Lead- and sulfur-isotope ratios from the Great Slave Lake area, Canada

Lead- and sulfur-isotope ratios have been determined for some galenas and iron sulfides from two regions around Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. For the ore deposits, sulfur-isotope ratios are close to the meteoritic value or slightly positive. Lead-isotope ratios fall into two groups, one derive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
Main Authors: Robertson, D. K., Cumming, G. L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1968
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e68-125
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e68-125
Description
Summary:Lead- and sulfur-isotope ratios have been determined for some galenas and iron sulfides from two regions around Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. For the ore deposits, sulfur-isotope ratios are close to the meteoritic value or slightly positive. Lead-isotope ratios fall into two groups, one derived from a source with Th/U = 4.3 and μ = 9–11, and the other from a source with Th/U = 3.5 and μ = 9.0. The ratios fall on an anomalous lead line, which indicates one event of great antiquity (approximately 4000 m.y.), and another about 2800 m.y. ago.Other sulfide samples from areas around Great Slave Lake, primarily outside the ancient (2800 m.y.) Slave Province, indicate events at 2800 m.y. and 1550 m.y., the latter date probably representing the time of the last major tectonic event in the Slave Province. Sulfur-isotope ratios for these samples vary from +1‰ to −13‰ relative to the meteoritic value, suggesting that these leads may have been remobilized by thermal metamorphism, and recombined with crustal sulfur enriched in 32 S.