain by parts of the Yellowknife Supergroup that are younger than 2687 Ma. Lineation patterns in these younger rocks reflect regional deformation events that postdate and are unrelated to the décollement. The new data allow two tectonic models for development of the décollement: (i) a contractional thrusting model, involving collision of an eastern Slave Province arc terrane; or (ii) a syn-greenstone belt extensional model.

The Central Slave Basement Complex, Part I: its structural topology and autochthonous cover

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1083-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Bleeker ◽  
John WF Ketchum ◽  
Valerie A Jackson ◽  
Michael E Villeneuve
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Structural Topology ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
South Central ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Lake Formation

New field and geochronological data are used to define the distribution of Mesoarchean basement rocks in the south-central Slave Province. This distribution reflects a single contiguous basement terrane that we propose to call the Central Slave Basement Complex. It shows a structural topology that is internally consistent and compatible with known regional folding and faulting events. A sample of a proposed basement gneiss below the Courageous Lake greenstone belt, central Slave Province, has been dated by U-Pb methods and yields an age of 3325 ± 8 Ma, consistent with the new basement distribution. This sample also contains 2723 ± 3 Ma metamorphic zircon and ca. 2680 Ma titanite. The Central Slave Basement Complex is overlain by a thin, discontinuous, but distinctive cover sequence that includes minor volcanic rocks, clastic sedimentary rocks, and banded iron formation. All previously known and some new occurrences of this distinctive cover sequence occur in the immediate stratigraphic hanging wall of the Central Slave Basement Complex, locally overlying a preserved in situ unconformity. We propose to call this post-2.93 Ga cover sequence the Central Slave Cover Group. It is perhaps best typified by detrital chromite-bearing, fuchsitic quartzites. Formal formation names are proposed for the spatially separate occurrences of the Central Slave Cover Group. Detrital zircon ages are presented for one of the formations of the Central Slave Cover Group, the Patterson Lake Formation, which occurs on the western flank of a local basement culmination known as the Sleepy Dragon Complex. The detrital zircon data provide evidence for two discrete basement sources dated at ca. 2943 Ma and ca. 3147-3160 Ma. These detrital ages reinforce the depositional link between the Central Slave Cover Group and underlying crystalline rocks of the Central Slave Basement Complex.

The Bell Lake group and Anton Complex: a basement – cover sequence beneath the Archean Yellowknife greenstone belt revealed and implicated in greenstone belt formation

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Isachsen ◽  
S. A. Bowring
Keyword(s):  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Detrital Zircons ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Extensional Setting

U–Pb zircon and monazite geochronology indicates the presence of a >2.93 Ga basement (Anton Complex) and >2.8 Ga cover sequence (Bell Lake group) beneath the 2.70 to >2.72 Ga Kam Group of the Yellowknife greenstone belt in the southern Slave Province. The Bell Lake group comprises remnants of a quartzite – rhyolite – banded iron formation succession. The ages of detrital zircons from the quartzite unit constrain its deposition to be younger than 2.92 and range up to 3.7 Ga. U–Pb ages for gneisses beneath the Bell Lake group are in excess of 2.93 Ga and they are locally overlain by the quartzite. The contact between the tholeiitic to calc-alkaline Kam Group and the Bell Lake group is poorly exposed and equivocal. Approximately 6 km higher in the section, the Ranney chert, a felsic volcaniclastic layer, separates 2.70 – 2.72 Ga tholeiitic to calc-alkaline upper Kam Group rocks from a lower tholeiitic section containing sheeted-dike complexes. Zircons from the Ranney chert yield Pb –Pb ages ranging from 2.72 to >2.8 Ga. The older ages suggest proximity of older basement during deposition of mostly tholeiitic lower Kam Group volcanic rocks in an extensional setting, followed by deposition of the upper Kam Group, which is more arc-like in character, on this earlier-formed tholeiitic crust beginning at 2.72 Ga.

