Regional heavy mineral survey in the exploration for gold using regression: Grenville Province, southwestern Quebec

A geochemical reconnaissance heavy mineral survey has been carried out in the area of the Gatineau River Valley, over a part of the Grenville Province of Québec. The majority of samples show gold concentrations below the detection limit of 5 ppb, and anomalies are erratic. To circumvent these problems and to present an accurate image of the gold-bearing potential of the area, a regression analysis has been applied to the samples whose gold concentrations were above the detection limit. The regression of gold on chalcophile pathfinder elements (As, Se and Pb) explains 11% of the gold variance.Bedrock lithologies, overburden cover and physico-chemical characteristics are important factors influencing the chalcophile element dispersion pattern. Principal component analysis was used to characterize the principal inter-element relationships and to identify the factors influencing the dispersion of chalcophile elements. A filtering procedure was used to remove the background effects influencing the pathfinder elements, and to enhance the influence of mineralization. This procedure uses standard formulas for partial reconstruction of the data matrix from results of principal component analysis. The regression model constructed with these corrected data explains 20% of gold variance. It constitutes an improvement over the model which uses non-filtered data.The equation inferred from regression was applied to the whole data set and provided an estimation of gold at each sampling point. Exploration targets are defined from highest gold concentrations estimated by regression. The regression model aided in the definition of some well defined anomalies associated with geological structures favourable to gold mineralization.     

Heat flow studies: Constraints on the distribution of uranium,thorium and potassium in the continental crust

To study the amount of heat generated by radioactive decay in the continental crust, the usual practice in the literature is to fit to the heat flow and radioactivity data a relationship of the form: Q = Q_r + D · A where Q and A are the observed heat flow and radiogenic heat production. Q_r is the “reduced” heat flow and D is a depth scale. This procedure implicitly assumes that uranium, thorium and potassium have identical distributions in the crust. We suggest that significant information may be lost as the three radioelements may in fact be affected by processes operating over different depths.Data published for four heat flow provinces throughout the world are used to estimate the distributions of uranium, thorium and potassium in the continental crust. These distributions are characterized by a depth scales defined as follows: D_i =∫0h C_i(z)C_i(0)dz where h is the thickness of the layer containing the bulk of radioactivity and C_i(z) the concentration of element i at depth z. Three depth scales are computed from a least-squares fit to the following relationship: Q = Q_r + D_U · A_U + D_T · A_T + D_K · A_T where Q is the observed heat flow and Q_r some constant (a reduced heat flow). A_i is the heat generation rate due to the radioactive decay of element i, and D_i is the corresponding depth scale.The analysis suggests that the three distributions are different and that they have the same basic features in the four provinces considered. The depth scale for potassium is large in granitic areas, that for thorium is small and that for uranium lies between the other two.We propose a simple model according to which each radioelement essentially provides a record for one process. Potassium gives a depth scale for the primary differentiation of the crust. Thorium gives the depth scale of magmatic or metamorphic fluid circulation. Finally, the uranium distribution reflects the late effects of alteration due to meteoric water. We show that the heat flow and radioactivity data are compatible with this model.Our analysis and numerical results are supported by data from deep boreholes and by geochemical evidence, such as detailed investigations of plutonic series and studies of U-Th-Pb systematics.     

Author index volume 36

Using the single zircon technique, two areas which give some of the oldest ages on earth have been investigated, namely the Minnesota River Valley and West Greenland.The results on single zircons from the Minnesota River Valley and from the Amîtsoq gneisses (West Greenland) do not differ significantly from the results of Farhat (1975) and Baadsgaard (1973) at about 3.3 and 3.65 b.y., respectively.The U-Pb analyses of single zircons from acid boulders from the conglomerate unit at Isua (West Greenland) yield the oldest age so far reported for a terrestrial rock, namely 3.824_?0.009^+0.012 b.y.     

Contribution de l'aeromagnetisme a l'etude du golfe de Valence (Mediterranee occidentale)

We present an aeromagnetic survey of the Gulf of Valencia and the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean). A total field anomaly map and a map of the anomalies reduced to the pole have been obtained. From these maps, it is apparent that there are two regions of opposing magnetic style: the Balearic archipelago which is magnetically very smooth, and the north Balearic basin (or Gulf of Valencia) where anomalies are in places very intense. From a comparison of these two domains, we conclude that the Valencian basin was created during an extensional tectonic phase.     

