Contrasting arc and MORB-like assemblages in the Paleoproterozoic Flin Flon Belt, Manitoba, and the role of intra-arc extension in localizing volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1767-1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
E C Syme ◽  
S B Lucas ◽  
A H Bailes ◽  
R A Stern
Keyword(s):  
High Heat ◽  
Massive Sulphide ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Sulphide Ore ◽  
Hydrothermal Convection ◽  
Vms Deposits ◽  
Extensional Faulting ◽  
Flin Flon ◽  
Back Arc

The Flin Flon Belt (Trans-Hudson Orogen, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) is the largest Paleoproterozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VMS) district in the world, with 118.7 million tonnes (Mt) of Zn-Cu-(Au-Ag) sulphide ore in 25 past or presently producing mines and 64.3 Mt in subeconomic deposits. The orebodies are restricted to isotopically juvenile volcanic-arc sequences, dated at 1.903-1.881 Ga at Flin Flon. Sequences of ca. 1.904-1.901 Ga back-arc and ocean-plateau basalts and related plutonic rocks, structurally juxtaposed with the arc assemblages at 1.880-1.870 Ga, are not known to contain economic base metal deposits. The juvenile arc tectono-stratigraphic assemblages are generally marked by older and stratigraphically lower tholeiitic submarine volcanic packages (ca. 1.903-1.886 Ga) that are observed or interpreted to be overlain by extensive and lithologically varied sequences of calc-alkaline and alkaline (shoshonitic) arc rocks and arc rift deposits (ca. 1.888-1.881 Ga). VMS deposits occur in both the tholeiitic and calc-alkaline arc sequences, but the 62 Mt Flin Flon deposit occurs in a 1.903 Ga tholeiitic primitive arc package. It can be demonstrated that for the Flin Flon - Callinan - Triple 7, Cuprus, and White Lake VMS deposits, whose stratigraphic context is preserved, deposition of the massive sulphides was temporally associated with inferred arc rifting processes. Critical observations for arc rifting include evidence for extensional faulting, erosion, and development of unconformities; extrusion of MORB-like basalts and associated rhyolites; and development of depositional basins with thick sequences of shoshonitic turbidites. As has been proposed for other major VMS camps (e.g., Kuroko, Kidd Creek, Bathurst), arc rifting can generate the loci of sustained high heat flow and fluid pathways required for the development of long-lived hydrothermal convection systems.

Evolution of the Paleoproterozoic Snow Lake arc assemblage and geodynamic setting for associated volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits, Flin Flon Belt, Manitoba, Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1789-1805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan H Bailes ◽  
Alan G Galley
Keyword(s):  
High Heat ◽  
Massive Sulphide ◽  
Geodynamic Setting ◽  
Hydrous Melting ◽  
Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ◽  
Vms Deposits ◽  
Mantle Sources ◽  
Flin Flon ◽  
East End ◽  
Fault Scarps

The majority of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits at the east end of the Paleoproterozoic Flin Flon "greenstone" belt occur in the 1.89 Ga Snow Lake arc assemblage. VMS deposits in this isotopically juvenile oceanic arc sequence are hosted within a 6 km thick monoclinal section that records in its stratigraphy and geochemistry a temporal evolution in arc development from primitive, through mature, to arc rift. VMS deposits occur in both the primitive and mature arc sequences and are interpreted to be products of arc extension and accompanying anomolously high heat flow, fracturing, and fluid circulation. Boninites, low-Ti tholeiites, and isotopically juvenile rhyolite flows, a rock association that has been attributed in both modern and Phanerozoic arcs to high-temperature hydrous melting of refractory mantle sources in an extensional and (or) proto-arc environment, forms the primitive arc. Indication that the mature arc also underwent extension includes voluminous volcaniclastic detritus (from fault scarps?), prominent synvolcanic dykes, isotopically juvenile rhyolite flows, and the fact that the mature arc is stratigraphically overlain by arc-rift basalts with MORB-like geochemistry. Interpretation of VMS deposits at Snow Lake as products of an extensional geodynamic setting suggests that the traditional Flin Flon Belt exploration model, invoking "pluton-generated" convective seawater, be augmented by the search for evidence of rifting. Economically significant rock associations at Snow Lake include geochemically primitive refractory mafic magmas (e.g., boninites), isotopically juvenile felsic magmas, bimodal basalt-rhyolite sequences, and arc-rift basalts.

scholarly journals Evidence for voluminous bimodal pyroclastic volcanism during rifting of a Paleoproterozoic arc at Snow Lake, Manitoba

