Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Understanding New Trends On Gold Mineralization At The Yellowknife City Gold Project, Northwest Territories, Using Synchrotron X-Ray Spectroscopy, Ramjay Jude L. Botor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Yellowknife City Gold Project (YCGP) currently encompasses 780 sq. km of contiguous land north, south and east of the city of Yellowknife. The project lies in the prolific Archean north-south trending Yellowknife Greenstone Belt, a suite of mafic and felsic volcanics and greywacke turbidites overlying a gneissic basement. Exploration and drilling efforts have been focused along 70 km of strike length on the southern and northern extensions of the mineralized shear zones and quartz veins associated with the past-producing high-grade Con (6.1 Moz @ 16.1 g/t Au) and Giant (8.1 Moz @ 16.0 g/t Au) gold mines.

Synchrotron X-ray …

Morphologic Mapping Of Lunar Impact Basins, Zachary R. Morse

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Modern high-resolution remote sensing datasets for the Moon provide a detailed view of the lunar surface and its features. This thesis uses visible, compositional, and topographic data to create the most detailed geomorphological maps to date of portions of three lunar impact structures: Orientale Basin, Tsiolkovsky Crater, and Schrödinger Basin, which are three of the best-preserved impact structures on the lunar farside.

This thesis discusses the mapping and analysis of seven distinct ejecta facies around Orientale, nine distinct facies in and around Tsiolkovsky, and twelve units of surface materials in the central Schrödinger Basin region. This analysis utilized 100 m/pixel …

Stable Carbon Isotope Variations Of Organic Matter And N-Alkanes In The Plant-Bulk Soil-Clay Fraction Continuum, Alana Crump

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Organic matter (OM) adsorbed to clay minerals in soils can have C/N similar to lacustrine algal matter. Accurate source identification of OM in sediments is crucial for predicting future climate change impacts in the Great Lakes region. We analyzed C/N, carbon-isotope compositions, n-alkane abundances and compound-specific carbon-isotope compositions of vegetation, soil, and OM associated with clay minerals in soils and glacial till in order to determine if (i) OM associated with clay minerals has unique signatures distinct from lacustrine algal matter and is traceable to modern vegetation, and (ii) if these signatures have been transferred to and preserved in …

Trace Element Geochemistry And Nd-Sr Isotope Systematics Of Scheelite From The Thunder Creek And 144 Gap Deposits, Timmins, Ontario: Implications For Timing And Genesis Of Gold, Annika Van Kessel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The age of the youngest gold event at the Timmins West Mine is unknown. Scheelite geochemistry and geochronology at the TWM were constrained using WDS and EDS mapping, LA-ICPMS and MC-ICPMS analytical techniques. Trace element analyses by LA-ICPMS revealed scheelites mineralized from a common and oxidized fluid. Samarium-Neodymium isotopic analyses of 15 scheelite grains yielded a linear regression isochron with a corresponding age of 2587 +/- 49 Ma (MSWD = 2.5) and εNdi, calculated from CHUR, of 1.01 ± 0.11 (2SD). A second internal isochron from a single scheelite grain yielded an age of 2516 +/- 88 Ma (MSWD = …

P-T-X Constraints On Ilmenite Unit Cell And Relationship To Kimberlitic And Non-Kimberlitic Sources, Mitchell R. Galarneau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research investigates the mineral ilmenite, focusing on the relationship between crystal structure and geochemical and/or pressure data. Ilmenites were obtained from diamond-rich and diamond-poor kimberlites and non-kimberlitic localities, to discriminate between these populations. Crystallographic results showed a delineation between kimberlitic and non-kimberlitic ilmenites at a c-axis value of 14.02 (±0.01) Å. Adding geochemistry and pressure enhances the separation of kimberlitic and non-kimberlitic samples; however, this isn’t the case for diamond-rich versus diamond-poor kimberlites, even with three-dimensional and cluster analyses. A subset of kimberlitic ilmenites (manganese rich) were found with c-axis values and geochemical concentrations similar to non-kimberlitic ilmenites.

