This thesis investigates the timing and mechanisms involved in the formation of evaporite piercement structures on Ellef Ringnes Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The study includes the interpretation of industry seismic reflection and borehole data to characterize the geometry of the domes, 1D backstripping of wells to investigate the role of tectonic influences on diapirism, and analogue modelling to better understand the mechanisms that drive diapirs with dense anhydrite caps. I propose that basement structures played a significant role in the formation of evaporite domes by triggering and directing salt movement. The domes developed during the Mesozoic by passive growth driven by the differential loading of salt on adjacent fault blocks, which led to their present day asymmetric geometries. Diapir growth rates in the Mesozoic were closely linked to the rate of sedimentation, which was greatly influenced by the amount of accommodation space provided by tectonic subsidence of the basin.

What tectonic processes were operating in the Archean, and whether they were similar to the “modern-style” plate tectonics seen operating today, is a fundamental question about Archean geology. The Superior Province is the largest piece of preserved Archean crust on Earth. As such it provides an excellent opportunity to study Archean tectonic processes. Much work has been completed in the southern part of the Superior Province. A well-documented series of discrete, southward younging orogenies related to a series of northward dipping subduction zones, has been proposed for amalgamating this part of the Superior Province. The tectonic evolution in the northwestern Superior Province is much less constrained, and it is unclear if it is related to the series of subduction zones in the southern part of the Superior Province, or if it is related to an entirely different process. Such ideas need to be tested in order to develop a concise model for the Meso – and Neoarchean tectonic evolution of the northwestern Superior Province. To this end, a field mapping, U-Pb geochronology, Nd isotope, and lithogeochemistry study was undertaken in the Island Lake greenstone belt. This granite-greenstone belt is part of the northern margin of the North Caribou terrane, a larger reworked Mesoarchean crustal block located in the northwestern Superior Province. U-Pb TIMS zircon geochronology data shows that the Island Lake greenstone belt experienced a long and complex geological history that included the deposition of three distinct volcanic assemblages at ca. 2897 Ma, 2852 Ma, and 2744 Ma, as well as a younger clastic sedimentary group, the Island Lake group. All of these volcanic assemblages include felsic and mafic volcanic rocks, as well as a suite of contemporaneous plutonic rocks. The U-Pb data set shows that the Savage Island shear zone, a regional fault structure that transects the Island Lake greenstone belt, is not a terrane-bounding feature as correlative supracrustal assemblages are observed on both sides of it. The Nd isotope data shows that the volcanic assemblages and contemporaneous plutons have been variably contaminated by an older ca. 3.0 Ga crustal source. The mafic volcanic rocks in the assemblages have two distinct geochemical signatures, and show a pattern of decreasing crustal contamination with decreasing age. Together these data suggests that the Meso – and Neoarchean volcanic assemblages are part of an intact primary volcanic stratigraphy that were built on the same ca. 3.0 Ga basement and have autochthonous relationships with each other. This basement is the North Caribou terrane. The youngest sedimentary group in the belt, the Island Lake group, was deposited between 2712 Ma and 2699 Ma. It consists of “Timiskaming-type” sedimentary rocks, and is the youngest clastic sedimentary package in the belt. A detailed study of detrital zircons in units from the stratigraphic bottom to the top of the sedimentary group indicates an age pattern of detrital zircons that is most consistent with a scenario in which sediments were deposited in inter-diapiric basins created by diapirism and sagduction (i.e., vertical tectonic) processes. During the diapiric ascent of the felsic material, inter-diapiric basins were formed in the synclines between adjacent domes, into which sediments were deposited. U-Pb zircon TIMS geochronology identified two ages of deformation in the Island Lake greenstone belt. Two dykes that crosscut an older, D1 foliation place a minimum age of ca. 2723 Ma on the D1 deformation, and two syn-kinematic dykes date movement along two transpressional shear zones to 2700 Ma. Together all these data indicate that the tectonic evolution in the Island Lake greenstone belt and in the northwestern Superior Province took place in three main stages. The first two stages involved the generation of Meso – and Neoarchean volcanic assemblages and contemporaneous plutonic rocks due to southward dipping subduction under the North Caribou micro-continent. The third stage involved the deposition of late “Timiskaming-type” sediments during vertical tectonic processes in conjunction with horizontal tectonic movement along late transpressional shear zones at ca. 2.70 Ga. At the end of this process the North Superior superterrane was terminally docked to the North Caribou terrane along the North Kenyon fault. This study shows that while a version of horizontal or “modern” style plate tectonics were operating in the Archean, vertical tectonic processes were also occurring and that these processes operated synchronously in the Neoarchean.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1983. / Bibliography: leaves 441-472. / Microfiche. / xvii, 472 leaves, bound ill., maps 29 cm

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2002.

