S U M M A R YThe resistivity structure of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Proterozoic Grenville Province in southern Ontario, Canada is investigated using 84 magnetotelluric (MT) sites divided into four profiles. Depth-based regional geoelectric dimensionality analyses of the MT responses indicate that the mantle lithosphere north of Lake Ontario can be subdivided into upper (45-150 km) and deeper (>200 km) lithospheric mantle layers with regional strike azimuths of N85 • E (±5 • ) and N65 • E (±5 • ), respectively. MT responses from the Grenville Front and the northwest part of the Central Gneiss Belt are compatible with the presence of 2-D resistivity structures but farther to the southeast, in the southeast part of the Central Gneiss Belt and Central Metasedimentary Belt, they suggest the presence of localized 3-D structures. 2-D inversion of distortion-free MT responses images a large scale very resistive (>20 000 m) region that extends 300 km southeast of the Grenville Front and for at least 800 km alongstrike in the lithospheric mantle beneath the Grenville Province. This feature is interpreted to be Superior Province lithosphere and the corresponding N85 • E geoelectric strike to be associated with the fabric of the Superior Province. The base of the resistor reaches depths of 280 km on two of the three MT profiles north of Lake Ontario and this depth is interpreted to be the base of the lithosphere. A large region of enhanced conductivity in the lower lithosphere, spatially correlated with decreased seismic velocity, is bounded to the northwest by a subvertical resistivity anomaly located near the Kirkland Lake and Cobalt kimberlite fields. The enhanced conductivity in the lower lithosphere is attributed to refertilization by fluids associated with Cretaceous kimberlite magmatism and can be explained by water content in olivine of 50 wt ppm in background areas with higher values in a localized anomaly beneath the kimberlite fields. Farther to the southeast the resistivity models include a lithospheric conductor between 100 and 150 km depth beneath the Central Metasedimentary Belt. The enhanced conductivity is attributed to grain boundary graphite films, associated with the Cretaceous kimberlitic magmatic process, or to water and carbon, introduced into the mantle during the pre-Grenvillian tectonism.
Magnetotelluric (MT) responses at the Proterozoic Grenville Front in Canada have been interpreted as being caused by lithospheric electrical anisotropy, and the area is often noted as a classic example of lithospheric anisotropy. This study reevaluates evidence for the electrical anisotropy using 56 MT stations. The spatially uniform MT responses noted at the Grenville Front extend to~200 km southeast and for at least 400 km along strike and are associated with rocks at less than 150 km depth. Examination of induction arrows at longer periods shows arrows at high angle to the MT conductive direction consistent with the presence of macroscopic resistivity structures. New 2-D anisotropic inversions show that electrical anisotropy is not required to fit the MT data. The results indicate that in the resistive mantle lithosphere beneath the Grenville Front, and in conductive lithosphere in adjacent areas, the maximum horizontal resistivity anisotropy is <10%, much less than the factor of 15 determined in earlier 1-D studies. The results suggest that the upper lithospheric mantle in the area is devoid of significant electrical anisotropy and that the observed MT response directionality is due to large-scale resistivity structure. We interpret the spatially consistent MT responses observed at the Grenville Front as being associated with the resistive Archean lithosphere extending southeast beneath the Grenville Front. The obliquity between seismic and MT responses arises because the Superior fabric is oblique to the seismic fast direction. If dextral shearing occurred, it appears to have not caused any significant shape preferred electrical anisotropy.
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