Location: University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Web: http://www.unb.ca/conferences/gacmac2014/index.html
Includes the following sessions and symposia:
SY4. Environmental and economic significance of gossans associated with mineralization in rifts and large igneous provinces
Convenors: Marie-Claude Williamson (marie-claude.williamson@nrcan.gc.ca), Jeff Harris (jeff.harris@nrcan.gc.ca), Cole Kingsbury
Gossans preserve anomalous concentrations of metals that are routinely investigated in the search for new ore bodies. Under certain conditions, gossans also constitute analogues of mine waste deposits. On a regional scale, the streams, lakes and permafrost that are affected by the unusual mineralogy of gossans provide indicators of environmental impact. This session will highlight recent research on gossans as natural laboratories used in environmental geosciences and metallogeny with special emphasis on their genesis in continental rift settings and flood basalt provinces. We welcome multidisciplinary scientific and technical reports on a wide range of topics including: the mapping of gossans by remote sensing in arid climates and polar regions; mineralogy and geochemistry of surficial deposits; models of development; environmental impacts; and economic geology.
SY7. Precambrian super-continent cycles: geodynamics and its influence on mineralization
Convenors: Luke Ootes (luke.ootes@gov.nt.ca), Bruce Eglington (bruce.eglington@usask.ca), Kevin Ansdell (kevin.ansdell@usask.ca), Toby Rivers (trivers@mun.ca), Sally Pehrsson (Sally.Pehrsson@nrcan.gc.ca)
Supercontinent amalgamation and fragmentation are surface manifestations of the continued tectonic activity on Earth and were major factors determining the distribution and timing of orogenesis, ore deposit formation and the environments in which life evolved. This theme will bring together cross-disciplinary presentations which investigate the nature and timing of formation and breakup of supercontinents and supercratons Nuna, Rodinia, and Pangea/Gondwana, the influence they have had on mineralization, the structure of Earth as we see it today, changes in the atmosphere and oceans and the development of life.
6. Volcanology: volcanic processes, products and relation to economic resources
Convenors: Rodney Allen (rodney.allen@ltu.se), Harold Gibson (hgibson@laurentian.ca)
Volcanism spans an incredible and fascinating range in age, style, setting and composition, and together with subvolcanic processes is a driving force for the formation of a range of metallic ore deposits, industrial mineral deposits and geothermal energy. In this scientific session we seek contributions from geologists, geochemists, geophysicists and mineral explorationists on all aspects of volcanism and subvolcanic processes, volcanic rocks, high-level subvolcanic intrusions, and their relationships with associated economic resources.
17. The age of the Earth revisited: high-precision U-Th-Pb geochronology of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary processes
Convenors: Sandra Kamo (skamo@es.utoronto.ca), Mike Hamilton (mahamilton@geology.utoronto.ca), Larry Heaman (Larry.Heaman@ualberta.ca), Paul Sylvester (pjsylvester@gmail.com)
Just over 100 years since Arthur Holmes published his seminal book, The Age of the Earth (1913), the precise measurement of geologic time by U-Th-Pb dating is undergoing another revolution. Advances in ID-TIMS, SIMS, and LA-ICPMS methods applied to zircon and other accessory minerals, innovative geochronological applications, and the use of community isotopic tracers and mineral standards, are permitting earth scientists to resolve geological events more precisely, and to ask bold new questions about Earth and solar system evolution. We encourage contributions that highlight the latest advances in analytical techniques, and which integrate multiple methods of investigation. This session is open to studies from a spectrum of U-Th-Pb dating applications including cosmochronology and earliest plate tectonic processes, to investigations of deep crustal development, orogenesis and growth of the continents, provenance studies, the dating of mineral deposits, precise temporal constraints on species evolution and extinction, LIPs and meteorite impact events, and absolute timescale issues that so intrigued Holmes.
23. Alkaline magmatism and associated mineralizations
Convenors: Anne Sylvie Andre-Mayer (anne-sylvie.andre@univ-lorraine.fr), Michel Jebrak (jebrak.michel@uqam.ca), Daniel Onhenstetter, Anthony Williams Jones (anthony.williams-jones@mcgill.ca)
Alkaline magmatism appears as the key element for the mineral resources of a low-carbon energy world. Major issues remain in the understanding of the genesis of these magma and their associated mineralizations. Recent progresses are based on integrated studies on Archean to recent systems involving field observations, detailed mineralogy, textural interpretations, and geochemistry. Contributions on all subjects relevant to advancing our understanding of processes involved in the development of alkaline magmatism and associated mineralization are welcome to this special session.
Includes the following fieldtrip:
B3. Geology of the Island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick: Precambrian to Early Cambrian and Triassic Formations
Leaders: J. Gregory McHone (greg@earth2geologists.net), Les Fyffe (les.fyffe@gnb.ca)
Duration: 2.5 days
Maximum: 25
Start Date: Friday, May 23
Cost: $355.00
Shoreline exposures on the scenic Island of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy display features of both the ancient Gondwanan margin of the Paleozoic Iapetus Ocean and the Early Mesozoic margin of the modern Atlantic Ocean. The eastern part of Grand Manan is underlain by complexly deformed sequences of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, with recently-determined Neoproterozoic to Cambrian ages. Rifting that opened the Atlantic Ocean stranded this Ganderian fragment of the former Gondwanan continent, and also produced the Grand Manan Basin with Late Triassic flood basalts and sedimentary rocks exposed west of the island’s basin border fault.