Westerly derived Early Cretaceous gold paleoplacers in the Western Canada foreland basin, southwestern Alberta: tectonic and economic implications

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 1079-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale A. Leckie ◽  
David Craw

Albian-aged (Early Cretaceous) igneous pebble to cobble conglomerates fill multiple, northeast–southwest-oriented, subparallel channels in the upper Blairmore Group (upper Beaver Mines and Mill Creek formations) of the Rocky Mountain foreland basin, southwestern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia. Paleocurrent data show that the conglomerate was derived from the west. Clast petrography implies a provenance that includes granitoids, mafic volcanics, low-grade metamorphic rocks, and shallow-level (ca. 7 km depth) postmetamorphic quartz veins formed from meteoric fluids. The conglomerate was probably derived from the southern Omineca Belt of British Columbia prior to the rise of the Rocky Mountains. The conglomerate contains detrital gold grains up to 150 μm in diameter, and chemical analyses indicate widespread anomalous gold concentrations (up to 910 ppb Au) in conglomerate matrix. Gold content in these igneous-clast conglomerates excèdes that reported from the richest modern placers in Alberta. Less pronounced but persistent As anomalies (up to 260 ppm) occur also. Postdepositional alteration of conglomerate matrix chemically mobilized Au and As from their detrital source grains and redistributed these elements. Gold enrichment in the igneous-clast conglomerate contrasts strongly with background gold concentrations in the underlying conglomeratic Cadomin Formation. The gold concentrations in the igneous-clast conglomerate demonstrate that paleoplacers derived from the Canadian Cordillera have accumulated in the Western Canada foreland basin, a sedimentary succession previously dismissed as a host for detrital gold.

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 1139
Author(s):  
O. A. KAMEL ◽  
M. M. EL MAHALLAWI ◽  
H. M. HELMY

Gold-bearing quartz veins of the Umm Rus area occur at the south-eastern contact of a Precambrian granodiorite cupola within younger gabbros of 573-615 Ma belonging to the Pan African orogenic belt. The rocks are intruded within low-grade metasediments. At such contact, a hybrid zone is developed characterized by the occurrence of quartz diorite which grades into diorite and meta-ferrogabro. A limited number of mineralized quartz veins cut the granodiorite-gabbro complex. Different alteration zones are developed in the vicinity of the quartz veins. The quartz veins have two main trends; NS and N30 E, the latter one is usaually gold-bearing. The mineralized parts of the veins commonly consist of highly sheared and banded smoky quartz, and the gold content depends on the relation with the dykes. The element is strongly correlated with As and Ag, but moderately with Cu. Near to intermediate and basic dykes, the contents of Au, Ag and As are noticably increased


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1461-1464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie S. Uhazy ◽  
Jerome L. Mahrt ◽  
John C. Holmes

A survey of coccidia in the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis. c. canadensis) in Alberta and Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, was conducted from the winter of 1967 to the spring of 1969. Ninety percent of 510 fecal samples examined were positive for coccidia. The species recovered, in order of prevalence, were Eimeria ovina (syn., E. arloingi) (56%), E. parva (35%), E. crandallis (34%), E. ahsata (33%), E. ninakohlyakimovae (19%), E. faurei (6%), E. intricata (5%) and E. granulosa (1%). Coccidiosis was not encountered in the field; however, evidence which suggests the magnitude of pathogenic infections is presented.


1975 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2014-2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Stelck ◽  
A. S. Hedinger

The geographic occurrences of archaeocyathids are plotted for the Cordilleran region of western Canada. The archaeocyathids are found both east and west of, and within the Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia and are found east and west of the Tintina Trench in the southern Yukon. The overall pattern of the occurrences indicates that the shallow neritic portion of the continental shelf in Early Cambrian time traces a pattern widely diverse from that of the later, superimposed, Laramide structural trend. Portions of the continental shelf were already in existence west of the Rocky Mountain Trench by Early Cambrian time.


1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1455-1458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale A. Sketchley ◽  
A. J. Sinclair ◽  
C. I. Godwin

K–Ar dates on sericite from several gold–silver bearing white quartz veins in the Cassiar area indicate that mineralization occurred in the Early Cretaceous at about 130 Ma. Thus, these veins predate the mid-Cretaceous Cassiar batholith and Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary plutons in the immediate area. The Early Cretaceous date probably represents either a thermal precursor to emplacement of the Cassiar batholith or a structurally related event associated with allochthonous emplacement of the Sylvester Group. Either of these events may have caused circulation of the meteoric fluids responsible for the veins.


