Preliminary Surficial Geological Interpretation and Transport Estimation in the Rumajärvi Boulder Field, in Eastern Ylitornio, Finland
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Geological Survey of Finland M149R2014 5.12.2014 Rovaniemi Preliminary surficial geological interpretation and transport estimation in the Rumajärvi boulder field, in eastern Ylitornio, Finland Pertti Sarala Preliminary interpretation of Quaternary geology and till geochemistry in eastern Rovaniemi GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF FINLAND DOCUMENTATION PAGE Date / Rec. no. 5th December 2014 Authors Type of report Pertti Sarala Commissioned by Geological Survey of Finland Title of report Preliminary surficial geological interpretation and transport estimation in the Rumajärvi boulder field, in eastern Ylitornio, Finland Abstract In this report, surficial (Quaternary) geology and geomorphology of the Rumajärvi-Rajapalot area in eastern Ylitornio – western Rovaniemi with an emphasis on the estimation of boulder transport distance are presented. The study is based on the digital elevation model, Lidar data, field observations, boulder observations, drill holes’ soil thickness data, surficial geological map and literature. Several geomorphological subareas can be distinguished in the study area including active ice formations like ribbed moraines and streamlined features (drumlinoids and fluted surface) and other formations i.e. cover mo- raines and large glaciofluvial deposits/subglacial erosion channels. In the Rumajärvi-Rajapalot area ribbed mo- raine morphology is dominant geomorphological feature. The hummocky type ridges are typically oriented per- pendicular to west - east or north-west – south-east oriented ice-flow direction. The ridges are also covered by the blanket of large, angular boulders. The thickness of glacial overburden seems to be relatively shallow (2-5 m) in the Rumajärvi area and from there to east. To the north from Rumajärvi exist large area of very thin soil cover or in many places the soil is absent. This area represents cover till area or subglacial meltwater channel with washed bouldery sediments and glaciofluvial deposits. On the southern areas, streamlined features are representing both older glacial phase from the north-northwest direction and younger phase from the west. Older streamlined fea- tures exist kind of relict under younger morphology. Transport distance is usually from tens of meters to some hundreds of meters in the cover and ribbed moraine areas, and several hundreds of meters or some kilometers in the areas of drumlins and flutings. Surface of the ground is washed by the Ancylus Lake up to 215-219 m a.s.l. which is seen in many places as well-formed shore terraces. Quaternary geology of the study area is poorly mapped and studied and for that reason future work is needed for getting deeper knowledge of the morphology, till stratigraphy and geochemistry. Target-scale till geochemical sampling should be done to clarify glaciogenic depositional processes and the elemental distribution in different till units in the study area. Keywords Quaternary geology, geomorphology, moraine formations, till, boulders, Peräpohja Schist Belt Geographical area Rumajärvi, Rajapalot, Rovaniemi, Ylitornio, Lapland, Finland Map sheet Other information Ordered by Mawson Oy (Erkki Vanhanen) 6th Oct 2014; GTK’s archive number M149R2014. Report serial Archive code M149R2014 Total pages Language Price Confidentiality 9 p. + 4 App. English - Confidential Unit and section Project code Northern Office, Land use and Environment Signature/name Signature/name Pertti Sarala, PhD, EurGeol Preliminary interpretation of Quaternary geology and till geochemistry in eastern Rovaniemi Contents Documentation page 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 QUATERNARY GEOLOGY 2 2.1 Rumajärvi - Rajapalot 5 3 TRANSPORT DISTANCE ESTIMATION 7 4 SUMMARY 8 5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK 8 6 REFERENCES 9 7 APPENDICES 9 Preliminary surficial geological interpretation and transport estimation... 1 1 INTRODUCTION Mawson Oy ordered the surficial geological and boulder transport distance estimation interpreta- tion from the Rumajärvi-Rajapalot area from the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). The work was carried out in Oct-Nov 2014 including one day field work (10.10.2014) and four days map working and reporting. Aims of the work were to interpret glacial morphology of the target area and its surrounding region, and estimate glacial transport distance of the surficial boulders. There were numerous Au-bearing boulders found on the top of the moraine ridges without direct indi- cation of the sources in the bedrock. For example, in the Rumajärvi target tens of boulders hav- ing very high Au contents were observed during Mawson’s field works (Fig. 1). Surficial (Quaternary) geological research included geomorphological interpretation of the Rumajärvi-Palokas area in the eastern Ylitornio and western Rovaniemi, southern Finnish Lap- land (Fig. 1). Furthermore, the work included final interpretation mapping and reporting. All the map work and interpretation was done by Dr. Pertti Sarala from the Northern Finland Of- fice of the GTK. Surficial geological interpretation is based on the GTK’s map database, digital elevation model and Lidar data interpretation, boulder observations and soil drilling data provid- ed by Mawson and literature. Map processing was done using ArcMap 10.1 software. Fig. 1. Gold-bearing boulder observations in the Rumajärvi target area. Gold contents = yellow dots < 1 ppm, orange 1-10 ppm, red > 10 ppm. Preliminary surficial geological interpretation and transport estimation... 