Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (Sar) Application For Geological Mapping And Resource Exploration In The Canadian Arctic, Byung-Hun Choe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The role of remote sensing in geological mapping has been rapidly growing by providing predictive maps in advance of field surveys. Remote predictive maps with broad spatial coverage have been produced for northern Canada and the Canadian Arctic which are typically very difficult to access. Multi and hyperspectral airborne and spaceborne sensors are widely used for geological mapping as spectral characteristics are able to constrain the minerals and rocks that are present in a target region. Rock surfaces in the Canadian Arctic are altered by extensive glacial activity and freeze-thaw weathering, and form different surface roughnesses depending on rock type. …

Ordovician Continental Paleogeography And Paleoenvironment For The Michigan Basin From Paleomagnetic Analysis, Michelle Macrae

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigates the paleomagnetic record of Paleozoic rocks from two Michigan basin localities in southwestern Ontario to help close the 40 myr gap in Paleozoic paleomagnetic data. Paleomagnetic data from the Queenston (Upper Ordovician) formation consistently exhibits easily removed viscous remanence, an intermediate and a high temperature component consistent with the unblocking temperatures of magnetite and hematite respectively. Alternating-field and thermal demagnetization in 16–20 steps up to 670º C typically reveal a southeastern, shallow up direction removed from magnetite, and a southwestern, steep up direction removed from hematite. A Late Paleozoic overprint was preserved in the magnetite and a …

A Method For The Geometric Analysis Of Rugose Coral Growth Ridges As Paleoenvironmental Indicators In The Middle Devonian Hungry Hollow Member Of Widder Formation, Michigan Basin, Andrew Thomson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skeletons of Devonian rugose corals feature submillimetre-scale growth ridges on their outer surface (epitheca) that record the successive positions of the coral polyp during longitudinal corallite growth. Specimens of rugose corals Eridophyllum and Cystiphylloides from the Hungry Hollow Member of the Middle Devonian Widder Formation were sectioned longitudinally and imaged by SEM, and image processing techniques were applied to extract a line representing the epithecal surface. Local extrema found through peak detection allowed growth ridges to be represented as simplified triangles, so that geometric measurements (area, length) could be related to coral growth and analyzed in reference to possible paleoenvironmental …

Geochemistry Of The Dome Mine Ankerite Veins: Insights Into The Multi-Stage Enrichment Of A World-Class Orogenic Gold Deposit, Jessica M. Stromberg

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Dome Mine in the world-class Timmins camp has produced over 16 Moz of gold during its 108 year production history. This gold endowment is the result of multistage enrichment of which the first stage is a set of ankerite veins that extend over 5,400 m in strike and 1,500 m vertically. A deposit wide geochemical study of the Dome ankerite veins was undertaken to characterize their genesis, geochemistry, and role in the deposit mineralization history. Samples and mapping from new and historic mine workings, bulk rock geochemistry, and stable isotope geochemistry were used to constrain the depositional context of …

Paleogeography Of Early Paleozoic Laurentia And Meguma, Avalonia Terranes Via Paleomagnetism And Faunal Review, Halima S. Warsame

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Paleomagnetic assessment of 821 Cambrian to Silurian-aged rock specimens of igneous and sedimentary origin was used as a means to provide insight on the ancient geographies of the region in which these rocks are currently found. The Earth’s magnetic field direction can be recorded at the time of rock formation and/or at a later significant event by magnetic minerals, allowing these signatures to be used to track the past motions of the continents. Stepwise demagnetization of the Port au Port, St. George and Table Head Groups in western Newfoundland, and the Mavillette gabbro (426 +/- 2 Ma, U-Pb baddeleyite) of …

Metallogenic Setting Of High-Grade Gold Mineralization In The Neoarchean Hearne Craton, Kivalliq Region, Whale Cove, Nunavut, Canada, Mo Asmail

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Pistol Bay Gold Project is located on the northwestern shores of Hudson Bay, in the Tavani Segment of the Neoarchean Kaminak Greenstone Belt in the Hearne Craton of the Western Churchill Province. This project covers several gold prospects whose genesis is hotly debated. The primary objectives of this research are to answer critical questions regarding the nature and timing of gold mineralization. The investigation includes: (1) establish the absolute age of the felsic and mafic intrusions and the relative timing of gold mineralization; (2) document the nature of primary and hydrothermal mineral assemblages related to gold mineralization; and (3) …