Lead isotope study of basic-ultrabasic layered complexes: Speculations about the age of the earth and primitive mantle characteristics

In order to explore mantle heterogeneity through geological time, Pb isotopic compositions have been determined for 8 differentiated-layered intrusions whose ages are between 2.7 and 0.05 b.y.. The Pb-Pb ages of these intrusions and the U-Pb characteristics of their parent sources are discussed.The Pb-Pb dating method is found to be applicable for this type of basic or ultrabasic rocks and agrees satisfactorily with other available methods. Significant differences are found between the calculated values for the parent bodies of these intrusions. This could reflect either mantle heterogeneity since Archean times, or contamination of some of the bodies by continental crust. Discrimination between these hypotheses can be proposed from the positions of the initial Sr ratios of these massives in respect to the supposed “terrestrial” evolution line. The two intrusions which plot on that closed system Sr evolution line (Muntsche Tundra, U.S.S.R., and Skaergaard, Greenland) belong also to a simple two-stage evolution model for Pb, with a low first-stage μ value of 7.8. If these two bodies are considered as pieces of a “primitive” closed-system mantle, a4.55 ± 0.01 age of the earth can be calculated from their Pb initial ratios.     

Process identification and search for optimal differentiation parameters from major element data. General presentation with emphasis on the fractional crystallization process

Different igneous differentiation processes result in various evolution trends in a certain composition space Rⁿ. Almost every genetic process can be described as a single two-pole mixing process, which leads to a straight evolution line in Rⁿ; or as a series of two-pole mixing processes, which in the general case leads to a broken curved evolution line.When a fundamental two-pole mixing process clearly prevails over one or several secondary processes in the genesis of a volcanic suite, a ‘best’ mixing line in Rⁿ can be computed with due attention to experimental uncertainties. A number of statistical tools are available for testing the data-uncertainties-linear model consistency and for pointing out a few dubious data, or the influence of a few secondary processes.The best mixing line and its associated error volumes serve to quantify the trend, and then can be used to get some ‘best’ estimate (or competitive acceptable estimates) of the mineralogical parameters that control the genetic process.Any mineral assemblage defines a continuous composition family in Rⁿ which can be characterized by its gaussian distance to the best mixing line. In the framework of a fractional crystallization model, that distance serves as a test for accepting or rejecting the mineral assemblage as a likely candidate for representing the crystallizing solid.In favorable situations the minimization procedure used to compute the distance also determines both the mineral proportions in the crystallizing solid and their compositions. In less favorable situations it may leave us with some indeterminacy among a small number of acceptable interpretations.The mixing line calculation and the mineralogical inversion procedure are applied to the classical Kilauea Iki Lava Lake (Hawaii) example, where olivine and chromite crystallization with incomplete solid-liquid separation is shown to be a likely explanation for the observations, along with near-surface iron oxidation as a secondary process.The origin of volcanic rocks from Terceira Island (Azores) is less clear. It is shown that the simultaneous crystallization of olivine, Ti-augite and plagioclase can be retained as an acceptable interpretation for the least differentiated rocks, but that substantial secondary processes are also involved.     

Systematics in uranium-ionium dating of sediments

The mineral separates of a core have been systematically dated by the Io/Th chronology method. The results show that authigenic minerals, though not always completely authigenic, are suitable for dating.We give some evidence against the hypothesis of Io/²³²Th isotopic equilibrium in marine conditions and suggest that the minerals are mixtures of two components.     

Évolution pression–température des amphibolites de la zone axiale au cours du métamorphisme hercynien des Pyrénées orientales

Thin levels of amphibolites from the Canigou, Albères and Cap de Creus massifs have been studied in order to investigate their pressure and temperature evolution during time. P and T values have been calculated using the amphibole–plagioclase–quartz thermo-barometer. Si, Al, Mg and Fe of zoned amphiboles have been analysed from core to rim by microprobe. By combining the results obtained from several (or different) crystals, P–T–t paths have been determined using the amphibole-plagioclase-quartz equilibriums. In the Canigou Massif, the amphibolites have recorded anti-clockwise P–T–t paths around a peak of metamorphism located at about 650?°C–6.1 kbar, whereas in the Albères Massif, the calculated P–T–t paths of amphibolites near the paragneisses are retrograde only, from 600?°C–5 kbar to 450?°C–2.5 kbar, but one cummingtonite-bearing amphibolite has also recorded an anti-clockwise evolution around 650?°C–4.5 kbar. The retrograde P–T–t paths recorded for amphibolites from the ‘Cap de Creus’ Massif are retrograde only, from 650?°C–6 kbar and 400?°C–1 kbar. To cite this article: C. Triboulet et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Variation in lipid relative abundance and composition among different particle size fractions of a forest soil

Most studies of soil organic matter are on humic substances although a substantial contribution of lipids is generally noted for soils. Moreover, soil lipids were shown to have a relatively high resistance to biodegradation. Thus, they could provide information on organic matter sources and diagenetic processes. Soil organic matter is highly heterogeneous and different dynamic pools are in evidenced. However the links between these pools and molecular structure have not yet been established. Soil lipids were investigated in three particle-size fractions of a forest soil. Lipids were shown to be preferentially located in the finest fraction. GC-MS analysis of free lipids has revealed different main sources depending on the particle-size fraction and differential degradation. Furthermore, the results obtained for the free lipids on the one hand, and the saponified lipids on the other hand, have indicated that different preservation mechanisms for lipids occur in this soil.