published_or_final_version / Radioisotope / Master / Master of Philosophy

During the 1947 field season the northern portion of the Camsell River Map area was mapped at a scale of two miles to one inch, by W. H. Parsons and the writer for the Geological Survey of Canada, the southern portion of the area having been completed the previous year by C. S. Lord (15) This paper deals with the northwest quarter of the "Camsell River Map Sheet" because of its geological end economical importance.

During the latter part of the 1949 field season, the author served as geologist on a California Standard Company field party which was sent to the Northwest Territories to make an examination of the Upper Devonian limestone strata exposed along the Hay river. The objects of this survey were: (1) to further the completion of the California Standard Company's geological map of possible "petroleum bearing formations in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and, (2) to attempt a correlation of the Hay River limestone formation with the petroliferous limestones underlying Leduc, Alberta. The thesis of this paper is a detailed description of the Hay River limestone formation as it is exposed along the Hay river.

The area to be described is situated in Labrador (latitude 54° 52' N., longitude 66° 30' W.) on the concession of Labrador Mining and Exploration Company. It lies just west of Timmins Bay, Attikamagen Lake, and covers an approximately rectangular area of a little less than 2-1/2 square miles. (See map, page 4). The area is accessible from Knob Lake using the Company’s seaplanes, the distance being approximately 12 miles eastward.

Extending eastward from the Sault Ste. Marie area of Ontario, along the north shore of Lake Huron, thence northeastward through the Sudbury and Lake Wanapitei areas, to the Gowganda and Cobalt areas and on into the Province of Quebec, there is a belt of Algonkian rocks of Huronian age. They consist for the most part of clastic Sediments, quartzites, arkoses, greywackes, conglomerates and possibly tillites, with minor amounts of limestone and volcanic extrusive rocks. The rocks of this belt have been the subject of much study and many reports.

During the summer of 1949 the writer was engaged by the Labrador Mining and Exploration Company of Montreal on a survey party mapping an area in central Labrador and, in particular, a band of iron-bearing formation that runs through it. In the winter of the same year a petrographic study of the formation was undertaken at McGill University, by the writer, and is the subject of this thesis. The iron formation lies between the lakes Snelgrove, to the south east, and Comeback, to the north, both of which are situated within the Dyke Lake Sheet and lie in the concession of the above-mentioned company.

Mining geology is by its very nature one of the most financially favoured and technologically advanced branches of the science, yet its theoretical basis is in many respects surprisingly incomplete. In particular, several centuries of inquiry have failed to produce a well-documented and generally acceptable theory of sulphide ore deposition. [...]

During the summer season of 1953 the author was employed by Noranda Mines Limited and was assigned to make a geological map of a group of mining claims located in the footwall of the Sudbury norite at the north-west corner of the basin area. The purpose of the work was to realize the extent and nature of the various rock types and, specifically, to make an appraisal of the economic possibilities of the area.

The Waco Lake Area was geologically mapped by Dr. Roger Blais with the writer acting as senior assistant, during the summer of 1954. The mapping was done on a scale of one mile to the inch, from systematic traverses spaced at every half mile. The work was done for the Quebec Department of Mines in four months, and covered an expanse of over 350 square miles. During the course of the summer, many basic intrusives were found. The structural relationships between these bodies and an anorthosite mass known to exist to the east were studied.

The area is on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 325 miles below Quebec. The consolidated rocks are all of Pre-cambrian age. In order of abundance they are:- anorthositic and gabbroic rocks, granitic intrusives, syenitic rocks, paragneisses, amphibolites, migmatites, dioritic intrusives, and various minor intrusives. The paragneisses have been called Grenville by earlier workers. [...]