Tectonic terranes, metallogeny and regional geochemical surveys: an example from northern British Columbia |
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| Authors: | WJ McMillan S Day PF Matysek |
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| Abstract: | This study utilizes three major data sources: distribution of geological units; density, type, age and distribution of mineral deposits; and elemental analyses from regional geochemical stream sediment surveys to define parameters that ‘characterize’ tectonic terranes in northern British Columbia. A similar approach could be applied anywhere in the Canadian Cordillera.This area, NTS map sheets 104N, 104O and 104P along the British Columbia-Yukon border, forms a transect through allochthonous terranes into North American rocks. These are: the allochthonous island-arc Stikine, oceanic Cache Creek, cataclastic Yukon/Tanana, and island-arc Quensel terranes, the pericratonic Dorsey terrane; the parautochthonous oceanic Sylvester allochthon; and the autochthonous miogeoclinal North American Cassiar terrane. Plutonic rocks of Jurassic-Cretaceous to Tertiary age intrude all terranes.Data sources used in the study are geological base maps and reports, the Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources' mineral deposit database (MINFILE) and analytical data from the National Regional Geochemical Survey stream sediment and water sampling program.Geological maps were compiled from various sources and plotted to act as bases for geochemical and mineral deposit overlays for analysis and interpretation.Geochemical samples were separated into background and anomalous populations and compared according to their source terranes. We found that mean concentrations from background sample populations for some elements are statistically distinctive for different terranes. Unfortunately, elemental correlation coefficients for the terranes are similar so cannot be used to characterize each terrane.Data on mineral deposits and occurrences were compiled from minfile and other sources. Particular attention was paid to deposits with histories of production or significant reported reserves. Deposits were sorted by type and commodity to produce synoptic metallogenic maps.The combined data from geological, geochemical and mineral deposit databases form a strong tool for interpreting and predicting patterns of mineralization. |
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