Isotopic dates and strontium isotopic ratios for plutonic and volcanic rocks in the Quesnel Trough and Nicola Belt, south–central British Columbia

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1658-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. A. Preto ◽  
M. J. Osatenko ◽  
W. J. McMillan ◽  
R. L. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Jurassic ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Isotopic Ratios ◽  
Initial Ratio ◽  
South Central

Four distinct igneous events of the southern Intermontane Belt are represented in new K–Ar and Rb–Sr dates. The first and regionally most important event is sharply defined by new K–Ar dates between 200 and 209 Ma for the Thuya, Wildhorse, Iron Mask, and Allison batholiths and a 205 ± 10 Ma Rb–Sr isochron for the Guichon Creek batholith. All these plutons were emplaced approximately at the change from Triassic to Jurassic time. The related and slightly older Nicola volcanic rocks are altered by addition of more radiogenic sedimentary Sr (Carnian Nicola limestones having 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7075 ± 1) and do not give an isochron date. The Coldwater stock is anomalously old (K–Ar dates range from 215–267 Ma).The Mid- to Late Jurassic igneous event is indicated by a 141 Ma K–Ar date for the Mount Martley batholith. Mid-Cretaceous volcanic rocks of the Kingsvale Group give a Rb–Sr isochron date of 112 ± 10 Ma and are postdated by the crosscutting and slightly younger Summers Creek stock (100 Ma by K–Ar).The final event straddles the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary with the Nicola batholith emplaced about 60 Ma ago (K–Ar) and the Rey Lake stock perhaps slightly earlier (69 Ma by K–Ar).Initial 87Sr/S6sr ratios range from 0.7025–0.7046 with a mean and mode near 0.7037 which is within the range of modern circum-Pacific volcanoes. Initial ratios of 0.7034 ± 1 for the Guichon Creek batholith, 0.7035 ± 1 for the Iron Mask batholith, 0.70435 ± 10 for the Thuya batholith, and 0.70379 ± 4 for the Kingsvale volcanic rocks are the most precisely determined. The Coldwater stock is anomalously low at 0.7025. For the other plutonic bodies only scattered or single analyses are available. The Nicola volcanic rocks appear to have once been similar in initial ratio to the Guichon Creek batholith but their calculated initial ratios now scatter from 0.7034–0.7073.

Petrology and geochemistry of the Kamloops Group volcanics, British Columbia

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 1478-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Ewing
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fractional Crystallization ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
South Central ◽  
High K ◽  
Petrology And Geochemistry

The Kamloops Group is an alkali-rich calc-alkaline volcanic suite of Early to Middle Eocene age, widespread in south-central British Columbia. Rock types in the suite range from high-K basalt through andesite to rhyolite. The suite is characterized by relatively high K2O, Sr, and Ba, but low Zr, Ti, and Ni concentrations, only moderate Ce enrichment, and little or no Fe enrichment. Initial ratios 87Sr/86Sr are about 0.7040 in the western half, and about 0.7060 in the eastern half of the study area. No difference in chemistry or mineralogy marks this sharp transition. Chemically similar suites include the Absaroka–Gallatin suite in Wyoming and the lower San Juan (Summer Coon) suite in Colorado. The content of K2O at 60% SiO2 increases regularly eastward across southern British Columbia. The chemical data support the subduction-related continental arc origin of the Kamloops Group volcanics.The volcanic rocks consist in the main of augite–pigeonite andesites ranging from 52 to 62% silica, with subordinate quantities of olivine–augite–pigeonite basalt and biotite rhyodacite and rhyolite. The andesites and basalts were derived by a combination of low-pressure fractional crystallization, higher pressure fractional crystallization, and variable parental magmas, whereas low-pressure fractional crystallization of plagioclase, biotite, and apatite from parental basalt and andesite produced the rhyolites. The parental magmas were basalts and basaltic andesites with high K, Sr, and Ba. The primary source of these magmas is inferred to have been an alkali-enriched hydrous peridotite with neither plagioclase nor garnet present in the residuum.

