Belt Basin: Window to Mesoproterozoic Earth
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Mafic magmatism in the Belt-Purcell Basin and Wyoming Province of western Laurentia
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Published:September 01, 2016
Proterozoic mafic magmatic rocks exposed along the western side of North America, or western Laurentia, from Kimberley, British Columbia, through to northwestern Wyoming have been previously divided into two large igneous provinces: the ca. 1460 Ma Moyie-Purcell and the ca. 780 Ma Gunbarrel large igneous provinces. New geochemical analysis from this study demonstrates that there are additional intraplate mafic magmatic rocks present. Distinguishable by variable normalized rare earth element patterns combined with differing slopes on a binary Ti versus V plot, there are 17 identifiable geochemical signatures in the 307 whole-rock and trace-element analyses from this study. Only seven of these signatures can be linked to the ca. 1460 Ma Moyie-Purcell large igneous province, and one signature to the 780 Ma Gunbarrel large igneous province. This study has identified two groups of intrusions with distinct geochemical signatures previously linked with the ca. 1460 Ma Moyie-Purcell large igneous province but now recognized to be separate events, a single unique geochemical signature with a U-Pb age correlative with the Moyie-Purcell large igneous province and seven other heretofore unidentified signatures interpreted to belong to additional undated events.
- absolute age
- Belt Basin
- British Columbia
- Canada
- dates
- Kimberley British Columbia
- large igneous provinces
- Laurentia
- mafic composition
- mafic magmas
- magmas
- magmatism
- major elements
- Montana
- North America
- Precambrian
- Proterozoic
- Purcell Mountains
- Rb/Sr
- trace elements
- U/Pb
- United States
- upper Precambrian
- Western Canada
- Wyoming
- Wyoming Province
- Gunbarrel large igneous province
- Moyie-Purcell region