Publication Type:

Book Chapter

Authors:

Ispolatov, V.; Lafrance, B.; Dube, B.; Creaser, Robert A.; Hamilton, Michael A.

Source:

A special issue devoted to base metal and gold metallogeny at regional, camp, and deposit scales in the Abitibi greenstone belt, Economic Geology Publishing Company, Lancaster, PA, United States, Volume 103, p.1309-1340 (2008)

ISBN:

0361-0128

Keywords:

Abitibi Belt, absolute age, Archean, Canada, Canadian Shield, Cathodoluminescence, chemical composition, crustal shortening, dates, deformation, dip, eastern canada, emplacement, fabric, faults, folds, foliation, gold ores, hanging wall, history, igneous rocks, ion probe data, Kirkland Lake Ontario, lateral faults, lineation, mass spectra, metal ores, metals, mineral deposits, genesis, mineralization, Neoarchean, North America, Ontario, ore grade, ore-forming fluids, outcrops, overprinting, Precambrian, production, quartz veins, Re/Os, reverse faults, right-lateral faults, SHRIMP data, slip cleavage, spectra, structural analysis, structural controls, superior province, thermal ionization mass spectra, Timiskaming District Ontario, timiskaming group, U/Pb, veins, volcanic rocks, x-ray diffraction data

Abstract:

The Kirkland Lake-Larder Lake gold belt includes the giant Kirkland Lake and world-class Kerr-Addison-Chesterville gold deposits, along with several smaller deposits and occurrences. It corresponds to an east-trending band of Timiskaming clastic and volcanic rocks that unconformably overlie older volcanic assemblages in the southern Abitibi greenstone belt of the Archean Superior province. The gold belt is bounded to the south by the Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone, which roughly follows the contact between the younger Timiskaming rocks and the older volcanic units. Three generations of fabrics formed during post-Timiskaming regional deformation (D (sub 2) , D (sub 3) , and D (sub 4) ) of the belt. North-south shortening during D (sub 2) produced a penetrative, generally east-striking, steeply dipping, S (sub 2) foliation, and an east-plunging, L (sub 2) stretching lineation. S (sub 2) is most intense within the syn-D (sub 2) Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone and its northeast-trending splay, the Upper Canada deformation zone. The D (sub 2) structures are overprinted by a north-trending crenulation cleavage S (sub 3) , which formed during east-west D (sub 3) shortening across the belt. A northeast-trending regional S (sub 4) foliation associated with Z-shaped F (sub 4) folds and overprinting both S (sub 2) and S (sub 3) formed during northwest-southeast D (sub 4) shortening. Gold mineralization is localized along the Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone (Anoki and McBean deposits), the Upper Canada deformation zone (Upper Canada deposit), and the brittle Kirkland Lake fault and "04 Break (Kirkland Lake deposit). The Upper Canada, McBean, and Anoki deposits formed during D (sub 2) , and, along with Kerr-Addison-Chesterville, Omega, and Cheminis deposits, are probably related to a regionally extensive hydrothermal system associated with the Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone. The sulfide-poor gold- and telluride-bearing quartz veins of the Kirkland Lake deposit are interpreted to have been emplaced during D (sub 4) , synchronous with reverse-dextral movement along the ore-controlling brittle Kirkland Lake fault. The Kirkland Lake mineralization has a distinct metal signature (Te>Au, Mo, Pb, Ag, high Au/Ag, low As) and probably represents a separate hydrothermal system linked to a deep magmatic (alkalic) fluid source and unrelated to mineralization along the syn-D (sub 2) deformation zones.

Notes:

GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geological Institute.<br/>2009-020491<br/>Anoki Deposit<br/>Cheminis Deposit<br/>Kerr-Addison-Chesterville Deposit<br/>Kirkland Lake Deposit<br/>Kirkland Lake Fault<br/>Kirkland Lake-Larder Lake gold belt<br/>McBean Deposit<br/>Omega Deposit<br/>Upper Canada Deposit