Radiometric dating of the Coldbrook Group of southern New Brunswick, Canada

1969 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Cormier
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Initial Ratio ◽  
Initial Value ◽  
Saint John ◽  
Probable Presence

The Coldbrook Group of southern New Brunswick is composed almost entirely of volcanic rocks and has been assigned a Precambrian age on the basis of field relationships. Rocks of the group are overlain by fossiliferous Lower Cambrian beds of the Saint John Group.Rubidium-strontium total-rock analyses of 46 samples of Coldbrook Group volcanic rocks have been carried out. Analysis of the data indicates the probable presence of two different isochron ages. One of these is apparently defined by those rocks in which the ratio 87Rb/86Sr is low, with values less than about 1.0. This isochron yields an age of 750 ± 80 million years, with an initial ratio 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7054 ± 0.0010. The other isochron is defined by rocks in which the value of the ratio 87Rb/86Sr is higher, with values greater than about 1.0. The age calculated from the second isochron is 370 ± 38 million years, with an indicated initial value for the ratio 87Sr/86Sr of 0.7135 ± 0.0010.The 750 million year age is interpreted to represent the time of extrusion of the Coldbrook volcanics. The 370 million year age appears to be secondary and related to metamorphism of the Coldbrook Group. This age is correlated with the Acadian orogeny, which strongly deformed this part of the northern Appalachians in Middle to Late Devonian time.

A re-examination of the type area of the Devono-Mississippian Cariboo Orogeny, central British Columbia

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 1767-1775 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Struik
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
North American ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
The Third ◽  
The North ◽  
Early Mesozoic ◽  
Type Area ◽  
North American Craton

Three tectonostratigraphic successions are established from remapping of the area near Barkerville and Cariboo River. The first, of Late Proterozoic to Cambrian sediments, was deposited on the shallow to moderately deep platformal shelf west of and derived from the exposed North American craton. The second is an unconformably overlying Ordovician to Permian sequence of sedimentary and volcanic rocks representing a basinal environment with periodic highs. These packages of sediments were deposited on the North American craton and its western transitional extensions. The third succession, composed of oceanic chert and basalt of the Permo-Pennsylvanian Antler Formation, was thrust eastward over the other two during the early Mesozoic. The three successions were folded, faulted, and metamorphosed during the mid-Mesozoic Columbian Orogeny. The Devono-Mississippian Cariboo Orogeny, which was thought to have affected all of the first sequence and part of the second, could not be documented in its type locality. The geology of the Barkerville – Cariboo River area has many similarities with that of Selwyn Basin and Cassiar platform of northern British Columbia and Yukon.

Age and Correlation of the Kobau Group, Mount Kobau, British Columbia

1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1508-1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Okulitch
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Metamorphic Rocks ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
South Central ◽  
Shuswap Metamorphic Complex ◽  
Basic Volcanic ◽  
Devonian Age ◽  
Tertiary Period ◽  
Okanagan Valley

The Kobau Group, found in south-central British Columbia, consists of highly deformed, low-grade metamorphic rocks derived from a succession of sedimentary and basic volcanic rocks of pre-Cretaceous, likely post-Devonian age. Deformation began in Carboniferous times and recurred with decreasing intensity up to the Tertiary Period. Possible correlative successions are found surrounding Mount Kobau. These include possibly late Paleozoic formations west and northwest of Mount Kobau, the Carboniferous to Permian Anarchist Group found south of the 49th parallel and east of the Okanagan Valley, the pre-Upper Triassic, possibly Mississippian Chapperon Group west of Vernon, and parts of the Shuswap Metamorphic Complex east of the Okanagan Valley. Prior to deposition of the Kobau Group, part of the Shuswap Complex was subjected to deformation, presumably in mid-Paleozoic time.

Thermoluminescence dating applied to a thin winter varve of the late glacial South Thompson silt, south-central British Columbia

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1736-1739 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. Berger
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tl Dating ◽  
South Central ◽  
Thermoluminescence Dating ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Apparent Age

The partial bleach (R–Γ) procedure of thermoluminescence (TL) dating of unheated sediments has been applied to the 2–4 μm sized feldspar-dominated grains from two components of a 10–11 ka BP glaciolacustrine silt. A previous TL study of the 4–11 μm sized feldspars from a ~12 cm thick summer layer of this varved deposit did not produce the correct age. Here it is shown that the 2–4 μm feldspar grains from a contiguous, 5 mm thick clay-rich winter varve give a satisfactory TL apparent age of 14.2 ± 2.3 ka. On the other hand, and consistent with the previous results, the 2–4 μm feldspar grains from the thicker summer layer yield an incorrect high apparent age of 55 ± 13 ka. These results have implications for general TL dating of waterlaid sediments.

