BEDROCK Geology of the CAVITY LAKE FIRE AREA, 88 63 Aoc Ast 71 78 72 79 77
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Prepared and Published with the Support of MISCELLANEOUS MAP SERIES THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AS PART OF THE 2007 STATE GEOLOGIC MAPPING PROGRAM ELEMENT (STATEMAP) MAP M-193 MINNESOTA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Bedrock Geology, Cavity Lake Fire Area Harvey Thorleifson, Director OF THE NATIONAL COOPERATIVE GEOLOGIC MAPPING PROGRAM, AND THE PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH 91° Some information on this map was formerly published as: R.6 W. R. 5 W. R.5 W. R. 4 W. Jirsa, M.A., and Starns, E.C., 2008, Preliminary bedrock 80 68 80 67 geologic map of the 2006 Cavity Lake fire area, parts of 70 M 84 85 85 55 Ester Lake, Gillis Lake, Munker Island, and Ogishkemuncie 86 80 85 70 Lake 7.5-minute quadrangles, northeastern Minnesota: 85 68 Minnesota Geological Survey Open-File Report 08-5. 85 83 85 Aou 71 58 80 80 80 80 70 Aoc 86 80 Aos 74 F Ast 85 84 74 86 75 81 75 67 BEDROCK GEOLOGY OF THE CAVITY LAKE FIRE AREA, 88 63 Aoc Ast 71 78 72 79 77 78 85 BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS, 89 85 M 64 88 80 71 86 86 NORTHEASTERN Minnesota 70 80 80 Aos By 70 SAGANAGA TONALITE 81 Mark A. Jirsa Edward C. Starns Mark D. Schmitz T. 66 N. Minnesota Geological Survey ConocoPhillips Alaska Boise State University Aos T. 65 N. T. 66 N. Aos 79 72 72 2017 T. 65 N. Aoc 71 84 83 59 81 d 64 80 58 d 73 78 55 Ast 56 69 53 75 38 87 84 78 70 28 81 72 83 F 85 72 79 81 85 89 89 66 55 72 85 72 INTRODUCTION which lies in fault and unconformable contact with the older rocks (Driese and others, Fault. The unconformity, exposed near Alpine Lake, is marked locally by a 59 85 84 85 80 73 53 67 60 55 2011). Bedding and other structures in the Ogishkemuncie sequence transect the regional thick zone of paleosaprolitic tonalite containing abundant quartz phenocrysts 87 85 89 88 The bedrock geology in this part of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 73 M 52 76 85 east–northeast trend of units that is inferred to have been established during D ; however, in a sericitic matrix (metamorphosed clay-rich saprolite), relict corestones, F 87 86 81 1 84 81 is extremely diverse and unusually well exposed (Fig. 1). Many parts of this area were 55 87 the conglomeratic strata contain low-grade metamorphic minerals and locally a weak rock and clastic dikes composed of the superjacent Ogishkemuncie strata (unit 87 87 mapped to varied levels of detail in the 1930s, and more recently in the 1970s and 1980s 73 63 cleavage assigned to D2, thus constraining deposition to the interval between 2,690 and Aou). See Driese and others (2011) for details. Aoc 87 49 73 (see Index Map), with efforts focused primarily along waterways. A severe windstorm in 78 76 2,680 Ma. The prominent Ogishkemuncie fault is one of a series of northeast-trending, Tonalite—main phase—Light gray to nearly white, massive to trachytoid- 52 68 84 d 1999 blew down trees in much of the region, and a delayed result in 2006 was the Cavity Ast anastomosing fault zones of likely D3 generation that separate discrete structural segments. foliated, medium- to coarse-grained tonalite, having plagioclase in much 59 88 65 Lake forest fire. The fire exposed bedrock and allowed comparatively unencumbered 59 50 A Field relationships imply that some of these faults may represent reactivation of much older 56 86 83 84 G greater abundance than microcline. Large phenocrysts of polycrystalline 62 Aos access to interior parts of the map area, creating a unique and time-sensitive opportunity 87 structures that bounded successor basins into which sediments of the Ogishkemuncie and 54 Aoi quartz are common, and quartz also occurs interstitial to subhedral 80 for mapping. Fieldwork and compilation of prior mapping was conducted in 2007 and Aos 87 81 Jasper Lake sequences were deposited. plagioclase (An ). Small amounts of microcline occur as antiperthitic 55 82 2008, and a preliminary map was produced (Jirsa and Starns, 2008). That map is revised 20-28 80 69 69 84 exsolution in plagioclase, as rims on plagioclase, and as small interstitial Aos 88 D here to incorporate subsequent fieldwork and geochronologic analyses, including one new 68 80 GEOCHRONOLOGY OF NEOARCHEAN ROCKS 87 73 grains. Hornblende is the dominant ferromagnesian mineral, together with Aoc 75 U date acquired by coauthor Schmitz. 