scholarly journals Borehole geophysical logs in tin mining and exploration: East Kemptville area, Nova Scotia (East Kemptville tin mine, Dominique tin deposit and Duck Pond prospect)

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
G R Bernius ◽  
P G Killeen ◽  
B E Elliott ◽  
R C McLeod
1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1546-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zentilli ◽  
P. H. Reynolds

The East Kemptville tin deposit in Nova Scotia, the largest known tin deposit in North America, lies in a greisen zone within the Davis Lake Pluton, generally considered to be part of the Devonian South Mountain Batholith. Our dating of micas from within the deposit suggests that the greisenization process that accompanied mineralization took place about 295 ± 5 Ma ago, that is, ca. 60 Ma after the emplacement of the batholith.Hydrothermal alteration–mineralization activity in southern Nova Scotia coincided with extensive shearing and tectonism throughout the Hercynian orogen. The East Kemptville deposit appears to be approximately coeval with similar mineralization in southwest England, the Iberian peninsula, and northwest Africa and much younger than the Devonian Acadian orogeny.


1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1180-1196 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Kontak ◽  
A. K. Chatterjee

Pb isotopic data for whole-rock leucogranite and mineral separates, variably mineralized greisen, and galena from the East Kemptville Sn(–Cu–Zn–Ag) deposit, Yarmouth County, southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, are presented. In contrast with ca. 300–340 Ma ages (40Ar/39Ar, Rb–Sr) previously published, an age of 366 Ma is indicated from (i) a 207Pb/206Pb slope age for whole-rock samples (leucogranite and greisen) and galena; (ii) 207Pb/206Pb slope age for leachate analyses of whole-rock and mineral separates (muscovite, K-feldspar) for a leucogranite sample (EK-161); (iii) 207Pb/206Pb slope age for all samples (leucogranite, greisen, galena) combined; and (iv) a concordia plot for 12 whole-rock samples of leucogranite and greisen. The best estimate for the time of magmatic and hydrothermal events at East Kemptville, derived by using the entire Pb–Pb data set for both mineralized and barren samples, is 366 ± 4 Ma (2σ, N = 34, mean square of weighted deviates (MSWD) = 2.63), comparable to the concordia age of 367 ± 10 Ma (2σ, N = 10, MSWD = 4.62). Isochron plots for the U–Th–Pb data may suggest mild overprinting at ca. 300 Ma, but the data are not as conclusive as results from previous Rb/Sr and 40Ar/39Ar geochronological studies.Leachate analyses of mineral separates indicate that less radiogenic compositions are obtained with each progressive leach; however, initial lead compositions are not provided by the analyses for the residues of either K-feldspar or muscovite separates. This suggests, possibly, that these minerals have reequilibrated (i.e., exchanged lead) during the subsolidus stage with fluids enriched in radiogenic Pb. Instead, the best estimate of the initial lead compositon at East Kemptville (207Pb/204Pb = 15.601, 206Pb/204Pb = 18.141) is provided by the intersection of the 366 Ma Pb–Pb regression line for a leucogranite sample (EK-161) with a second-stage growth curve having μ = 9.75; this value is less radiogenic than the average measured isotopic composition of galena (207Pb/204Pb = 15.629 ± 0.004, 206Pb/204Pb = 18.627 ± 0.005, N = 4). The calculated μ value (9.75) for the source is consistent with an evolved upper crustal reservoir. Using the calculated initial Pb composition, it is calculated that 3–5 Ma would be required to generate the measured Pb isotopic composition of the galena assuming μ values of 980 and 590, respectively. The measured day average μ value for the leucogranite and greisen is 674 (N = 12, 1σ), which is consistent with the aforementioned calculations.The coincidence of independently derived ages for both leucogranite and mineralized greisens indicates that the host muscovite–topaz leucogranite and mineralizing fluids had a common magmatic reservoir, a conclusion supported by δ18O analyses for whole-rock leucogranite (8.2–10.5‰) and greisen (7.9–10.9‰) and previously published δ34S data. The data also indicate that magmatic and hydrothermal processes at East Kemptville are coeval with emplacement of the adjacent Davis Lake pluton. In addition, the results reaffirm the 365–370 Ma period to be a significant time for Sn(–W–Mo) metallogeny within the Meguma Zone of the Canadian Appalachians.


1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Cormier ◽  
J. D. Keppie ◽  
A. L. Odom

Zircons from biotite monzogranite of the Wedgeport Pluton, intrusive into deformed metasediments of the Cambrian(?) Goldenville Formation in the southwestern Meguma Terrane of Nova Scotia, yield concordant U–Pb ages of 316 ± 5 Ma. This is interpreted as the time of intrusion and crystallization. Within the error limits, the 323 ± 12 Ma Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron age is identical and gives an initial 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.7137 ± 0.0056. Rb–Sr analyses of mineral separates of biotite, potassium feldspar, and quartz–plagioclase from several samples yield subparallel, internal isochrons with an average age of 257 ± 8 Ma. Initial ratios of the internal isochrons range from 0.716 to 0.759. A slow-cooling model for these latter data is discarded because the mineral data fall on straight lines. Instead, a reheating event related to plutonism ca. 257 Ma ago, which was sufficient to cause local grain-to-grain migration and reequilibration of strontium and rubidium but not large-scale redistribution, is invoked. This reheating is also inferred to be responsible for the hydrothermal alteration and Sn–U mineralization concentrated along the northwestern margin of the pluton. A dextral northeast–southeast shear zone cutting the pluton is also inferred to be ca. 257 Ma old. It may be related to the last stages of westward obduction of the Meguma Terrane.These results provide a clear example of Permo-Carboniferous plutonism in the southwestern Meguma Terrane and suggest a similar interpretation may apply to other anomalously young ages recorded in this area. In light of these results, the Permo-Carboniferous age of the large East Kemptville tin deposit and its location in a dextral shear zone suggest that the association of younger plutonism and shear zones may be a significant factor for economic mineralization.


1996 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner E. Halter ◽  
Anthony E. Williams-Jones ◽  
Daniel J. Kontak
Keyword(s):  

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