Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts
The Paleoproterozoic Belcher Group (ca. 2.0 to 1.83 Ga) occurs on the remote Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay in Nunavut, Canada. It includes nearly nine kilometres of well-preserved siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks, deposited initially in a marginal to shallow marine setting representing...
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ftuninewbrunojs:oai:ojs.journals.lib.unb.ca:article/33436 2024-04-28T08:14:27+00:00 Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts McDonald, Brayden Partin, Camille 2024-04-05 application/pdf https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436 eng eng Geological Association of Canada https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436/1882529946 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436 Copyright (c) 2024 Geoscience Canada Geoscience Canada; Vol. 51 No. 1 (2024); 7-42 1911-4850 0315-0941 Belcher Islands Canadian Shield Conservation Geobiology Paleoproterozoic Superior Craton Trans-Hudson Orogen info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2024 ftuninewbrunojs 2024-04-09T23:54:36Z The Paleoproterozoic Belcher Group (ca. 2.0 to 1.83 Ga) occurs on the remote Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay in Nunavut, Canada. It includes nearly nine kilometres of well-preserved siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks, deposited initially in a marginal to shallow marine setting representing one of the first true continental shelf environments on the proto-Canadian Shield. A wide variety of depositional facies exists within the Belcher Group, and it is particularly well known for its spectacular stromatolites in dolostone. In addition to these macroscopic features, two of its formations (Kasegalik and McLeary) contain intact microfossils of Eoentophysalis belcherensis, the oldest known occurrence of cyanobacteria in the geological record. The uppermost part of the Belcher Group contains sedimentary rocks of very different character that represent a younger foreland basin that developed in response to accretionary and collisional processes of the Trans-Hudson orogen. These younger formations (Omarolluk and Loaf) consist of a thick sequence of turbidites, overlain by arkose and other immature clastic sedimentary rocks. A defining characteristic of the Omarolluk Formation is the presence of calcareous concretions. The Omarolluk Formation shares attributes with “omars”, which are glacially transported clasts that occur both locally and further afield throughout parts of Canada and the northern United States and have helped characterize Pleistocene ice-flow trends across the continent. The Belcher Group also includes two formations dominated by spectacular mafic volcanic rocks. The earlier episode, represented by the Eskimo Formation, reflects eruption of largely subaerial volcanic flows interpreted to represent flood basalt associated with the rifting of Archean basement during the establishment of the continental shelf. A later volcanic episode (the Flaherty Formation) is dominated by submarine pillowed basalt flows and has been assigned to varied tectonic settings, including volcanic arcs related to ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Belcher Islands eskimo* Hudson Bay inuit Nunavut University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of New Brunswick: Centre for Digital Scholarship Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftuninewbrunojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Belcher Islands Canadian Shield Conservation Geobiology Paleoproterozoic Superior Craton Trans-Hudson Orogen |
spellingShingle |
Belcher Islands Canadian Shield Conservation Geobiology Paleoproterozoic Superior Craton Trans-Hudson Orogen McDonald, Brayden Partin, Camille Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
topic_facet |
Belcher Islands Canadian Shield Conservation Geobiology Paleoproterozoic Superior Craton Trans-Hudson Orogen |
description |
The Paleoproterozoic Belcher Group (ca. 2.0 to 1.83 Ga) occurs on the remote Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay in Nunavut, Canada. It includes nearly nine kilometres of well-preserved siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks, deposited initially in a marginal to shallow marine setting representing one of the first true continental shelf environments on the proto-Canadian Shield. A wide variety of depositional facies exists within the Belcher Group, and it is particularly well known for its spectacular stromatolites in dolostone. In addition to these macroscopic features, two of its formations (Kasegalik and McLeary) contain intact microfossils of Eoentophysalis belcherensis, the oldest known occurrence of cyanobacteria in the geological record. The uppermost part of the Belcher Group contains sedimentary rocks of very different character that represent a younger foreland basin that developed in response to accretionary and collisional processes of the Trans-Hudson orogen. These younger formations (Omarolluk and Loaf) consist of a thick sequence of turbidites, overlain by arkose and other immature clastic sedimentary rocks. A defining characteristic of the Omarolluk Formation is the presence of calcareous concretions. The Omarolluk Formation shares attributes with “omars”, which are glacially transported clasts that occur both locally and further afield throughout parts of Canada and the northern United States and have helped characterize Pleistocene ice-flow trends across the continent. The Belcher Group also includes two formations dominated by spectacular mafic volcanic rocks. The earlier episode, represented by the Eskimo Formation, reflects eruption of largely subaerial volcanic flows interpreted to represent flood basalt associated with the rifting of Archean basement during the establishment of the continental shelf. A later volcanic episode (the Flaherty Formation) is dominated by submarine pillowed basalt flows and has been assigned to varied tectonic settings, including volcanic arcs related to ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McDonald, Brayden Partin, Camille |
author_facet |
McDonald, Brayden Partin, Camille |
author_sort |
McDonald, Brayden |
title |
Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
title_short |
Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
title_full |
Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
title_fullStr |
Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Paleoproterozoic Rocks of the Belcher Islands, Nunavut: A Review of Their Remarkable Geology and Relevance to Inuit-led Conservation Efforts |
title_sort |
paleoproterozoic rocks of the belcher islands, nunavut: a review of their remarkable geology and relevance to inuit-led conservation efforts |
publisher |
Geological Association of Canada |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436 |
genre |
Belcher Islands eskimo* Hudson Bay inuit Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Belcher Islands eskimo* Hudson Bay inuit Nunavut |
op_source |
Geoscience Canada; Vol. 51 No. 1 (2024); 7-42 1911-4850 0315-0941 |
op_relation |
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436/1882529946 https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/33436 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2024 Geoscience Canada |
_version_ |
1797580499045056512 |