74 83 83 minor amounts of augite, biotite, and secondary epidote and chlorite. A 89 The temporal framework for most of the Neoarchean rocks on this map sheet is based 56 78 73 88 The map portrays bedrock that represents crustal evolution spanning the Neoarchean to 80 80 on lithologic and structural similarities with rocks in adjacent areas, with the exception pronounced foliation and mineral lineation—which is inferred to be largely 64 81 53 Mesoproterozoic Eras (Fig. 2), with an emphasis on structural and stratigraphic relationships 82 82 magmatic—is defined by parallel alignment of minerals and rare autoliths. 71 of two high-precision analyses done on samples taken from outcrops (locations A and B 86 75 in the Neoarchean portion. Neoarchean greenstone-granite terrane of the Wawa subprovince 83 on the map). An age of 2,690.83 ± 0.26 Ma for the Saganaga Tonalite (Driese and others, Based on limited geochemical analysis, the tonalite and associated rocks 75 of the Superior Province is represented by a succession of mostly mafic to ultramafic 85 77 89 can be classified as part of the sanukitoid suite (Jirsa and Weiblen, 2007). Aoc 65 66 2011) was acquired from samples near the western edge of the intrusion (location A, unit D 89 76 metavolcanic rocks (circa [ca.] 2,700 Ma), unconformably overlain by calc-alkalic volcanic D 79 A U-Pb date of 2,690.83 Ma was acquired by Driese and others (2011) U M 65 Ast 48° 7' 30" and volcaniclastic rocks (ca. 2,690 Ma), and intruded by the Saganaga Tonalite (also ca. Ast). This map presents a newly acquired age for a trachyandesitic to dacitic intrusion 85 Aou from sample location A at Alpine Lake. U Aou 89 62 2,690 Ma). This succession was uplifted and subaerially eroded to provide detritus to one emplaced into volcaniclastic strata of the Jasper Lake sequence. The intrusion and its host 64 Granodioritic border phase—Gray to pink, moderately to strongly Asd 76 or more successor basins. Some of the Neoarchean terrane can be correlated in a general volcaniclastic rocks have nearly identical textural and mineralogic attributes, implying Asb Amv foliated, locally modally layered, medium- to coarse-grained, quartz- 70 way with that along strike and across the U.S.–Canadian border described by Corfu and synvolcanic emplacement. Analyses by coauthor Schmitz of five single zircon grains 78 Ast bearing hornblende diorite to granodiorite, generally without large quartz 48° 7' 30" Stott (1998). On this basis, the successor basin strata are thought to have been deposited from the trachytic, hornblende- and plagioclase-phyric intrusion (location B, unit Aji; phenocrysts. Autoliths of variably porphyritic, dioritic, and quartz dioritic at about 2,684 to 2,682 Ma—before the primary regional deformation and metamorphic sample UTM location NAD83, 649,327m E., 532,9586m N.) yielded slightly discordant 207 206 phases are common and trend parallel to foliation; xenoliths of metabasalt 83 76 Apm U-Pb ratios, with a weighted mean Pb/ Pb date of 2,690.7 ± 0.6 Ma. Details of these 85 86 -1Aoc event at about 2,680 Ma (Boerboom and Zartman, 1993). All of these rocks were cut by 66 analyses appear in digital files accompanying this map and accessible via the Minnesota and metagabbro increase in abundance near the contact with the Paulson Lake 84 -1 69 mafic dikes inferred to be largely of Paleoproterozoic age. The Neoarchean rocks and Aot 64 88 Geological Survey website. The near synchronicity of this date with that from the Saganaga sequence. Apophosial dikes of aplite, granodiorite, and diorite emplaced into 68 64 45 64 70 65 some dikes are unconformably overlain by Paleoproterozoic metasedimentary strata of 58 F M 60 Aou Tonalite, together with apparent lithologic similarities, implies that magmas related to the the adjacent Paulson Lake volcanic host rocks were moderately to tightly 67 75 the Animikie Group (ca. 1,880 to 1,830 Ma), which includes the Gunflint Iron Formation. 76 76 folded and cataclastically deformed, presumably during D deformation. 70 60 88 latter were the sources for volcanism of the Jasper Lake sequence. 2 68 78 The uppermost layers of iron formation are intensely deformed and overlain east of this 65 75 78 89 75 85 map area by thin lenses of ejecta from a meteorite impact that occurred near Sudbury, Asd Granodioritic, tonalitic, aplitic, and pegmatitic dikes—Trends and distribution U 65 50 64 Api Api Asg Note that nearly all the Neoarchean rocks described here are metamorphosed to at 60 Asd 78 Api Ontario, at ca. 1,850 Ma (Jirsa, 2011; Jirsa and others, 2011). Mesoproterozoic rifting vary, but north–northeast strikes are most common; intrusions are more D 48 76 88 Apm 89 83 87 least low greenschist facies; however, the prefix "meta" is omitted from most rock names -1 67 89 86 75 87 50 is manifest in hypabyssal dikes and sills known collectively as the Logan intrusions (ca. abundant in the Paulson Lake sequence adjacent to the Saganaga Tonalite, 79 85 to emphasize protolith.