Field Trip 03

Slave Craton Geology

Leader: Hendrik Falck (Northwest Territories Geological Survey)

Location: Based in Yellowknife.

Transport: Bus

Description: The Giant Mine Section, located several kilometres northwest of Yellowknife on the shores of Great Slave Lake, is a geologically unique area that showcases the interaction of Archean volcanism and sedimentation. The unmatched exposure displays evidence of the dynamic nature of greenstone belt formation and some of the challenges in developing stratigraphic models. The Giant Mine section hosts a series of pillow flows and pillow breccia with metagabbro dykes and sills as well as interflow sediments with well-preserved primary textures. This area is well known for spectacular pillow flows, with some up to 100 m in length, and contains well preserved feeder tubes with associated branching pillows. This half day field trip will look at the nature of pillow formation, interaction with ongoing volcaniclastic sedimentation and follow the development of the volcanic pile from mafic flows to felsic tuffs.