EN :

Localized solution removal of bedded salt ofthe cratonic interior has given rise to characteristic collapse structures in the overlying strata. Solution-generated collapse (SGC) structures comprise (1) fault-bounded subsidence troughs, (2) anomalous thickness increases of lithostratigraphic units, (3) collapse breccias resting on solution residues, and (4) local absence or thickness reduction of an evaporite unit at depth. SGC structures are potential conduits for cross-formational flow of fluids (ground water and hydrocarbons) and may have served as free-ways of easy migration for brines enriched in base metals. Reconstruction of the hydro-geologic environments and ground-water regimes has potential as a strategy for location of commercial accumulations of hydro-carbons and base metals.

EN :

The Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt trends southwesterly and is bounded on the north by the Kissey new gneiss belt and on the south by Paleozoic carbonate rocks. Airborne geophysical surveys indicate that the greenstone belt extends south beneath a thin (<iOOm), shallow-dipping cover of Paleozoic rocks. Precambrian mineralization discovered in the greenstone belt north of the Paleozoic rocks should also be found beneath them. Project Cormorant is designed to map Precambrian geology beneath the Paleozoic cover to assist exploration for sub-Paleozoic mineral deposits.

The mapping tools are aeromagnetic total fields, vertical gradient surveys, and diamond drill core. The geophysical data have been used to create a magnetic domain map for the sub-Paleozoic region. Geological data from drill core and exposed Pre-cambrian rocks will be used to transform the magnetic domain map into a pseudo-geological map of the covered basement rocks.

A U-Pb zircon age of 1845 +107-8 Ma has been obtained from the large central granitoid domain beneath Paleozoic cover rocks, comparable with ages of plulons in the Flin Flon belt.

EN :

Plant macrofossils consist of reproductive and vegetative plant parts visible to the un-aided eye. Lakes and peat lands are the most common repositories for the preservation of Quaternary plant macrofossils; however, natural tar seeps, calcareous nodules,spring deposits, packrat middens, and fossil dung are important sources of plant remains also. In Canada, the first plant macrofossils were collected in the mid-1800s, with a brief period of activity around 1900 before the beginning of modern Quaternary plant macrofossil analyses around 1960. Taphonomic studies indicate that plant macrofossils can be transported, sorted and redeposited long distances, which complicates paleoecological reconstructions. Plant macrofossils are valuable in geological studies of environmental history and climatic change; however, the use of plant macro-fossils for biostratigraphic correlation must await further research. Four broad phyto-geographic patterns are recognizable on the basis of Quaternary plant macrofossil records in Canada, and plant macrofossils can be used to trace the evolutionary origins of the modern flora.