Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Geography & Environmental Studies

Faculty/School

Faculty of Arts

First Advisor

Jerry Hall

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

In order to plan the future development of the Canadian Shield within a conceptual framework as suggested by the Mid-Canada Corridor concept, both the presently developed and potential, natural resources of this area need to be evaluated for knowledgeable development and management. To this purpose, various areas of nickel sulphide deposits within the area of the Canadian Shield have been studied with the object of determining similar sequences of intrusive events and their spatial relationships.

Within the Sudbury area, Ontario, five periods of intrusive activity have been recognized, each period characterized by an initial intrusion of acidic composition, followed in turn by one or more intrusions of basic composition. Genetic relationships among these various intrusives have been noted by the presence of micrographic intergrowths of quartz and feldspar. Increasingly, significant concentrations of nickel sulphides are indicated as having been emplaced at the terminations of the three latest periods. Such features are suggested as being indicative of a process of nickel sulphide concentration and emplacement, namely magmatic differentiation at depth as initially hypothesized by E. Howe (1914) and later modified by A.M. Bateman (1917). A third concept of the Sudbury irruptive is suggested as having consisted of an initial emplacement of micropegmatite, closely followed by a differentiated fraction of norite. The structural shape of the irruptive at depth is suggested by a diagrammatic cross section, suggestive of the descriptive hypothesis of C.W. Knight (1917).

Sequences of acidic to basic, intrusive events are also indicated in the areas of Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Moak Lake-Setting Lake, Manitoba, Bird River, Manitoba, Werner Lake-Gordon Lake, Ontario, Shebandowan, Ontario and Marbridge, Malartic, Quebec. The evidence reviewed indicates spatial relationships of nickel sulphide mineralization not only with basic intrusives but also with acidic intrusives and zones of tension fractures.

Convocation Year

1970

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