A new volcanic province: evidence from glacial erratics in western North Greenland

2000 ◽  
pp. 35-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter R. Dawes ◽  
Bjørn Thomassen ◽  
T.I. Hauge Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Common Component ◽  
Volcanic Province ◽  
North West ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Surficial Deposits ◽  
North Greenland

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Dawes, P. R., Thomassen, B., & Andersson, T. H. (2000). A new volcanic province: evidence from glacial erratics in western North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 186, 35-41. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v186.5213 _______________ Mapping and regional geological studies in northern Greenland were carried out during the project Kane Basin 1999 (see Dawes et al. 2000, this volume). During ore geological studies in Washington Land by one of us (B.T.), finds of erratics of banded iron formation (BIF) directed special attention to the till, glaciofluvial and fluvial sediments. This led to the discovery that in certain parts of Daugaard-Jensen Land and Washington Land volcanic rocks form a common component of the surficial deposits, with particularly colourful, red porphyries catching the eye. The presence of BIF is interesting but not altogether unexpected since BIF erratics have been reported from southern Hall Land just to the north-east (Kelly & Bennike 1992) and such rocks crop out in the Precambrian shield of North-West Greenland to the south (Fig. 1; Dawes 1991). On the other hand, the presence of volcanic erratics was unexpected and stimulated the work reported on here.

scholarly journals The early Archaean to Proterozoic history of the Isukasia area, southern West Greenland

1986 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 1-80
Author(s):  
A.P Nutman
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Supracrustal Belt ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Polyphase Metamorphism ◽  
Chemical Sediments

The c. 3800 Ma Isua supracrustal belt and associated smaller bodies of supracrustal rocks are intruded by >3600 Ma orthogneisses. A coherent stratigraphic sequence is recognised consisting of interlayered metabasic rocks, metasediments derived from volcanic rocks, chemical sediments, and metabasic and ultramafic intrusions. Despite repeated deformation and high-grade metamorphism sedimentary structures are locally preserved. The depositional environment was probably an immersed volcanic region remote from areas of significantly older crust. Conglomeratic structures in a metachert and banded iron formation unit suggest shoaling and shallow water conditions. Felsic sediments locally preserve evidence of deposition from turbidite flows. The Isua supracrustal rocks are regarded as thin fragments of a thicker, more extensive sequence. The orthogneisses that intrude the supracrustal rocks consist of 3750-3700 Ma multiphase tonalites (the grey gneisses) which were first intruded by the basic Inaluk dykes, then by abundant shallow-dipping swarms of c. 3600 Ma granite sheets (the white gneisses) and finally by c. 3400 Ma pegmatitic gneiss sheets. These early Archaean rocks were metamorphosed under amphibolite facies conditions and repeatedly deformed prior to intrusion of the Tarssartôq basic dykes in the mid Archaean. In the late Archaean (3100-2500 Ma) there was polyphase metamorphism up to amphibolite facies grade and two or more stages of deformation and local intrusion of granitic gneiss sheets and pegmatites. However, despite general strong deformation there is a large augen of low deformation preserved within the arc of the Isua supracrustal belt. During the Proterozoic there was intrusion of basic dykes, major faulting with associated recrystallisation under uppermost greenschist to lowermost amphibolite facies conditions, followed by heating and intrusion of acid dykes at c. 1600 Ma. No profitable mineralisations have been located.

scholarly journals Petrography and Geochemistry of the Banded Iron Formation of the Gangfelum Area, Northeastern Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Anthony Temidayo Bolarinwa
Keyword(s):  
Iron Oxide ◽  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Optical Emission ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Icp Oes ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
Inductively Coupled ◽  
Iron Precipitation ◽  
Icp Ms

The Gangfelum Banded Iron Formation (BIF) is located within the basement complex of northeastern Nigeria. It is characterized by alternate bands of iron oxide and quartz. Petrographic studies show that the BIF consist mainly of hematite, goethite subordinate magnetite and accessory minerals including rutile, apatite, tourmaline and zircon. Chemical data from inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) show that average Fe2O3(t) is 53.91 wt.%. The average values of Al2O3 and CaO are 1.41 and 0.05 wt.% respectively, TiO2 and MnO are less than 0.5 wt. % each. The data suggested that the BIF is the oxide facies type. Trace element concentrations of Ba (67-332 ppm), Ni (28-35 ppm), Sr (13-55 ppm) and Zr (16-25 ppm) in the Gangfelum BIF are low and similar to the Maru and Muro BIF in northern Nigeria and also the Algoma iron formation from North America, the Orissa iron oxide facies of India and the Itabirite from Minas Gerais in Brazil. The evolution of the Gangfelum BIF involved metamorphism of chemically precipitated or rhythmically deposited iron-rich sediments into hematite-quartz rocks. The banding of the BIF suggested a break in iron precipitation probably due to iron oxide deficiency. 

