The past-producing Pine Point lead–zinc mining district, Northwest Territories, Canada, provides a unique opportunity to study the role of glacial dynamics in a thick, continuous till succession that has not been influenced by the underlying bedrock topography. Parts of the Pine Point mining district are covered by >20 m of subglacial Quaternary sediments (till) associated with the former Laurentide Ice Sheet. Till facies exposed in unreclaimed open-pit K-62 have been classified into four separate units. Micro- and macrosedimentological analyses were undertaken to identify the change in subglacial stress during sediment deposition and across till unit boundaries. An analysis of high- and low-angle microshears (lineations) in thin sections produced from these till units indicate that there is a noticeable decrease in the abundance of low-angle shear features immediately below till unit boundaries. The deformation of low-angle shears in the underlying tills was likely caused by remobilization of the overlying till unit. This remobilization is consistent with aggradation-constant entrainment decay mechanisms for subglacial till emplacement and accretion and subglacial dispersion models.
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Research Article|
November 14, 2018
Microsedimentological evidence of vertical fluctuations in subglacial stress from the northwest sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, Northwest Territories, Canada Available to Purchase
Jessey M. Rice;
a
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.Corresponding author: Jessey Rice (email: [email protected]).
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John Menzies;
John Menzies
b
Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
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Roger C. Paulen;
Roger C. Paulen
c
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E9, Canada.
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M. Beth McClenaghan
M. Beth McClenaghan
c
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E9, Canada.
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a
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
John Menzies
b
Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
Roger C. Paulen
c
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E9, Canada.
M. Beth McClenaghan
c
Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E9, Canada.Corresponding author: Jessey Rice (email: [email protected]).
Publisher: Canadian Science Publishing
Received:
02 Aug 2018
Accepted:
08 Nov 2018
First Online:
10 Apr 2019
Online ISSN: 1480-3313
Print ISSN: 0008-4077
Published by NRC Research Press
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (2019) 56 (4): 363–379.
Article history
Received:
02 Aug 2018
Accepted:
08 Nov 2018
First Online:
10 Apr 2019
Citation
Jessey M. Rice, John Menzies, Roger C. Paulen, M. Beth McClenaghan; Microsedimentological evidence of vertical fluctuations in subglacial stress from the northwest sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, Northwest Territories, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 2018;; 56 (4): 363–379. doi: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0201
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- Canada
- Cenozoic
- clastic sediments
- deformation
- glacial geology
- ice sheets
- Laurentide ice sheet
- lithofacies
- lithostratigraphy
- Northwest Territories
- paleoenvironment
- petrography
- Pine Point mining district
- Pleistocene
- Quaternary
- sediments
- stratigraphic units
- stress
- subglacial environment
- till
- Western Canada
Latitude & Longitude
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