Part of the Slave Structural Province, the Hope Bay Greenstone Belt is a 82 km long north-striking sequence of supracrustal rocks dominated by mafic volcanic rocks with lesser felsic volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Mapping of two transects in the southern section and two transects in the northern section have contributed to a robust stratigraphic framework the belt. Three recently discovered Archean lode gold deposits in the Hope Bay Greenstone belt have associations with major structures and specific lithologies (Fe-Ti enriched basalts). The Flake Lake and the Clover Transects are in the southern part of the belt and the Wolverine and Doris-Discovery Transects are in the northern part of the belt. This work subdivides the volcanic rocks into distinct suites based upon field, petrologic, geochemical, and geochronologic criteria. Some of the suites are stratigraphically continuous and can be correlated tens of kilometres along strike thereby linking the two parts of the Hope Bay Greenstone Belt. U-Pb geochronology supports work by Hebel (1999) concluded that virtually all the supracrustal rocks in the Hope Bay Greenstone Belt were deposited over at least 53 m.y. (2716-2663 Ma), with the majority of the volcanism occurring after 2700 Ma. A number of basalt groups are identified and include the normal basalt, the LREE-enriched basalt, the Ti-enriched basalt and the Ti-enriched Al-depleted basalt groups. They have chemical signatures that vary in trace elements particularly HFSE and REE’s, and can be easily be distinguished by geochemical screening. The felsic volcanic suites are also divided into three main groups, tholeiitic rhyolite, calc-alkaline dacite and calc-alkaline rhyolite groups. Nd and Hf isotope signatures are consistent with trace element signatures in identifying mafic and felsic volcanic groups, with the tholeiitic rhyolite showing highly variable signature. The Hope Bay Greenstone Belt has been show to have a number of felsic and volcanic cycles. An early construction phase of the belt is made up of primarily mafic volcanics which is followed by felsic volcanism equalled mafic volcanism which lacks basalts enriched in Ti. The geodynamic environment that created the Hope Bay Greenstone Belt can be explained by plume influenced subduction zone. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The ~ 73 ka ‘super-eruption’ of the Toba caldera in Sumatra is the largest known eruption of the Quaternary. The products of this eruption, the Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT), have been implicated in global and regional climate deterioration with widespread ecological effects. In this thesis I study the YTT co-ignimbrite ashfall, in particular the mechanisms of transport, sedimentation and preservation of ash deposits. I use distal marine and terrestrial ash sediments: a) to estimate the volume of YTT ash fallout; b) to quantify variability in the geochemistry of YTT ash; c) to assess the reliability of YTT ash as a chronostratigraphic marker; and d) to determine local influences on the reworking of YTT ash deposits. Following the introductory chapters, I address topics a) and b) through detailed investigations of published physical and chemical evidence. Chapter three shows that particle size and sediment thickness do not decline exponentially with distance from the eruption vent, highlighting the limitations of current methods of volume estimation for co-ignimbrite super-eruptions. Chapter four analyses geochemical variation in 72 YTT samples, and reveals the signatures of magma chamber zonation and post-depositional alteration. I address topics c) and d) through fieldwork in six locations, and detailed analysis of ash samples from a wide variety of local depositional environments. Chapter five uses high-resolution stratigraphic analysis of the YTT layer in the Son Valley, India, to show that variable deposition and sediment reworking may compromise the reliability of the ash layer as an isochronous marker for interpreting archaeological sequences. Chapter six combines a new understanding of the mechanisms of reworking, using new data on microscopic characteristics of reworked ash at four sites in Malaysia to demonstrate the necessity of accounting for reworking in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. I conclude that accurate analyses of distal ash deposits can reliably determine the chemical properties of the YTT eruption, and that a detailed understanding of deposition and reworking processes is essential to inference of the environmental impacts of super-eruptions.

The upper Llandovery succession across the Jupiter-Chicotte formational contact on Anticosti Island, Québec, allows us to study the sediment dynamics and stratigraphic architecture of a storm-dominated, carbonate ramp. The Anticosti paleotropical ramp was slowly subsiding and recording significant changes in sea level in a far field glacial setting during the early Telychian. Three facies associations, grouping nine facies, are recognized along the E-W outcrop belt, and from top to bottom as the: (FA-1) encrinitic carbonate facies, (FA-2) mixed siliciclastic and carbonate facies, and (FA-3) non-encrinitic carbonate facies. These mid to outer ramp sediments represent deposition mostly from episodic, high-energy storm events as evidenced by hummocky cross-stratification, large wave ripples, gutter casts, and wave-enhanced sediment-gravity flow deposits. Spatial and temporal changes in siliciclastic content imply basin margin depositional environments in the eastern sections and change in climate regime from arid to humid conditions. The Chicotte deposition marks a major faunal change with the domination of crinoids triggered by increasing siliciclastic supply, rapid sea level fluctuations and change in substrates. The recognition of one major transgressive-regressive (TR) sequence subdivided in distinct meter-scale cycles allows a high resolution E-W correlation. The development of the TR sequence and meter-scale cycles is driven by glacio-eustacy where the main sequence is 4th order (~400 Ky) with superimposed meter-scale cycles that are 5th and/or 6th order (~100 Ky). Nevertheless, erosional capping surfaces within the more proximal tempestites represent ancient rocky shorelines that developed during forced sea level falls. In order to explain this stratigraphic architecture, a carbonate open-ramp model is proposed with a concave-up profile and a narrow and steep inner ramp in equilibrium with a high-energy coastline.

