Paleo-Hydrothermal Predecessor to Perennial Spring Activity in Thick Permafrost in the Canadian High Arctic, and Its Relation to Deep Salt Structures: Expedition Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut

• Published in: Geofluids
• Main Authors: Marcos Zentilli, Christopher R. Omelon, Jacob Hanley, Darren LeFort
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi-Wiley 2019
• Subjects: Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; Axel Heiberg Island; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Expedition Fiord; Heiberg; North Pole; Nunavut; White Glacier; Arctic Archipelago; permafrost; Queen Elizabeth Islands
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9502904; https://doaj.org/article/b1fbeb2168fb48d4a64d6f5bc80b49bd

It is surprising to encounter active saline spring activity at a constant 6°C temperature year-round not far away from the North Pole, at latitude 79°24′N, where the permafrost is ca. 600 m thick and average annual temperature is -15°C. These perennial springs in Expedition Fiord, Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, had previously been explained as a recent, periglacial process. However, the discovery near White Glacier (79°26.66′N; 90°42.20′W; 350 m.a.s.l.) of a network of veins of hydrothermal origin with a similar mineralogy to travertine precipitates formed by the springs suggests that their fluids have much deeper circulation and are related to evaporite structures (salt diapirs) that underlie the area. The relatively high minimum trapping temperature of the fluid inclusions (avg. ~200 ± 45°C, 1σ) in carbonate and quartz in the vein array, and in quartz veins west of the site, explains a local thermal anomaly detected through low-temperature thermochronology. This paper reviews and updates descriptive features of the perennial springs in Expedition Fiord and compares their mineralogy, geochemistry, and geology to the vein array by White Glacier, which is interpreted as a hydrothermal predecessor of the springs. The perennial springs in Axel Heiberg Island are known for half a century and have been extensively described in the literature. Discharging spring waters are hypersaline (1-4 molal NaCl; ~5 to 19 wt% NaCl) and precipitate Fe-sulfides, sulfates, carbonates, and halides with acicular and banded textures representing discharge pulsations. At several sites, waters and sediments by spring outlets host microbial communities that are supported by carbon- and energy-rich reduced substrates including sulfur and methane. They have been studied as possible analogs for life-supporting environments in Mars. The vein array at White Glacier consists of steep to subhorizontal veins, mineralized fractures, and breccias within a gossan area of ca. 350 × 50 m. The host rock is altered diabase and a ...