2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014)

Paper No. 230-7
Presentation Time: 10:30 AM

AGES OF MAGMATISM IN THE CENTRAL SVERDRUP BASIN, CANADIAN ARCTIC ISLANDS, FROM VOLCANOGENIC ROCKS, GEOCHRONOLOGY, AND PALEO-DEPTHS OF SAUCER-SHAPED SILLS


EVENCHICK, Carol A., North Vancouver, BC V7R 2P7, Canada, DAVIS, Bill J., Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8, Canada, BÉDARD, Jean H., Geological Survey of Canada, 490 rue de la Couronne, Quebec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada, HAYWARD, Nathan, Geological Survey of Canada, Vancouver, 1500-605 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5J3, Canada and FRIEDMAN, Richard M., Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2020-2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

Representative and well-constrained ages for magmatism are needed to clarify the tectonic history of the Amerasia and Canada basins. We use field evidence, map compilation, geochemistry, geochronology, and potential field data to document six intervals of Cretaceous magmatism in the central Sverdrup Basin. These are: 1) mid-Hauterivian (ca. 130 Ma) volcaniclastic rocks in the lower Isachsen Formation; 2) 126.6 ± 1.2 Ma (U-Pb zircon) intrusion of gabbro; 3) 120.8 ± 0.8 Ma (U-Pb baddeleyite) intrusion of diabase; 4) 105.40 ± 0.22 Ma (U-Pb detrital zircon) pyroclastic deposition at the top of Invincible Point Member, Christopher Formation; 5) upper Albian (ca. 103 Ma) hydroclastic breccia in the upper Christopher Formation; and 6) uppermost Albian (ca. 101 Ma) volcanic breccia in the Hassel Formation. Whole rock geochemical data show that magmatic rocks are similar to previously documented HALIP tholeiitic basaltic magmatism, but analyses of fresh glass in tuffs reveal evolved ferroandesite to dacite compositions rarely recorded in whole rock data. Intrusive rocks include a newly recognized occurrence of saucer-shaped sills. Approximate ages of saucer-shaped sills are inferred from the relationship of sill width to depth of emplacement, indicating at least three intervals of sill emplacement between 130 and 120 Ma, and possibly an additional younger interval. The interpreted ages of emplacement are consistent with ages of magmatism determined independently from U-Pb age determination and the stratigraphic position of volcanogenic rocks. The new data show that volcanism in the Sverdrup Basin was of greater spatial extent, and that magmatism occurred more frequently, than previously recognized. Comparing the new central Sverdrup Basin data and interpretations with other data sets from the Sverdrup Basin, Svalbard, and Franz Joseph Land, it appears that HALIP magmatism occurred with much greater frequency in the Sverdrup Basin than other regions.

Session No. 230

T4. Circum-Arctic Lithosphere-Basin Evolution (Posters)
Tuesday, 21 October 2014: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
Exhibition Hall C (Vancouver Convention Centre-West)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 46, No. 6, p.567
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