A new look at the stratigraphy of the Yellowknife Supergroup at Yellowknife, N.W.T. — implications for the age of gold-bearing shear zones and Archean basin evolution

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Helmstaedt ◽  
W. A. Padgham
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Spreading Center ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Lake Formation ◽  
Group A ◽  
Sea Floor Spreading ◽  
Gold Bearing

Based on recent detailed mapping, a revised stratigraphic column is proposed for the rocks of the Archean Yellowknife Supergroup in the Yellowknife greenstone belt. The mafic volcanic rocks of the Kam Formation, previously thought to represent the oldest supracrustal rocks of the belt, overlap remnants of an earlier volcanic–sedimentary sequence, here referred to as the Octopus Formation. As its enormous thickness makes it too unwieldy to be described as a single formation, the Kam Formation is raised to group status and subdivided into four formations. It is proposed that the Kam Group should replace the Beaulieu Group in the Yellowknife area. The Chan Formation, at the base of the Kam Group, consists of multiple gabbroic intrusions that were emplaced into a carapace of pillowed flows. The intrusions locally resemble sheeted mafic dyke complexes in Phanerozoic ophiolites, thought to represent evidence for sea-floor spreading. The Crestaurum Formation, which overlies the Chan Formation, is characterized by massive and pillowed flows interlayered with a number of laterally continuous cherts and felsic tuffs. The Townsite Formation consists of rhyodacite breccias interbedded with felsic tuffs and pillowed dacites. The Yellowknife Bay Formation, at the top of the Kam Group and comprising massive and pillowed flows with pillow breccias and numerous interflow sediments, contains all the important gold deposits mined at Yellowknife. The Banting Formation, directly overlying the Kam Group and consisting of mafic to felsic volcanics, is also given group status and subdivided into two formations. Conglomerates and sandstones of the Jackson Lake Formation, formerly thought to separate the Kam and Banting groups, are considered to represent the youngest rocks of the Yellowknife Supergroup near Yellowknife. Gold-bearing shear zones clearly postdate deposition of the Banting Group, making the rocks of this group a potential target for gold exploration. The presence of remnants of a possible spreading center at the base of the Kam Group suggests that plate-tectonic processes were active during the formation of Archean supracrustal basins in the Slave Province.

scholarly journals Depositional Environment and Genesis of the Nabeba Banded Iron Formation (BIF) in the Ivindo Basement Complex, Republic of the Congo: Perspective from Whole-Rock and Magnetite Geochemistry

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 579
Author(s):  
Chesther Gatsé Ebotehouna ◽  
Yuling Xie ◽  
Kofi Adomako-Ansah ◽  
Blandine Gourcerol ◽  
Yunwei Qu
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Iron Deposit ◽  
Northwestern Part ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Basement Complex ◽  
Icp Ms ◽  
Post Archean Australian Shale ◽  
Republic Of The Congo

The Nabeba high-grade iron deposit (Republic of the Congo) is hosted by banded iron formation (BIF) in the Ivindo Basement Complex, which lies in the northwestern part of the Congo Craton. The Nabeba BIF is intercalated with chlorite-sericite-quartz schist and comprises two facies (oxide and a carbonate-oxide). In this study, whole-rock and LA-ICP-MS magnetite geochemistry of the BIF was reported. Magnetite samples from both BIF facies had fairly similar trace element compositions except for the rare earth element plus yttrium (REE + Y) distribution patterns. The high V, Ni, Cr, and Mg contents of the magnetite in the Nabeba BIF could be ascribed to the involvement of external medium-high temperature hydrothermal fluids during their deposition in relatively reduced environment. The Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS)-normalized REY patterns of the Nabeba BIF magnetite were characterized by LREE depletion coupled with varying La and positive Eu anomalies. Processing of the information gathered from the geochemical signatures of magnetite and the whole-rock BIF suggested that the Nabeba BIF was formed by the mixing of predominantly anoxic seawater (99.9%) with 0.1% of high-temperature (>250 °C) hydrothermal vent fluids, similar to the formation mechanism of many Archean Algoma-type BIFs reported elsewhere in the world.