By …

Near-Earth Asteroid Resources: Review And Analogue Study Of Highly Siderophile Elements In Main-Group Pallasites, Liam R. J. Innis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The potential for NEAs as targets for space resource utilization has been explored. Water and PGEs have been identified as resources with potential profitability in existing markets. Of the ~18,000 asteroids in the known NEA catalogue, seven and three are expected to be prospective for water and PGEs when accounting for size, resource concentration, and accessibility. Improved NEA discovery campaigns, with emphasis on spectroscopy, and advancements in space transportation and autonomous robotic technology are crucial to future success of NEA resource utilization. LA-ICP-MS was used to evaluate main-group pallasites (PMG) for PGE potential. Bulk metal concentrations of most PGEs are …

A Targeted Investigation Of The Upper Contact Unit Of The Sudbury Igneous Complex In The North Range, Sudbury Impact Structure, Canada, Lindsay E. Debono

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) represents the remnant of a crystalline impact melt sheet of the Sudbury impact structure; and is historically and presently a strategic exploration target sustaining the region's prolific mining camp. In order to better understand the SIC, it is critical to investigate the chilled upper contact of the SIC, which has historically received little recognition. Through field observations, whole rock geochemistry, petrography, and electron microprobe analysis, this study concludes that the SIC upper contact is in fact extensive across the North Range of the SIC. Additionally, the geochemistry of the SIC units, offset dykes, and upper …

The Periglacial Landscape Of Mars: Insight Into The 'Decameter-Scale Rimmed Depressions' In Utopia Planitia, Arya Bina

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Currently, Mars appears to be in a ‘frozen’ and ‘dry’ state, with the clear majority of the planet’s surface maintaining year-round sub-zero temperatures. However, the discovery of features consistent with landforms found in periglacial environments on Earth, suggests a climate history for Mars that may have involved freeze and thaw cycles. Such landforms include hummocky, polygonised, scalloped, and pitted terrains, as well as ice-rich deposits and gullies, along the mid- to high-latitude bands, typically with no lower than 20o N/S. The detection of near-surface and surface ice via the Phoenix lander, excavation of ice via recent impact cratering activity as …

Allostratigraphy Of The Viking And Joli Fou Formations, The Lower Colorado Group (Upper Albian), Central Alberta And Saskatchewan, Western Canada Foreland Basin, Matea Drljepan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Strata of the Late Albian Lower Colorado Group are widely distributed in subsurface and outcrop in the Western Canada Foreland Basin. The rocks represent depositional environments ranging from alluvial to offshore marine. The Lower Colorado Group comprises, in ascending stratigraphic order, the Joli Fou, Viking, Westgate, and Fish Scales formations. Mudrocks of the Joli Fou Formation record a time when the interior of North America was flooded by a shallow sea that led to the connection of the Polar Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Ensuing sea-level fall and regression led to deposition of Viking Formation sandstone across much of …

Quantifying Temperatures In The Early Solar Nebula And On Parent Bodies Using Cation Ordering In Spinel From Cais In Carbonaceous Chondrites, Victoria Houde

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Understanding the early solar system requires studying early-formed materials. Calcium-Aluminium-Rich Inclusions (CAIs) are the oldest materials in the solar system. Spinel (MgAl₂O₄) is common in CAIs. Its cation distribution relates to formation, or most recent equilibration, temperature. This can be measured using ²⁷Al Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Calibration curves can be used to calculate temperature.

Micro X-ray Diffraction identified spinel-containing CAIs in four of seven meteorites tested. ²⁷Al MAS NMR and ²⁷Al Triple Quantum (3Q) MAS NMR was acquired at 21.1 Tesla. Temperature estimates were calculated for each …

Ureilite Meteorite Record Of Shock Metamorphism And Parent Body Processes, Yaozhu Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ureilites are an abundant non-chondritic meteorite class that are petrographically similar to terrestrial ultramafic rocks, consisting mostly of coarse-grained olivine and pyroxene, with remarkably low occurrence of plagioclase feldspar. This work examines a suite of ureilites (six monomict ureilites and one polymict ureilite), primarily focusing on the mineral olivine as a recorder of shock damage. Optical petrography and Raman spectroscopy provide context information, and in-situmicro-X-ray diffraction (𝜇XRD) is used to obtain quantitative measurements of diffraction peak Full-Width-Half Maxima upon integration along the chi direction on 2D XRD patterns. Ureilites show an increasing streak length of FWHMχ and asterism (discrete …