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 654-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate E. Rubingh ◽  
Harold L. Gibson ◽  
Bruno Lafrance
Keyword(s):  
Massive Sulfide ◽  
Hydrothermal Activity ◽  
Stratigraphic Correlation ◽  
Pyroclastic Deposits ◽  
Volcanic Event ◽  
Vms Deposits ◽  
Flin Flon ◽  
Arc Setting ◽  
Gold Producer ◽  
Back Arc

The thrust-bounded McLeod Road – Birch Lake (MB) sequence occurs within the Paleoproterozoic Snow Lake arc (SLA) assemblage of the Flin Flon belt. Stratigraphic correlation of volcanic strata of the MB sequence with strata of the thrust-bounded Chisel sequence indicates that distinctive, submarine, eruption-fed, pyroclastic flow deposits are more extensive and voluminous than previously recognized (>10 km3). These voluminous felsic pyroclastic deposits define a distinct magmatic and explosive volcanic event during bimodal volcanism that accompanied rifting of the SLA. The felsic pyroclastic deposits define the remnants of a basin, or of nested basins, that formed during arc rifting and subsidence, and their eruption immediately preceded formation of the Chisel sequence volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. Although the Chisel sequence ore interval is recognized in the MB sequence, the lack of VMS-related alteration indicates that VMS hydrothermal activity was restricted to the Chisel portion of the basin. However, the MB sequence is host to the younger Snow Lake gold mine, a 1.4M oz (43 699 kg) gold producer. The overlying MORB-like Birch Lake basalts, if conformable with the MB sequence, may represent a progression from a rifted-arc to a back-arc setting. However, if they are thrust fault bounded, then they may represent the initial phases of arc-rifting, prior to the voluminous felsic pyroclastic eruptions. Correlation and integrity of stratigraphy between the thrust-bounded MB and SLA sequences indicates that the bounding thrust faults, which developed during accretionary processes, have less regional significance than previously interpreted.

Mode-converted volcanogenic massive sulphide ore lens reflections in vertical seismic profiles from Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.M. Melanson ◽  
D.J. White ◽  
C. Samson ◽  
G. Bellefleur ◽  
E. Schetselaar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Massive Sulphide ◽  
Seismic Profiles ◽  
Vertical Seismic Profiles ◽  
Sulphide Ore ◽  
Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ◽  
Flin Flon

The role of granites in volcanic-hosted massive sulphide ore-forming systems: an assessment of magmatic–hydrothermal contributions

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 473-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Huston ◽  
Jorge M. R. S. Relvas ◽  
J. Bruce Gemmell ◽  
Susan Drieberg
Keyword(s):  
Massive Sulphide ◽  
Sulphide Ore

Role of macrolayer evaporation in pool boiling at high heat flux

1986 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 1953-1961 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Bhat ◽  
J.S. Saini ◽  
R. Prakash
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Pool Boiling ◽  
High Heat ◽  
High Heat Flux

Age, chemistry, and tectonic setting of Miramichi terrane (Early Paleozoic) volcanic rocks, eastern and east-central Maine, USA

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 239-273
Author(s):  
Allan Ludman ◽  
Christopher McFarlane ◽  
Amber T.H. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
East Central ◽  
Arc Volcanism ◽  
Middle Ordovician ◽  
Volcanic Suite ◽  
Back Arc

Volcanic rocks in the Miramichi inlier in Maine occur in two areas separated by the Bottle Lake plutonic complex: the Danforth segment (Stetson Mountain Formation) north of the complex and Greenfield segment to the south (Olamon Stream Formation). Both suites are dominantly pyroclastic, with abundant andesite, dacite, and rhyolite tuffs and subordinate lavas, breccias, and agglomerates. Rare basaltic tuffs and a small area of basaltic tuffs, agglomerates, and lavas are restricted to the Greenfield segment. U–Pb zircon geochronology dates Greenfield segment volcanism at ca. 469 Ma, the Floian–Dapingian boundary between the Lower and Middle Ordovician. Chemical analyses reveal a calc-alkaline suite erupted in a continental volcanic arc, either the Meductic or earliest Balmoral phase of Popelogan arc activity. The Maine Miramichi volcanic rocks are most likely correlative with the Meductic Group volcanic suite in west-central New Brunswick. Orogen-parallel lithologic and chemical variations from New Brunswick to east-central Maine may result from eruptions at different volcanic centers. The bimodal Poplar Mountain volcanic suite at the Maine–New Brunswick border is 10–20 myr younger than the Miramichi volcanic rocks and more likely an early phase of back-arc basin rifting than a late-stage Meductic phase event. Coeval calc-alkaline arc volcanism in the Miramichi, Weeksboro–Lunksoos Lake, and Munsungun Cambrian–Ordovician inliers in Maine is not consistent with tectonic models involving northwestward migration of arc volcanism. This >150 km span cannot be explained by a single east-facing subduction zone, suggesting more than one subduction zone/arc complex in the region.

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