Carbonate diagenesis encapsulates a wide range of water rock interactions that can occur within many environments and act to modify rock properties such as porosity, permeability, and mineralogical composition. These rock modification processes occur by the supply of reactant-laden fluids to areas where geochemical reactions are thermodynamically and kinetically favoured. As such, understanding the development of diagenesis requires an understanding of both palaeohydrology and geochemistry, both of which have their own complexities. However, within geological systems, both the conditions that control fluid migration and the distribution of thermodynamic conditions can change through time in response to external factors. Furthermore, they are often coupled, with rock modification exercising a control on fluid flow by altering the permeability of sediments. Numerical methods allow the coupling of multiple complex processes within a single mathematical formulation. As such, they are well suited to investigations into carbonate diagenesis, where multiple component subsystems interact. This thesis details the application of four separate types of numerical forward modelling to investigations of diagenesis within two Carboniferous carbonate platforms, the Derbyshire Platform (Northern England) and the Tengiz Platform (Western Kazakhstan). Investigations of Derbyshire Platform diagenesis are primarily concerned with explaining the presence of Pb-mineralisation and dolomitisation observed within the Dinantian carbonate succession. A coupled palaeohydrology and basin-development simulation and a series of geochemical simulations was used to investigate the potential for these products to form as a result of basin-derived fluids being driven into the platform by compaction. The results of these models suggest that this mechanism is appropriate for explaining Pb-mineralisation, but dolomitisation requires Mg concentrations within the basin-derived fluids that cannot be attained. Geothermal convection of seawater was thus proposed as an alternative hypothesis to explain the development of dolomitisation. This was tested using an advanced reactive transport model, capable of considering both platform growth and dolomitisation. The results of this suggests that significant dolomitisation may have occurred earlier on in the life of the Derbyshire Platform than has previously been recognised. An updated framework for the development of diagenesis in the Derbyshire Platform is proposed to incorporate these new insights. The Tengiz platform forms an important carbonate oil reservoir at the northeastern shore of the Caspian Sea. The effective exploitation of any reservoir lies in an understanding of its internal distributions of porosity and permeability. Within carbonate systems, this is critically controlled by the distribution of diagenetic products. A model of carbonate sedimentation and meteoric diagenesis is used to produce a framework of early diagenesis within a sequence stratigraphic context. The studies mentioned above provide a broad overview of the capabilities and applicability of forward numerical models to two data-limited systems. They reveal the potential for these methods to guide the ongoing assessment and development of our understanding of diagenetic systems and also help identify key questions for the progression of our understanding in the future.

M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The study area for this thesis focuses on the central northern part of the Bredasdorp Basin of southern offshore South Africa, where the depositional environments of wells E-M1, E-M3 and E-AB1 were inferred through electro sequence analysis and sequence stratigraphy analysis of the corresponding seismic line (E82-005). For that, the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA) allowed access to the digital data which were loaded onto softwares such as PETREL and Kingdom SMT for interpretational purposes. The lithologies and sedimentary environments were inferred based on the shape of the gamma ray logs and reported core descriptions. The sequence stratigraphy of the basin comprises three main tectonic phases: Synrift phase, Transitional phase and Drift phase. Syn-rift phase, which began in the Middle Jurassic during a period of regional tectonism, consists of interbedded red claystones and discrete pebbly sandstone beds deposited in a non-marine setting. The syn-rift 1 succession is truncated by the regional Horizon ‘C’ (1At1 unconformity). The transitional phase was influenced by tectonic events, eustatic sea-level changes and thermal subsidence and characterized by repeated episodes of progradation and aggradation between 121Ma to 103Ma, from the top of the Horizon ‘C’ (1At1 unconformity) to the base of the 14At1 unconformity. Finally the drift phase was driven by thermal subsidence and marked by the Middle Albian14At1 unconformity which is associated with deep water submarine fan sandstones. During the Turonian (15At1 unconformity), highstand led to the deposition of thin organic-rich shales. In the thesis, it is concluded that the depositional environment is shallow marine, ranging from prograding marine shelf, a transgressive marine shelf and a prograding shelf edge delta environment.

