Ni-Cu-PGE potential of the Nipissing sills as part of the ca. 2.2 Ga Ungava Large Igneous Province

Abstract

This report summarizes mineralization associated with the Nipissing Diabase sills in the broader Sudbury area and evaluates the geochemical link between these sills and potential feeder dykes that are part of the broader ca. 2.2 Ga Ungava large igneous province. New whole-rock major and trace element data are presented for the Nipissing sills and these are combined with previously published data. Sm-Nd isotope data are presented for the Maguire, Senneterre and Klotz dykes, and the Triangle Mountain sill, providing key constraints on their magmatic sources and history of crustal assimilation. To help constrain the temporal evolution of the magmatic system, a new U-Pb baddeleyite age has been determined for the Triangle Mountain sill at 2216.5 ± 2.1 Ma. We also report a previously obtained, precise, U-Pb zircon age for the Ni-Cu-PGE mineralized Shakespeare intrusion at 2217.0 +1.7/-1.5 Ma. Together, whole-rock major and trace elements, Sm-Nd isotopes, and U-Pb geochronology are used to gain a more complete picture of how the mineralized components of the ca. 2.2 Ga Ungava large igneous province were generated.

Geology, geochemistry, and apatite/titanite U–Pb geochronology of ca. 1.88 Ga alkaline ultrabasic dykes in the Southern Province near Sudbury, Ontario

“…;Hill et al 2018), the Huronian Supergroup was affected by multiple episodes of predominantly mafic magmatism at 2.48, 2. 22, 1.75, and 1.24 Ga and again at 0.59 Ga (e.g., Corfu and Andrews 1986;Krogh et al 1987;Kamo et al 1995;Prevec 1995;Corfu and Easton 2001;Fedorowich et al 2006;Easton et al 2010;Ernst and Buchan 2010;Ketchum et al 2013;Bleeker et al 2015;Davey et al 2019), most of which have been studied in great detail due to their inherent economic potential (magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE, hydrothermal Co-Ag), their potential as a metal source for the Sudbury impact melts (Lightfoot 2016;Keays and Lightfoot 2020, and references therein), and their overall geodynamic significance as it pertains to supercontinent cycles and palaeoenvironmental and atmospheric evolution (e.g., Kamo et al 1995; Can. J.…”

Testing the Paleogeography of Late Archean Supercraton Superia using Pre-Breakup 2.51-1.98 Ga dyke and Sill Provinces – with a Focus on the Relationship Between the Karelia-Kola and Superior Cratonic Fragments

“…For example, the ca. 2.22 Ga Maguire and Klotz dykes in the northern Superior craton are geochemically distinct but both belong to the Ungava LIP (Maurice et al, 2009;Davey et al, 2019). Maurice et al (2009) Maurice et al (2009) and Kastek et al (2018), propose that magmas were generated from heterogeneous mantle and plume sources that variably incorporated enriched lithosphereic components.…”