Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada
The Thelon Basin is temporally and spatially related to the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada, which hosts the highest-grade unconformity-related uranium deposits in the world. Several uranium deposits occur within the Aberdeen sub-basin of the Thelon Basin, and it has been suggested that they...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 2023-12-17T10:47:45+01:00 Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada Shabaga, Brandi M. Fayek, Mostafa Quirt, David Ledru, Patrick 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 57, issue 11, page 1312-1323 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 General Earth and Planetary Sciences journal-article 2020 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 2023-11-19T13:39:18Z The Thelon Basin is temporally and spatially related to the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada, which hosts the highest-grade unconformity-related uranium deposits in the world. Several uranium deposits occur within the Aberdeen sub-basin of the Thelon Basin, and it has been suggested that they may also be unconformity-related deposits. However, the genesis of the deposits is still debated and the age of the uranium mineralization event remains loosely constrained. In this study, we use secondary ion mass spectrometry to measure three sulphur (S) isotopes in pyrite from the Kiggavik deposit to constrain the sources of sulphur. We use this information to determine whether these sulphides, if dated by the Re–Os method, would provide a better constraint on the timing of uranium mineralization. The Kiggavik deposit comprises three zones (Main, Centre, and East) that formed from ∼200 °C fluids at ∼1600 Ma. Non-hydrothermal pyrite and galena from all three zones have a wide range of δ 34 S values, from −41.2‰ to +37.4‰. The Δ 33 S values (>0‰) indicate recycling of mass independent fractionation sulphur, suggesting that pyrite from the Kiggavik deposit derived sulphur from the Neoarchean metagraywacke host rock. The preservation of these anomalous Δ 33 S values suggests that the pyrite formed from low-temperature processes rather than hydrothermal processes. Low-temperature, high-latitude fluids may have been involved in the formation of the pyrite because some of these sulphides are also associated with uranium minerals that are devoid of Pb and contain corroded calcite. Based on these data, Re–Os geochronology of these sulphides would not yield an age that would constrain the timing of hydrothermal uranium mineralization. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nunavut Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Nunavut Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 57 11 1312 1323 |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Shabaga, Brandi M. Fayek, Mostafa Quirt, David Ledru, Patrick Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
description |
The Thelon Basin is temporally and spatially related to the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan, Canada, which hosts the highest-grade unconformity-related uranium deposits in the world. Several uranium deposits occur within the Aberdeen sub-basin of the Thelon Basin, and it has been suggested that they may also be unconformity-related deposits. However, the genesis of the deposits is still debated and the age of the uranium mineralization event remains loosely constrained. In this study, we use secondary ion mass spectrometry to measure three sulphur (S) isotopes in pyrite from the Kiggavik deposit to constrain the sources of sulphur. We use this information to determine whether these sulphides, if dated by the Re–Os method, would provide a better constraint on the timing of uranium mineralization. The Kiggavik deposit comprises three zones (Main, Centre, and East) that formed from ∼200 °C fluids at ∼1600 Ma. Non-hydrothermal pyrite and galena from all three zones have a wide range of δ 34 S values, from −41.2‰ to +37.4‰. The Δ 33 S values (>0‰) indicate recycling of mass independent fractionation sulphur, suggesting that pyrite from the Kiggavik deposit derived sulphur from the Neoarchean metagraywacke host rock. The preservation of these anomalous Δ 33 S values suggests that the pyrite formed from low-temperature processes rather than hydrothermal processes. Low-temperature, high-latitude fluids may have been involved in the formation of the pyrite because some of these sulphides are also associated with uranium minerals that are devoid of Pb and contain corroded calcite. Based on these data, Re–Os geochronology of these sulphides would not yield an age that would constrain the timing of hydrothermal uranium mineralization. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shabaga, Brandi M. Fayek, Mostafa Quirt, David Ledru, Patrick |
author_facet |
Shabaga, Brandi M. Fayek, Mostafa Quirt, David Ledru, Patrick |
author_sort |
Shabaga, Brandi M. |
title |
Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_short |
Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full |
Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sources of sulphur for the Proterozoic Kiggavik uranium deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_sort |
sources of sulphur for the proterozoic kiggavik uranium deposit, nunavut, canada |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 |
geographic |
Nunavut Canada |
geographic_facet |
Nunavut Canada |
genre |
Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Nunavut |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences volume 57, issue 11, page 1312-1323 ISSN 0008-4077 1480-3313 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0318 |
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Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
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57 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
1312 |
op_container_end_page |
1323 |
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1785571697621991424 |