Detailed mapping (1:24,000), measured sections, and clast counts in conglomerates of the Duchesne River Formation and Bishop Conglomerate in the Vernal NW quadrangle in northeastern Utah reveal the middle Cenozoic stratigraphic geometry, the uplift and unroofing history of the eastern Uinta Mountains, and give evidence for the pulsed termination of Laramide uplift. The Unita Mountains are an EW-trending reverse fault bounded and basement-cored, Laramide uplift. The oldest unit of the Duchesne River Formation, the Eocene Brennan Basin Member, contains 80-90% Paleozoic clasts and <20% Precambrian clasts. Proximal to the Uinta uplift the conglomerates of this member are dominated by Paleozoic Madison Limestone clasts (70-90% of all clasts). Farther out into the basin, Paleozoic clasts still dominate in Brennan Basin Member conglomerates, but chert clasts are more abundant (up to 43%) showing the efficiency of erosion of the carbonate clasts over a short distance (~5 km). Conglomerates in the progressively younger Dry Gulch Creek, Lapoint, and Starr Flat members show a significant upward increase in Precambrian clasts with 34-73% Uinta Mountain Group and 8-63% Madison Limestone. Duchesne River Formation has a significant increase in coarse-grained deposits from the southern parts of the quadrangle (20-50% coarse) to the northern parts (75% coarse) nearer the Uinta uplift. The lower part of the Duchesne River Formation exhibits a fining upward sequence representing a tectonic lull. Clast count patterns show that pebbly channel deposits in the south maintain similar compositions to their alluvial fan counterparts. To the north, the fine-grained Lapoint and Dry Gulch Creek members of the Duchesne River Formation appear to pinch out completely. This can be explained by erosion of these fine-grained deposits or by lateral facies shifts before deposition of the next unit. Starr Flat Member conglomerates were deposited above Lapoint Member siltstones and represent southward progradation of alluvial fans away from the uplifting mountain front. Similarities in composition and sedimentary structures have caused confusion surrounding the contact between the Starr Flat Member and the overlying Bishop Conglomerate. Within the Vernal NW quadrangle, we interpret this contact as an angular unconformity (the Gilbert Peak Erosion Surface) developed on the uppermost tilted red siltstone of the Starr Flat Member sometime after 37.9 Ma. Stratigraphic and structural relationships reveal important details about the development of a Laramide mountain range: 1) sequential unroofing sequences in the Duchesne River Formation, 2) progradation of alluvial fans to form the Starr Flat Member, 3) and the unconformable nature of the Gilbert Peak Erosion Surface lead to the conclusion that there were at least 3 distinct episodes of uplift during the deposition of these formations. The last uplift episode upwarped the Starr Flat Member constraining the termination of Laramide uplift in the Uinta Mountains to be after deposition of the Starr Flat Member and prior to deposition of the horizontal Bishop Conglomerate starting at about 34 Ma. This, combined with 40Ar/39Ar ages of 39.4 Ma from the Dry Gulch Creek and Lapoint member, show that slab rollback related volcanism was occurring to the west while the Uinta Mountains were being uplifted on Laramide faults. These new 40Ar/39Ar ages constrain the timing of deposition and clarify stratigraphic relationships within the Duchesne River Formation; they suggest a significant unconformity of as much as 4 m.y. between the Duchesne River Formation and the overlying Bishop Conglomerate, which is 34-30 Ma in age, and show that Laramide uplift continued after 40 Ma in this region.