Magmatic composition and tectonic setting of altered, volcanic rocks of the Fennell Formation, British Columbia

1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 743-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pradeep K. Aggarwal ◽  
Toshitsugu Fujii ◽  
Bruce E. Nesbitt
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Marine Sediments ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Tholeiitic Basalt ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Mineral Deposit ◽  
South Central ◽  
Ti Oxides ◽  
Upper Paleozoic

The upper Paleozoic Fennell Formation in south-central British Columbia consists of basalts and associated marine sediments metamorphosed at low greenschist facies conditions. Although the microphenocrysts of plagioclase and Fe–Ti oxides are almost completely altered, those of augite and amphibole have survived this metamorphism. In the vicinity of the Chu Chua mineral deposit, relict augite microphenocrysts, which constitute a major proportion of the microphenocryst assemblage, are enriched in Al and Ti and are similar in composition to those from alkalic and transitional basalts. Relict amphiboles are also enriched in Ti (4.5–5.9% TiO2) and are classified as kaersutites. The occurrence of kaersutite and the chemistry of relict augites indicate that in this area the Fennell Formation basalts were originally alkalic and transitional in composition. On conventional Ti–(Zr/P2O5) and (Nb/Y)–(Zr/P2O5) immobile-element discrimination diagrams, both the kaersutite-bearing and kaersutite-free rocks plot in the tholeiitic basalt field. Accordingly, it is suggested that these diagrams may not provide clear evidence for the magmatic composition of altered volcanic rocks.Based on the lead isotopic compositions, petrographic features, and alkalic character of the Fennell Formation basalts, it is interpreted that these basalts were formed in a tectonic setting similar to that of present-day oceanic islands or seamounts.

The conglomerate of Churn Creek: Late Cretaceous basin evolution along the Insular–Intermontane superterrane boundary, southern British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-73
Author(s):  
J W Riesterer ◽  
J Brian Mahoney ◽  
Paul Karl Link
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Clastic Rocks ◽  
South Central ◽  
Lower Member ◽  
Volcanic Source ◽  
Braided Stream ◽  
Bridge Group

Upper Cretaceous coarse clastic rocks exposed in the canyon of Churn Creek, south-central British Columbia, record active basin tectonism and coeval volcanism adjacent to the boundary between the Intermontane and Insular superterranes. Mid to late Albian (~104 Ma U–Pb), calc-alkaline andesite and basaltic andesite flows, with minor conglomerate and reworked epiclastic deposits and tuffs correlative with the Spences Bridge Group of the Intermontane superterrane are exposed in the canyon. In depositional contact above the volcanic rocks is the conglomerate of Churn Creek, which contains a thick (>1 km) sequence of complexly intertonguing conglomerate and sandstone that is divided into two members composed of four lithofacies. The lower member was deposited unconformably on the underlying Albian volcanic unit and contains late Albian–Cenomanian chert-pebble (>50% chert) conglomerate and interbedded chert- and volcanic-lithic sandstone. It is interpreted to have been deposited in a braided stream system flowing from southeast to northwest. The source for the chert was most likely the Bridge River terrane, a Mississippian to Jurassic ocean floor assemblage located to the southwest of Churn Creek, south of the Yalakom fault. Gradationally overlying the lower member throughout much of the basin is a mixed chert, plutonic, and volcaniclastic lithofacies of the upper member. Plutonic debris was provided to the mixed and plutonic lithofacies of the upper member by the Little Basin pluton, which was uplifted along the northeast-directed Little Basin thrust fault on the southwest margin of the basin. The upper member also contains a volcanic-rich lithofacies composed of chaotic volcanic conglomerate and local lithic tuff derived from a coeval proximal volcanic source. The conglomerate of Churn Creek records active northeast-vergent compressional tectonism and development of piggyback basins along the boundary between the Insular and Intermontane superterranes during Albian–Santonian time. The conglomerate of Churn Creek has been correlated to the Silverquick – Powell Creek succession of the Methow terrane, based on age, stratigraphic, lithologic, structural, geochemical, and paleomagnetic similarities, and may, therefore, represent an overlap assemblage linking the superterranes in the Late Cretaceous.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document