2 2 QUATERNARY GEOLOGY Finnish Lapland situates in the central part of the Scandinavian where the Scandinavian Ice Sheet was several time covered the whole area during the Quaternary period. During earlier glaciation phases active ice sheets have eroded and reworked the ground. For example, during the Saalian glaciation ca. 150-250 ka ago the center of continental glacier and the last ice-divide zone has estimated to have existed in the Botnian Bay area causing the ice-flow movement from south-west in the Peräpohja area (e.g. Hirvas 1991). Furthermore, during the Middle Weichselian phase i.e. 50-70 ka ice-divide zone was in the Enontekiö area and ice-flow direction has been from the north-northwest (Sarala 2005). The last continental glacier during the Late Weichselian has had the greatest influence on the modern moraine morphology in the southern Finnish Lapland. Although, the area has been mainly under cold-based conditions during most of the last glaciation, at the retreat phase the area has been under active ice lobes. In the subglacial conditions underlying sediments and fresh till were eroded and consenquently deposited as different moraine formations indicating active glacial movement with the up-ice direction ranging 270-290°. (Sarala 2005.) The ground of the study area is composed of glaciogenic deposits, mainly cover moraine and moraine ridges composed of till (Fig. 2). The area is also crossed by the long subglacial meltwater channel including erosional features with washed bedrock surface, reworked till and gravel material with enrichment of rounded bouders (Fig. 3) and large glaciofluvial formations like delta formations. This system is oriented in north-western – south-eastern direction reaching from the north Rompas to the Kemijoki River valley in the east. That direction also indicate the retreat direction of the ice-margin at the end of deglaciation. Generally, two main glacial flow phases are seen in the morphology and in the transport di- rection of till, boulders and pebbles (Sarala & Rossi 1998 and 2006). The older one, which represents probably the Middle Weichselian glacial advance phase (ca. 50-70 ka ago), has flown from the north or north-northwest to the southeast (App 1). This flow phase has influence on the transport distance of till material varying from moderate to long (500 m-5 km), and it is seen as a greater proportion of rounded, long-distance boulders and pebbles (for example from the Central Lap-land Granitoid Complex) in till. Of this phase, the grey or bluish grey, compact till unit called the Kemijoki Till is present, and is found in places as the bottommost till unit at the low land areas (Sarala 2005). Grey or brownish grey till bed, called Tervola Till, that has been observed as upper till bed almost everywhere in the southern Lapland. It is a mixture of long-distance till material from the older till but also local bedrock material eroded during the active glacial movements or subglacial abrasion and quarrying. Where the subglacial activity has been strong, the proportion of local bedrock material is high (like in the ribbed moraine areas). In the cover moraine areas i.e. in the hill areas transport distance seem to be low and the influence of local bedrock is great. Low land areas are typically covered by the relatively shallow peat layer (1-2 m; Fig. 4). Typically the thin layer of fine grained material (silt or even clay) is covering the till or bedrock surface below the peat. This fine grained material was washed and deposited during the pro- and postglacial lake phases (i.e. during the Ancylus Lake stage). Preliminary surficial geological interpretation and transport estimation... 3 Rumajärvi Rajapalot Fig. 2. Quaternary deposits of the Rumajärvi-Rajapalot and surrounding areas interpreted from the Lidar data. Different moraine deposits, glaciofluvial deposits and shallow till covered areas with bedrock out- crops dominate the area. Large peat bogs are also common in the low land areas. Map area presented in Fig. 1 is marked as red rectangular. During the last deglaciation glacier’s margin was bordered by the Ancylus Lake. The Ancylus Lake covered the area afterwards about 1,000 years until it changed to the Litorina Sea (ca. 7,800 years ago). The highest water level of the Ancylus Lake was about 215-219 m (a.s.l.) and for the Litorina Sea about 90 m (a.s.l.). Particularly, shore wave forces of the lowering water body during the isostatic land uplift have had an affect to the surface of ridges. Boulders on top of the moraine formations after washing of the fine sediments away are better seen. In places, stratified shore deposits from sand to gravel and washed boulder fields exist having thickness from some ten of centimeters to several meters.