A basin analysis of the Oligocene Porter Group rocks in Castle Hill Basin, Canterbury, was completed. The Porter Group contains the Coleridge Formation which comprises a lower sandstone unit and an upper micritic limestone unit, and the Thomas Formation which consists of biosparite limestone and interbedded tuffs. Basin analysis provided evidence that the Coleridge Formation lower sandstone unit was deposited in an inner shelf setting based upon its moderate sorting, large grain size range, laterally continuous geometry and lack of bedforms due to intense bioturbation. The upper micritic limestone is a mid shelf deposit composed of micrite and minor clastic grains. Provenance analysis has classified the lower sandstone unit as a quartz arenite. Both metamorphic and plutonic source areas are likely for the sandstone, along with reworked grains from underlying Formations based on QFL, SEM-CL, heavy mineral and glauconite analysis. The Thomas Formation limestone is a typical New Zealand cool water biosparite deposited on the inner shelf as a result of storms and debris flows, with the upper cross-bedded limestone lithofacies being reworked by currents in shallow water. Petrographic data showing multiple stages of diagenesis at the upper contact of the Thomas Formation provides evidence for a major tectonic event. The interbedded tuffs are a result of basaltic marine volcanism on the inner to mid shelf. The tuffs are reworked and deposited by turbidity current, debris flow and storms. Analysis of a dike within the Thomas Formation volcanics showed a weakly alkaline geochemical signature that is indicative of volcanism related to extension. A regional synthesis compared the Porter Group rocks in Castle Hill Basin with Oligocene rocks in North Canterbury, West Coast and North Otago. Oligocene quartz-rich sandstones are found in Castle Hill Basin, Harper Valley, Avoca and Culverden while micritic limestone is found on the East Coast from Marlborough to Otago. Oligocene basaltic volcanics interbedded with limestone and karst unconformities are found in Castle Hill Basin, Culverden and Otago. Normal faulting may be responsible for thickness variations and several regional karst unconformities in the eastern South Island. Plate reconstructions based on sea floor magnetic anomalies also suggests the New Zealand region was tectonically active during the Oligocene. Mounting evidence, including Eocene-Oligocene faulting and volcanism in the South Island, suggests that New Zealand may not be best described as a passive margin during the Early-Mid Tertiary.

The North Canterbury tectonic setting involves the southward propagating margin of easterly strike-slip activity intersecting earlier thrust activity propagating east from the Alpine Fault. The resulting tectonics contain a variety of structures caused by the way these patterns overlap, creating complexities on the regional and individual feature scale. An unpublished map by Jongens et al. (1999) shows the Ashley-Loburn Fault System crossing the plains from the east connected with the Springfield Thrust Fault in the western margins, possibly the southern limit of the east-west trending strikeslip activity. Of note are two hill structures inferred to be affected by this fault system. View Hill to the west, is on the south side of this fault junction, and Starvation Hill further east, was shown lying on the north side of a left stepover restraining bend. During thrust uplift and simple tilting of the View Hill structure, at least two uplift events post date last Pleistocene aggradation accounting for variations in scarp morphology. Broad constraints on fault dip and the age of the displacement surface suggest that slip-rates are in the order of 0.5 mm/year. East from View Hill, the strike-slip fault was originally thought to curve northeast, around the southeast of Starvation Hill. But there is neither evidence of a scarp, nor other clear evidence of surface faulting at Starvation Hill, which poses the question of the extent to which folding may reflect both fault geometry and fault activity. Starvation Hill is a triangular shape, with a series of distinctive smooth, semi-planar surfaces, lapping across both sides of the hill at a range of elevations and gradients. These surfaces are thought to be remnants of old river channels, and are indicative of tilting and upwarping of the hill structure. 3D computer modelling of these surfaces, combined with studies of the cover sequence on the hill, resulted in inferences being drawn as to the location of hinge lines of a dual-hinged anticline and an overview of the tectonic history of the hill. This illustrates the potential to apply topographical and geomorphic studies to the evolution of geometrically complex structures Starvation Hill is interpreted to be the result of two fault-generated folds, one fault trending north, the other, more recent fault, trending east. These two faults are thought to be sequentially developed segments of the original fault zone inferred by Jongens et al. (1999) but with reinterpreted location and mechanism detail. The presence of two faults has resulted in overprinted differential uplift of the structure, which has been significantly degraded, especially in the southwest corner of the hill. The majority of the formation of the northerly trending structure of Starvation Hill is inferred to be pre-Otiran, with uplift of the later east trending structure continuing into the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May, 2007." One colored map on folded leaf in pocket. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-117). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2007]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [264]-290.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1993. / Includes 6 folded maps in pocket. Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-217). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1992. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-124). Also available via the World Wide Web.