Impact Craters On Titan: Finalizing Titan's Crater Population, Joshua E. Hedgepeth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Titan is one of the most dynamic moons in the solar system. It is smaller than Earth and much colder, yet Titan is eerily similar to Earth, with rivers, rain, and seas, as well as sand seas that wrap around the equator. However, the rivers are made of hydrocarbons rather than water and the sand made of organics rather rock. We can use Titan’s impact craters to study how these processes modify the surface by comparing the craters depths, diameters and rim heights of Titan’s craters with fresh craters. Therefore, we have used the complete data set from NASA’s Cassini …

Compositional Variations Of Titan's Impact Craters Indicates Active Surface Erosion, Alyssa Werynski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Impact craters on Titan are relatively scarce, but provide ample information about the subsurface properties and modification processes present there. This study utilizes impact craters to examine compositional variations across Titan’s surface and their subsequent modification. Fifteen craters and their ejecta blankets were studied. Subsurface composition was inferred from emissivity data from Cassini’s RADAR instrument, and surficial composition from Cassini’s Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). Results show subsurface composition of these craters is controlled by their degradation state and local environment. Older craters are more infilled with organics than younger, and dunes craters show more organic enrichment than plains …

Impact Melt Emplacement On Mercury, Jeffrey Daniels

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Impact cratering is an abrupt, spectacular process that occurs on any world with a solid surface. On Earth, these craters are easily eroded or destroyed through endogenic processes. The Moon and Mercury, however, lack a significant atmosphere, meaning craters on these worlds remain intact longer, geologically. In this thesis, remote-sensing techniques were used to investigate impact melt emplacement about Mercury’s fresh, complex craters. For complex lunar craters, impact melt is preferentially ejected from the lowest rim elevation, implying topographic control. On Venus, impact melt is preferentially ejected downrange from the impact site, implying impactor-direction control. Mercury, despite its heavily-cratered surface, …

Sedimentology And Stratigraphy Of The Upper Cretaceous Puskwaskau Formation In North-Central Alberta, Western Canada Foreland Basin, Omar Al-Mufti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Santonian to early Campanian mudstone-dominated Puskwaskau Formation was correlated throughout a study area of 50,000 km² in north-central Alberta using 988 well logs. Fourteen informal allomembers, established by previous studies, are bounded by regionally-mappable marine flooding and/or transgressive surfaces that are traceable for hundreds of kilometres within the study area. These laterally continuous bounding surfaces are parallel to very gently converging, and mostly terminate by onlap onto underlying surfaces. Observations in thin section and in SEM revealed ten mudstone microfacies, grouped into five microfacies associations. The facies preserve evidence for repeated storm-generated reworking of the seafloor. The Puskwaskau …

Evaluation Of Raman Spectroscopic Geothermometry Of Graphitic Carbon As A Mineral Exploration Tool. A Case Study Of The San Sebastian Au-Ag Mine, Durango, Mexico, Justin Daniel Rumney

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While visually similar to graphite, graphitic carbon is disordered rings of carbon whereas graphite is the pure-carbon crystalline form. As graphitic carbon is heated, it undergoes an irreversible graphitization process which can be observed using Raman spectroscopy and determine the maximum temperature that a rock was exposed to. Samples of sedimentary rocks, taken from the Au-Ag San Sebastian mine in Durango Mexico, containing graphitic carbon located from positions in contact with mineralized veins were used in developing a low-cost protocol for Raman spectroscopic analysis of drill core. The samples were cut and then polished to provide a smooth surface, so …

Integrating Petrophysics And Allostratigraphy To Find Sweet Spots In The Upper Cretaceous Belle Fourche And Second White Specks Alloformations, West-Central Alberta, Canada, Kienan P. Marion

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Upper Cretaceous Second White Specks Formation – an organic-rich, calcareous mudrock succession within the lower Colorado Group – is a prolific self-sourcing tight oil reservoir in Alberta. Due to the low porosity and permeability of this interval, localized natural fracture networks have previously provided the only means for oil to flow at economic rates. This study, focused in west-central Alberta, used allostratigraphic methods to subdivide the Second White Specks Formation into allomembers that define hydraulic flow units. The petrophysical properties (porosity, organic content, clay volume, and brittleness) of each allomember were modelled using a basic suite of geophysical wireline …

Modelling The Thermal Transport Of A Thawing Permafrost Plateau, Joelle E. Langford