Author(s):  
D T A Symons ◽  
K Kawasaki

Summary The extensive Yukon-Tanana terrane of the northern Canadian Cordillera has been considered controversially to be part of the allochthonous ‘Baja B.C.’ microcontinent or of the para-autochthonous North American cratonic margin during the Mesozoic. Paleomagnetic methods have isolated a very-stable Early Jurassic thermochemical remanent remagnetization in the terrane's felsic Tatlmain batholith and mafic Ragged stock after correction for: 1) rotation from northeast-plunging anticlinal deformation; 2) northerly dipping tectonic tilt of the host rocks; and, 3) northwestward regional translation on the adjacent Tintina transcurrent fault zone. The resulting 196 ± 6 Ma Tatlmain and Ragged paleopoles are 64.9° N, 44.8° E (A95 = 5.9°) and 64.2° N, 58.5° E (A95 = 7.7°), respectively. The YTT paleopoles support para-autochthonous tectonic models that have the YTT: 1) accreting to North America by the Early Jurassic; 2) undergoing non-significant orogen-perpendicular shortening by mid-Early Cretaceous from thrust-faulting; and, then 3) undergoing significant orogen-parallel northward translation of ∼500 km from mid-Early Cretaceous to the Eocene. In contrast, the paleopoles for Stikinia and Quesnellia of the Intermontane Belt show progressive northwestward translation relative to North America by ∼1000 km and a rotation of ∼55° cw since mid-Early Cretaceous. We speculate that ∼500 km of the northward translation is related to dextral motion on the Tintina and Northern Rocky Mountain Trench fault in British Columbia, and that the clockwise rotation is related to upper crustal tectonics in both Yukon and southern British Columbia.


Parasitology ◽  
1926 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred E. Cameron

Reference to the National Insect Collection at Ottawa shows that species of the genus Cuterebra have been collected in various localities of Western Canada at different times. Of these Cuterebra grisea Coq. is distributed throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North-West Territories and British Columbia. There is one record each of C. emasculator Fitch (determined by Aldrich as C. fontinella Clark), of which the locality is unknown, and of C. fasciata Swenk, from Peachland, British Columbia. The specimen of C. emasculator bears a note that it had been reared from a chipmunk, Tamias striatus lysteri Richardson. The remaining species, C. americana var. polita Coq., C. similis Johnson and C. tenebrosa Coq. have all been collected in British Columbia. There is but a single record from the Eastern Provinces and that a specimen of C. fasciata from Bathurst, New Brunswick, dated August, 1900. Altogether there are 22 specimens in the National Collection belonging to six species. Of these there are 11 specimens of C. grisea, which would thus appear to be the most prevalent species in Western Canada. The comparative paucity of specimens may be correctly attributed to the peculiarly shy habits of the species, the adults of which, according to information furnished me by Criddle, prefer rather dark situations, such as outbuildings, summer kitchens and the ground burrows of rodents. They occur on the wing from June to September and are probably to be found closely attendant upon the haunts of their rodent hosts. That the percentage of parasitism is not high is concluded from the fact that Parker and Wells (1919), in a careful examination of over a thousand rodents in Montana for possible infestation by the Rocky Mountain spotted fever tick, Dermacentor venustus Banks, found but two that were parasitised, each with one larva of C. tenebrosa.


1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie S. Uhazy ◽  
John C. Holmes

Thirty-six Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis c. canadensis), 33 from four areas in Alberta and 3 from Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, were examined for helminths. Data from these examinations were supplemented by examination of 462 fecal samples from the same areas.Seventeen species of helminths were recovered: 3 cestodes, Moniezia expansa and Wyominia tetoni and the cysticerci of Taenia hydatigena; and 14 nematodes, Capillaria sp., Marshallagia marshalli, Nematodirus archari, N. davtiani, N. maculosus, N. oiratianus, N. spathiger, Ostertagia circumcincta, O. occidentalis, Protostrongylus rushi, P. stilesi, Skrjabinema ovis, Teladorsagia davtiani, and Trichuris ovis. The records of Capillaria sp., Nematodirus maculosus, and Teladorsagia davtiani are apparently the first from bighorn sheep. Nine other records are new for bighorn sheep in Canada.Total numbers of helminths (excluding lungworms) per bighorn ranged from 36 to 8345. There was little variation in the prevalence or the relative abundance of the different species in the areas sampled.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 817-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie S. Uhazy ◽  
John C. Holmes ◽  
John G. Stelfox

In 58 sets of lungs from bighorns from western Alberta or eastern British Columbia, 91% were infected with Protostrongylus stilesi, and 38% were infected with P. rushi. Four of the five sheep free of P. stilesi were lambs. Lungs from nine near-term fetuses were negative for lungworms.All but 1 of 409 field-collected fecal samples from the same ranges contained larvae of Protostrongylus spp.; counts of larvae per gram of dry feces suggest a clumped distribution of lungworms. Analysis of monthly samples from one herd indicated a significant seasonal variation, with high numbers of larvae shed by bighorns on winter range. The use of fecal analyses in assessing severity of infection and the evolutionary significance of the clumped distribution of lungworms are discussed.


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