AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03
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AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03 Geochronology of Selected Igneous Rocks in the Alberta Rocky Mountains, with an Overview of the Age Constraints on the Host Formations AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03 Geochronology of Selected Igneous Rocks in the Alberta Rocky Mountains, with an Overview of the Age Constraints on the Host Formations D.I. Pană1, A.S. Rukhlov2, L.M. Heaman3 and M. Hamilton4 1 Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey 2 Formerly Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey (see page ii for current address) 3 University of Alberta 4 University of Toronto March 2018 ©Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta, 2018 ISBN 978-1-4601-2690-5 The Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey (AER/AGS), its employees and contractors make no warranty, guarantee or representation, express or implied, or assume any legal liability regarding the correctness, accuracy, completeness or reliability of this publication. Any references to proprietary software and/or any use of proprietary data formats do not constitute endorsement by AER/AGS of any manufacturer’s product. If you use information from this publication in other publications or presentations, please acknowledge the AER/AGS. We recommend the following reference format: Pană, D.I., Rukhlov, A.S., Heaman, L.M. and Hamilton, M. (2018): Geochronology of selected igneous rocks in the Alberta Rocky Mountains, with an overview of the age constraints on the host formations; Alberta Energy Regulator, AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03, 60 p. Publications in this series have undergone only limited review and are released essentially as submitted by the author. Author addresses: A.S. Rukhlov L.M. Heaman British Columbia Geological Survey Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Ministry of Energy and Mines University of Alberta 1810 Blanshard Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3 Victoria, BC V8W 9N3 Canada Canada 780.492.3265 250.952.0396 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] M. Hamilton Department of Earth Sciences University of Toronto 22 Russell Street Toronto, ON M5S 3B1 Canada 416.946.7424 Email: [email protected] Published March 2018 by: Alberta Energy Regulator Alberta Geological Survey 4th Floor, Twin Atria Building 4999 – 98th Avenue Edmonton, AB T6B 2X3 Canada Tel: 780.638.4491 Fax: 780.422.1459 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ags.aer.ca AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03 (March 2018) • iii Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... vii 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 2 Regional Geology ................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Tectonics ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2.2 Tectonostratigraphic Assemblages ................................................................................................. 3 3 Previous Geochronological Constraints on Igneous Rocks of the Alberta Rocky Mountains and Foothills .................................................................................................................................................. 5 3.1 Mafic Sills and Lava Flows in the Mesoproterozoic Purcell Supergroup ...................................... 5 3.1.1 Age of the Belt-Purcell Supergroup .................................................................................... 8 3.1.2 Belt-Purcell Supergroup Metamorphism ............................................................................ 9 3.1.3 Previous Radiogenic Dating of Mafic Sills Intruding the Belt-Purcell Supergroup ........... 9 3.2 Isolated Dikes and Sills in the Miette Group ................................................................................ 11 3.2.1 Age of the Miette Group ................................................................................................... 11 3.2.2 Miette Group Metamorphism ........................................................................................... 13 3.2.3 Geikie Dike ....................................................................................................................... 13 3.2.4 Crowfoot Dike .................................................................................................................. 13 3.2.5 Blackbear Sill .................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Cretaceous Alkaline Intrusions ..................................................................................................... 16 3.4 Crowsnest Formation .................................................................................................................... 19 3.4.1 Crowsnest Formation Metamorphism ............................................................................... 20 4 Sampling and Analytical Techniques ................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Mafic Sills and Lava Flows in the Mesoproterozoic Purcell Supergroup, Clark Range .............. 21 4.2 Isolated Dikes and Sills in the Miette Group ................................................................................ 23 4.3 Cretaceous Felsic Alkaline Sills and Dikes .................................................................................. 23 4.4 Crowsnest Formation .................................................................................................................... 24 4.4.1 Analytical technique ......................................................................................................... 24 5 Results and Geological Significance .................................................................................................... 25 5.1 Mafic Sills and Lava Flows in the Mesoproterozoic Purcell Supergroup, Clark Range .............. 25 5.1.1 Baddeleyite Age of Mafic Sill .......................................................................................... 25 5.1.2 SHRIMP Dating of Zircon from Purcell Mafic Sills ........................................................ 25 5.1.3 Preliminary Results of the 40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Purcell Mafic Rocks ......................... 34 5.1.4 Possible Sources for Inherited Zircon in the Purcell Mafic Sills ...................................... 37 5.2 Isolated Dikes and Sills in the Miette Group ................................................................................ 39 5.3 Cretaceous Sills ............................................................................................................................ 40 5.3.1 U-Pb Dating of the Largest Felsic Alkaline Sill in Clark Range ...................................... 40 5.3.2 40Ar/39Ar Dating of the Crowsnest Lake Trachyte (DP11-26) .......................................... 41 5.4 Age of Melanite Garnet from the Crowsnest Formation .............................................................. 45 5.5 Contemporaneous and Petrologically Similar Intrusive and Volcanic Rocks in the Southern Canadian Rockies ......................................................................................................................... 45 6 Discussion and Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 46 7 References ............................................................................................................................................ 49 Tables Table 1. Samples of Purcell mafic sills processed for isotope dating ..................................................... 22 Table 2. Samples of diabase intruded into the Miette Group .................................................................. 23 AER/AGS Open File Report 2018-03 (March 2018) • iv Table 3. Samples of Cretaceous alkaline sills and dikes processed for mineral separation at the University of Alberta ................................................................................................................. 24 Table 4. U-Pb baddeleyite ID-TIMS data for dolerite sills from the Purcell basin, Clark Range ........... 26 Table 5. Summary of sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) data for Purcell mafic sills .................................................................................................................................. 28 Table 6. Summary of 40Ar/39Ar from mafic rocks in the Purcell Supergroup ......................................... 35 Table 7. Summary of 40Ar/39Ar data from the Crowfoot dike ................................................................. 40 Table 8. Summary of U-Pb data from the titanite trachyte sill DP11-36 at Crowsnest Lake ................. 43 Table 9. Summary of 40Ar/39Ar from the Crowsnest Lake trachyte sill .................................................. 44 Table 10. U-Pb Garnet Results for Crowsnest Volcanics, Alberta ........................................................... 45 Figures Figure 1. Regional geology of the southern Alberta Rocky Mountains, showing the location of examined igneous rocks .............................................................................................................