Allostratigraphy, Paleogeographic Evolution And Accommodation Controls Of The Lower Colorado Allogroup In West-Central Alberta, Canada (Western Canada Foreland Basin), Steve Morrow

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Lower Colorado allogroup of the Western Canada Foreland Basin is a mud-dominated rock succession of marine, estuarine, and coastal plain depositional origin. Relative sea-level oscillations produced bounding discontinuities that allow the allogroup to be divided into four alloformations: the Joli Fou, Viking, Westgate, and Fish Scales.

Rocks of the Lower Colorado allogroup within the study area record marine depositional environments represented by 9 facies. The facies represent depositional environments ranging from offshore marine to lower shoreface through to upper shoreface and river mouth environments.

Geometric analysis of the isopach maps of the regional allomembers of the Lower Colorado allogroup …

Petrophysical Investigations Of The Marathon Cu-Pge Deposit, Marathon, On, Hiruni Gunawardana

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Drill core samples obtained from four mineralized zones of the Marathon Cu-PGE deposit in the Coldwell igneous complex have been investigated for their petrophysical characteristics. Remanent magnetization was used as a possible tool to reorient core samples but a drilling induced overprint magnetization dominated the record. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility was measured to provide a proxy for the petrofabric of samples obtained from oriented drill cores; a well-defined planar fabric was found to strike 177 and dip 25°W, with down-dip lineation, in excellent agreement with inferred magmatic flow direction based on 3D modeling of mineralized footwall troughs. Magnetite rich lithologies …

Enstatite Achondrites As Indicators Of Processes And Environments In The Early Solar System, Diego David Uribe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the processes and environments of formation of the anomalous enstatite achondrites NWA 4301, Zakłodzie, and NWA 8173 to determine how they relate to other enstatite meteorites (chondrites, impact melt rocks, aubrites, and so-called “primitive enstatite achondrites”). Observations of Zakłodzie and NWA 4301 showed both meteorites may share a common parent body, but experienced different metamorphic conditions. Different zonation patterns in plagioclase, silica polymorphs and associations, and sulfide assemblages indicate Zakłodzie experienced higher metamorphic temperatures and cooled faster than NWA 4301, therefore NWA 4301 was buried deeper in the parent body relative to Zakłodzie. In NWA 8173, mineral …

Using Fluid-Mobile Elements To Decipher An Aqueous History Preserved In The Sedimentary Rocks Of Gale Crater, Mars, Jeff A. Berger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Fluid-mobile elements preserve a record of the aqueous history of Mars in the sedimentary rocks of Gale Crater, and they are traceable with the rover Curiosity’s Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). This is the fundamental principle behind the scientific questions addressed in the four main chapters of this dissertation. First, we conducted a field study at Hawai’i, an established Mars analogue, to investigate sedimentary processes and alteration in rocks comparable to those in Gale Crater. We conclude that open system, circumneutral weathering is very limited in Gale rocks; acid sulfate alteration and sedimentary mixing of diverse rocks is likely. Second, …

Cu-Pd Mineralization And Exploration Geochemistry Of The Eastern Gabbro, Coldwell Alkaline Complex, On, Canada, Yonghua Cao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Eastern Gabbro forms the northern and eastern margin of the Coldwell Alkaline Complex. It contains three magma series: the barren meta-basalt, the Layered Series, and the Marathon Series which hosts all known PGE mineralization. The Marathon Series can be distinguished from other Series using the combination of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) and benchtop scanning electron microscope (bSEM). Whole-rock Ba, Mg# (molar Mg/(Mg+Fe)*100), Zr and V/Ti values acquired from pXRF, and Mg#s of olivine and clinopyroxene, and anorthite content (molar Ca/(Ca+Na)*100) of plagioclase acquired from bSEM-EDS are key parameters. The Layered Series generally contains higher Ba and lower V/Ti than …