Till geochemistry and lithogeochemical exploration for a concealed kimberlite, Northwest Territories, Canada ...

• Main Author: Wickham, Andrew
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2022
• Subjects: Northwest Territories
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0412902; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0412902

Research at the Kelvin kimberlite, NWT, is helping to define surface exploration practices and is testing new host rock lithogeochemical exploration tools that will result in reduced costs and improved discovery success. In regions where recent glaciation has buried kimberlites under glacial sediments, surface geochemical detection methods are best interpreted when coupled with a comprehension of the landscape formation processes. The glacial, post-glacial, and cryoturbation processes that have affected the landscape have, in turn, affected the dispersal of geochemical signatures in the till that can be detected and exploited by detailed surface mapping, sampling, and geochemical analysis. The Kelvin kimberlite is an inclined pipe that subcrops from metaturbidite country-rock beneath a lake. No indicator mineral train has been detected at Kelvin by traditional indicator mineral methods. Relative uniformity of surficial material (<6m thick till blanket) allows for extensive B-horizon soil sampling above ...