Metamorphosed silty mudstones of the Burgess Shale and Stephen Shale formations record a poly metamorphic history. An early greenschist-facies event associated with burial by Paleozoic strata produced a nearly ubiquitous bedding-parallel cleavage (S1). Tectonic exhumation during the formation of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains produced a domainal subgreenschist-facies retrograde overprint in which a high-angle crenulation cleavage (S2) was developed. Whereas all rocks have experienced these two events, the degree of deformation and fossil pre servation varies with position relative to the Cathedral Escarpment. This paleosubmarine cliff resulted in a zone of reduced deformation within adjacent strata by buttressing them during burial and deflecting deformation during orogenesis. Fossil-bearing strata are composed of a typical greenschist assemblage of muscovite–chlorite–quartz–albite, are devoid of clays, and contain an average of 0.28% organic carbon. This typical metamudstone assemblage is consistent with the typical whole-rock composition of these rocks which tends to be richer in K and Al and poorer in Fe relative to the Post-Archean Average Shale. These mineralogical–compositional characteristics suggest that the premetamorphic clay assemblage was likely illite–smectite–kaolinite, with no evidence of highly reactive species such as nontronite or Na-montmorillonite. This is contrary to the required conditions for taphonomic models involving organic preservation due to clay-related suppression of decomposition-related reactions. Metamorphism of the Burgess Shale has also re duced the total organic carbon content to <20% of initial values. This must be considered in any models that involve interpretation of organic carbon in diagenetic processes (e.g., fossil formation and determination of paleoredox conditions).

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Regional metamorphism, ranging in grade from the subgreenschist-facies to the greenschist–amphibolite-facies transition, affects all Archean supracrustal rocks (>2677 Ma) in the Rouyn–Noranda area. Contact metamorphic minerals associated with the posttectonic Preissac–Lacorne batholith (2643 Ma) show no evidence of a regional retrograde event. Accordingly, the age of regional metamorphism can be bracketed between 2677 and 2643 Ma. Three reaction isograds were mapped in subgreenschist-facies metabasites, dividing the low-grade rocks into three metamorphic zones: the pumpellyite–actinolite zone, the prehnite–pumpellyite zone, and the prehnite–epidote zone. In addition, the pumpellyite–actinolite–epidote–quartz bathograd, corresponding to a pressure of approximately 200 MPa, occurs on both sides of the Porcupine–Destor fault. Low-pressure regional metamorphism is also indicated both by the occurrence of an actinolite–oligoclase zone, and the persistence of pre-regional-metamorphic andalusite. The coincidence of andalusite and the actinolite-oligoclase zone indicates that pressure was <330 MPa at the greenschist-amphibolite transition. The geothermal gradient during metamorphism was approximately 30 °C/km. Regionally, isograds dip shallowly to the north and trend subparallel to lithological and structural trends. Metamorphic minerals in metabasites define tectonic fabrics only near major fault zones and in zones of CO2 metasomatism. In biotite zone metasedimentary rocks the schistosity is defined by mica and amphibole. These textures indicate that metamorphism and fabric development were coeval. However, the actinolite–epidote isograd cuts the Porcupine–Destor fault, indicating that regional metamorphism postdates movement along this fault. The strong fabrics associated with the Porcupine–Destor and Larder Lake–Cadillac faults must have developed through a process dominated by flattening strain.

Increased interest in the fractionation of Sn isotopes has led to the development of several techniques for preparing cassiterite (SnO2, the primary ore of Sn) for isotopic analysis. Two distinct methods have been applied in recent isotopic studies of cassiterite: (a) reduction to tin metal with potassium cyanide (KCN) at high temperature (800 °C), with subsequent dissolution in HCl, and (b) reduction to a Sn solution with hydriodic acid (HI) at low temperature (100 °C). This study compares the effectiveness and accuracy of these two methods and contributes additional methodological details. The KCN method consistently yielded more Sn (> 70% in comparison with < 5%), does not appear to fractionate Sn isotopes at high temperatures over a 2‐hour period and produced consistent Sn isotope values at flux mass ratios of ≥ 4:1 (flux to mineral) with a minimum reduction time of 40 min. By means of a distillation experiment, it was demonstrated that HI could volatilise Sn, explaining the consistently low yields by this method. Furthermore, the distillation generated Sn vapour, which is up to 0.38‰ per mass unit different from the starting material, the largest induced Sn fractionation reported to date. Accordingly, the HI method is not recommended for cassiterite preparation for Sn isotopic analysis.

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Mineral equilibria in the system Ca0-Mg0-A120,-Si02-H20 provide a basis for mapping of four reaction isograds and one bathograd in the low-pressure transition from subgreenschist to greenschist facies. Most of the Matachewan area of the Abitibi greenstone belt is in the lower-pressure bathomne, as indicated by the widespread occurrences of the subassemblage Prh-Chl. The higher-pressure bathozone is indicated by two Occurrences of Pmp-Act-Ep-Qtz, but in these samples the bathograd is displaced to anomalously low pressure by the high Fe content of the coexisting minerals. This illustrates the need to analyse coexisting minerals, calculate activities of end-member species, and compute P-T curves for individual samples before interpreting the isograd/bathograd pattern.Petrographic and microprobe analysis indicates that great care must be taken in the selection of 'equilibrium' assemblages. Pyroxene phenocrysts in one sample are replaced by the assemblage Pmp-Act-EpChl-Qtz, whereas Prh-Act-EpChl-Qtz occurs in the groundmass. Compositional variation may be more cryptic, as in a sample of metabasaltic hyaloclastite that contains two spatially distinct 'univariant' assemblages, Prh-Pmp-Ep-Chl-Qtz and Prh-Act-Ep-Chl-Qtz, within the devitrified matrix. Whereas chlorite compositions are similar in both assemblages, prehnite and epidote in the latter assemblage are significantly richer in Fe and poorer in Al. Accordingly, the rock is interpreted to contain two distinct 'univariant' assemblages, rather than one 'invariant' assemblage (Prh-PmpActEp-Chl-Qtz). The displaced 'univariant' curves for this sample intersect at 2.2 kbar and 250" C.Taking account of all thennobarometric implications, the low-grade limit of the greenschist facies is at 250-270" C and 2-2.5 kbar, corresponding to depths of 7-8 km. Comparison of apparent P-T conditions on both sides of the Larder Lake -Cadillac break, a regional C02-metasomatized fault zone that is spatially associated with many Archaean gold deposits, provides an upper limit of not more than c. 1 km for post-metamorphic south-side-up, dipslip displacement.

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