Mylonitic rocks of the Shoo Fly Complex form a region of epidote-amphibolite grade quartzose and granitoid gneiss, subordinate schist and calcareous rocks, and rare amphibolite in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range in central California. The Shoo Fly has endured a complicated Phanerozoic structural development involving seven superposed deformations at variable crustal depths. The first four of these (D1-D4) involved tight to isoclinal folding and shearing under medium grade metamorphic conditions. The last three (D5-D7) are marked by open folding and retrograde metamorphism of older fabric elements. The Shoo Fly is in ductile fault contact with east-dipping argillite, chert, and marble of the Calaveras Complex. The Calaveras-Shoo Fly thrust formed during D3 and is a 1-2 km wide syn-metamorphic ductile shear zone. Recognition of D3 overprinting of older Dl+D2 fabrics along the thrust zone indicates that upper plate Shoo Fly rocks record an earlier and more complex structural history than the lower plate Calaveras rocks. Paleozoic gneissic granitoids, an important lithologic component of the Shoo Fly, were intruded as a series of plutons ranging from calc-alkaline gabbro to granitoid (predominate) to syenite. They truncated the early S1 foliation in the Shoo Fly and were folded during regional D2 and D3 events when they were penetratively deformed into augen gneiss, blastomylonite, and ultramylonite. The Sonora dike swarm occurs as an areally extensive (> 1500 km2) subvertical consanguineous suite of andesite, lamprophyre, and basalt dikes that trend east-west across the Calaveras and Shoo Fly Complexes. The metamorphic complexes form the basement to a middle Jurassic calc-alkaline plutonic arc (Jawbone granitoid sequence). A middle Jurassic K-Ar age on the dikes (157-159 m.y.) together with the data of this report indicate that they are petrogenetically related to the Jawbone granitoid sequence and that the dikes probably formed during subduction beneath a continental arc. The dikes provide an important structural marker in the Shoo Fly and Calaveras Complexes. Intrusion of the dike swarm was sensitive to a structural anisotropy in the basement complexes. Since they intruded east-west along a spaced regional schistosity developed during folding of the Calaveras-Shoo Fly thrust, thrusting and subsequent folding were clearly pre-middle Jurassic events. Available geochronologic data sets middle Ordovician to late Devonian intrusive ages for the gneissic granitoids, establishing a pre-late Devonian depositional age for the Shoo Fly. D1 and intrusion of the orthogneiss protoliths may have been precursors of the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian Antler orogeny or, alternatively, may have occurred significantly earlier than the Antler orogeny. Based on cross-cutting relations, D2 formed during the Antler orogeny, D3 and possibly D4 during the Sonoma orogeny, and D5 and D6 during the Nevadan orogeny.

This paper presents new interpretations of two normal-slip, low-angle faults near Smithfield and Richmond, Utah. The faults have previously been interpreted as landslides, gravity slides, slide blocks, and depositional contacts. Recent work in the Basin and Range province allows new interpretations concerning the origins of the low­-angle faults. Working hypotheses used to interpret origins of the faults are classified as folded thrust fault, rotated high-angle normal fault, gravity slide, listric normal fault, and low-­angle normal fault Among these general categories are several subhypotheses. The evaluation of each hypothesis includes a description of the geologic requirements of the hypothesis, a comparison of field data to the requirements, and a conclusion regarding the hypothesis. Field maps, computer analyses of fault orientations, geophysical surveys, well logs, and published discussions of low-angle-fault origins provide the data base from which to derive conclusions. The data best fit a low-angle-normal-fault hypothesis which states that low-angle normal faults in the study area represent a pre-Basin and Range style of extensional tectonism in which principal stress axes were in a transitional state between compressional tectonism and modern Basin and Range extensional tectonism. The northern low-angle normal fault formed as early as the late Eocene, followed by the southern low-angle normal fault in the early to middle Miocene(?). Episodes of high­-angle normal faulting followed formation of the southern low-angle normal fault. The faulting history indicates that two distinct stress states existed resulting in two different styles of normal faults. Schematic cross-sectional reconstructions based on two other low-angle-normal­fault subhypotheses and the gravity-slide subhypothesis 2 indicated that these subhypotheses could be valid However, the two low-angle-normal-fault subhypotheses cannot account for transitional stress states, and the gravity-slide subhypothesis explains only the southern low-angle normal fault. On the basis of geologic simplicity, the best hypothesis should explain both low-angle faults because of their similarities in deformation, orientation, and age. The applicability of the low-angle-normal-fault model to the rest of the Basin and Range province is somewhat limited. Too many local variables are involved to allow one model to be regionally applied. (112 pages)

The Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming, has been historically known for containing a rich source of Late Jurassic vertebrate fossils. However, when collected, most of these fossils were not positioned into a stratigraphic or sedimentologic framework. Research shows that the Morrison Formation at Como Bluff can be divided into three members. These members can be identified by lithologic and paleontological characteristics. The lower Morrison members include the Windy Hill Member and the recently described Lake Como Member. The Windy Hill Member primarily contains near-shore marine sandstone. Megavertebrate fauna is lacking. The Lake Como Member contains illitic clay in red and green mottled paleosols with caliche and thin sandstone beds. The fauna typically consists oflarge saurian and ornithischian dinosaurs. The upper Morrison Formation includes the Talking Rocks Member. This member contains gray-green smectite-rich mudstones. The Talking Rocks Member is generally calcareous and appears to have a megavertebrate fauna similar to the Lower Morrison. The upper part of this member is typically non calcareous and the fauna is more aquatic with turtles, crocodiles, fish and smaller ornithischian dinosaurs, including some species thought to be restricted to the Cretaceous Period. The contact between the Morrison Formation and the overlying Cloverly Formation is placed at the base of the Cloverly conglomerates, which are present throughout the region. In some areas, this boundary coincides with the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary. However, in sections of the study area, a zone of kaolinitic carbonaceous shale with Cretaceous-like plant material can be found just below the Morrison/Cl overly contact. If this bed is Cretaceous in age, then the Morrison Formation at Como Bluff is in part Early Cretaceous and not restricted to the Late Jurassic.