The Mesoproterozoic (1.47-1.40 Ga) Belt basin in western North America contains a thick succession of siliciclastic strata dominated by sediment derived from source areas that lay to the west and southwest of the present basin. The age and identity of this source area is important for reconstruction of the Mesoproterozoic history of western North America. Over 400 new SHRIMP U-Pb ages for detrital zircons, supplemented by Ar-Ar ages of detrital muscovite from sandstones within the Belt basin, document distinctive provenances of the basin fill; the predominant sediment influx came from a western craton, whereas subordinate input came from Laurentian sources to the east and south of the basin.
Although progressively muted by the increasing thickness of Phanerozoic sediments in the Alberta Basin, the geophysical signature of tectonic domains in the Canadian Shield can be traced nearly to the Foothills of the Canadian Cordillera. A combination of potential field data for Alberta and U–Pb zircon and monazite age determinations on drill core samples of crystalline basement recovered during hydrocarbon exploration was used to subdivide the basement of the Alberta Basin into 22 distinct domains. The Canadian Shield was used to ground truth the interpretation of the geophysical signatures and infer possible kinematic relationships between basement domains. Ages of crystalline basement range from 1.7 to 3.2 Ga and demonstrate that a large expanse of 2.1–2.4 Ga crust is present in northern Alberta. This suggests a continuum of tectonic activity and crust formation(?) in Alberta rather than the 2.6 Ga and 2.0–1.8 Ga episodicity apparent in the exposed Canadian Shield.
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