The early Archaean Nulliak (supracrustal) assemblage, northern Labrador

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 2159-2168 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Nutman ◽  
B. J. Fryer ◽  
D. Bridgwater
Keyword(s):  
Water Environment ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Granulite Facies ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Shallow Water Environment ◽  
Scale Down ◽  
Felsic Volcanic ◽  
Felsic Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Chemical Sediments

The Nulliak (supracrustal) assemblage, the remains of ca. 3800 Ma succession of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, was broken up by intrusion of the protoliths of the early Archaean Uivak orthogneisses and then deformed, metamorphosed, and variably metasomatised several times under upper amphibolite to granulite facies conditions in the Archaean. Amphibolites of "komatiitic basalt" and tholeiitic chemical affinity are the most important Nulliak assemblage lithologies. High Al2O3 metagabbroic rocks and anorthosites also occur. Interlayered with the amphibolites are marbles, calc-silicate rocks, and banded iron formation, interpreted as chemical sediments that were probably laid down in a shallow-water environment. Also found are felsic rocks probably derived by reworking of penecontemporaneous felsic volcanic rocks, and garnet- and sillimanite-bearing paragneisses derived from pelites. All these lithologies are randomly interlayered on a scale down to 1 m or less. The occurrence of 3850 – 3900 Ma cores for zircons in the surrounding polyphase Uivak gneisses suggests there may be an ancient sialic component in them, which could possibly represent basement upon which at least part of the Nulliak assemblage formed.

Deposition and imbrication of a 2670-2629 Ma supracrustal sequence in the Indin Lake area, southwestern Slave Province, Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 1149-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Pehrsson ◽  
M E Villeneuve
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Regional Deformation ◽  
Tectonic History ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Gneiss Complex ◽  
Supracrustal Belt ◽  
History Of ◽  
Felsic Volcanic ◽  
Felsic Volcanic Rocks

New U-Pb age data from the southwestern Slave Province demonstrate that units of the Indin Lake supracrustal belt form an imbricated structural stack. The oldest rocks of the belt are undated mafic volcanic flows of the Hewitt Lake group that are crosscut by a 2670 Ma felsic sill, itself coeval with mafic through felsic volcanic rocks of the 2668-2671 Ma Leta Arm group. The youngest rocks of the belt are 2647-2629 Ma turbidites and felsic volcanic rocks of the unconformably overlying Chalco Lake group. Tonalite orthogneiss of the adjacent Cotterill gneiss complex is 2680 Ma, suggesting that it does not represent in situ basement to the supracrustal belt. Intercalation of the older Hewitt Lake and Leta Arm groups with the younger Chalco Lake group is interpreted to result from D1 imbrication and folding between 2629 and 2609 Ma, the age of a crosscutting tonalite intrusion. Subsequent D2 folding and regional low-pressure metamorphism occurred between 2609 Ma and ca. 2590 Ma. D3 normal faulting between the belt and Cotterill gneisses, ca. 2590 Ma, is interpreted to overlap with retrograde amphibolite-facies metamorphism and decompression of the gneiss complex. Comparisons between the tectonic history of the Indin Lake area and the central Slave Province show that turbidite deposition was regionally diachronous and overlapped with regional deformation elsewhere, supporting existing models favouring some form of accretionary orogenesis. The imbricated and intercalated 2670-2629 Ma supracrustal sequence may characterize a distinct crustal block in the southwestern Slave Province.

An Update on the Geology of the Lupin Gold Mine, Nunavut, Canada

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.A. GEUSEBROEK ◽  
N.A. DUKE
Keyword(s):  
Iron Formation ◽  
Western Boundary ◽  
Dome A ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Lode Gold ◽  
Quartz Veins ◽  
Slave Province ◽  
Lode Gold Deposit ◽  
World Class ◽  
Recrystallization Front

Abstract The Lupin mine, located in the central Slave province just east of the western boundary of Nunavut Territory, is a world-class example of a Neoarchean-aged banded iron formation (BIF)-hosted lode-gold deposit. At the minesite the gold-mineralized Lupin BIF, separating stratigraphically underlying psammitic wacke and overlying argillaceous turbidite sequences, delineates the Lupin dome, a hammerhead-shaped F2/F3 interference fold structure occurring at the greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic transition within the thermal aureole of the Contwoyto batholith. Detailed paragenetic relationships indicate that peak thermal metamorphism coincided with the switch from regional D2 compression to rapid D3 unroofing of the Neoarchean orogenic infrastructure. Gold initially precipitated with pyrrhotite, replacing amphibolitic BIF at the apex of the Lupin deformation zone, separating the east and west lobes of the Contwoyto batholith. Over the course of associated prograde/retrograde metasomatic overprints, gold was further remobilized during garnet and loellingite/arsenopyrite growth in chlorite-altered selvages of late-forming ladder quartz veins. A metamorphic model of ore genesis, with gold being scavenged and transported by metamorphic fluid that was shed and structurally trapped at the amphibolite recrystallization front, is favored over the previously proposed syngenetic and exogenic models of gold concentration that have tended to polarize genetic interpretations to date.

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