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Permafrost covers approximately 24% of the Northern Hemisphere and is in a state of decay which has large implications. To characterize the processes involved in the transitional period of permafrost decay, a three-dimensional finite element numerical model is developed. The model is based on the Scotty Creek Research Basin in the Northwest Territories, Canada (61°18'N, 121°18'W). FEFLOW groundwater flow and heat transport modelling software is used in conjunction with the piFreeze plug-in, to account for phase changes between ice and water. As transiently simulating actual permafrost evolution would require 100’s of years of climate variations over an evolving landscape, whose …

An Investigation Of Hydrothermal Veins Along The Foy Offset Dyke, Sudbury Impact Structure, Ontario, Sarah Ann Codyre

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A multi-stage hydrothermal system is related to the 1.85 Ga Sudbury impact structure. This system began in the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and radiated outward along the offset dykes. Through the combination of orientation measurements of veins in the field, petrography and geochemistry of these veins, this study has determined that there are four types of hydrothermal epidote-quartz veins categorized by their orientation, petrography and geochemistry. This study discovered that there are general trends with increasing distance from the SIC along the Foy Offset Dyke. From this it can be concluded that this is in fact SIC-driven hydrothermal event not …

High-Resolution Allostratigraphy And Sedimentology Of Santonian - Early Campanian Wapiabi Formation In Southern Alberta, Western Canada Foreland Basin, El Mahadia I. Mohammed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Within a 90,000 km2 study area in SW Alberta, Santonian – basal Campanian strata of the upper Wapiabi Formation are dominated by marine rocks that thin westward from ~300 ~180 m over ~300 km, reflecting apparently spatially uniform flexural subsidence driven by the static load of the orogen. A high-resolution allostratigraphic framework established ten allomembers grouped in four informal tectono-stratigraphic ‘units’, three of which were previously recognized in NW Alberta. In the north and east, the formation is dominated by mudstone organized in numerous metre-scale siltier- and sandier-upward parasequences. A lack of clinoforms and abundant wave-formed sedimentary structures suggest that …

Polarimetric Sar As A Tool For Remote Sensing Salt Diapirs, Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Elise M. Harrington

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The costs and hazards associated with traditional geological mapping have driven rapid advancement of remote predictive mapping techniques using satellite data. However, few studies have implemented synthetic aperture radar for geology. This study uses quad-polarimetric RADARSAT-2 and PALSAR-1 data to produce circular polarization ratio images over Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. These images are used to characterize the radar properties of gypsum and anhydrite diapirs and secondary salt deposits that have been mapped using visible and near infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared spectroscopy. Diapiric salt outcrops appear rough in radar at the C-Band and L-Band (cm-dm) scales, whereas …

Study On The Surface Features Of Preg-Robbing Carbonaceous Matter During Oxidation Treatment, Mana Pourdasht

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Carbonaceous gold ores have the ability to adsorb gold (I) cyanide from leach solutions during processing. This phenomenon, known as preg-robbing, is responsible for poor recoveries as the carbonaceous materials of the ore compete with activated carbon used during the leaching and adsorption phase of processing. Chemical oxidation of carbonaceous materials by different reagents has been utilized to investigate and compare the mechanism of Au (CN)₂ adsorption onto carbonaceous materials prior to and following the treatment.

The procedure for characterization of the carbonaceous materials (plain and modified) in the sample combines the use of several analytical techniques and test …

Stratigraphy Of The Upper Silurian To Middle Devonian, Southwestern Ontario, Shuo Sun

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The upper Silurian–Middle Devonian succession was dominated by carbonate and evaporite deposits, with minor siliciclastic sedimentation, and a significant hiatus across the Siluro-Devonian (S-D) boundary in southwestern Ontario. The stratigraphic units include, in ascending order: Late Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations and Salina G Unit, the Devonian Oriskany Formation, Bois Blanc Formation (including Springvale Member), Detroit River Group (including the Lucas, Amherstburg and Sylvania formations), Onondaga Formation, and Dundee Formation.

Below the S-D unconformity, the upper Silurian Bass Islands/Bertie formations are predominantly dolostone of peritidal-sabkha origin and episodic subaerial exposure. Revised stratigraphic correlation shows that the Bertie Formation is older than …