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Abitibi greenstone belt, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Québec, Canadai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Abitibi greenstone belt | Belt |
| Abitibi-Témiscamingue | Administrative Region |
| Québec | Province |
| Canada | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude:
47° North , 77° West (est.)
Estimate based on other nearby localities or region boundaries.
Margin of Error:
~204km
Type:
A Neoarchean greenstone belt with many gold deposits. The Abitibi Subprovince is situated in the southeastern Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. It is roughly 400 km E-W by 250 km N-S and it is truncated by Proterozoic structures on both its western and eastern boundaries.
Occurrences of komatiites.
The Abitibi greenstone belt is the most metal-endowed subprovince of the Archean Superior craton. Its southern region produced over > 8,100 t Au from deposits along and between two long-lived crustal faults: the Porcupine-Destor deformation zone to the north and the Larder Lake − Cadillac deformation zone to the south. The Larder Lake − Cadillac deformation zone generally strikes east–west and can be traced over 250 km across northeastern Ontario and northwestern Quebec.
The stratigraphy has been sub-divided into seven volcanic-dominated, and two sedimentary-dominated, assemblages: (1) Pre-2750 Ma; (2) Pacaud − 2750–2735 Ma; (3) Deloro – 2735–2724 Ma; (4) Stoughton-Roquemaure – 2724–2720 Ma; (5) Kidd-Munro – 2720–2711; (6) Tisdale – 2711–2704; (7) Blake River – 2704–2695 Ma; (8) Porcupine – 2690–2685 Ma; and (9) Timiskaming <2679–2669 Ma.
Commodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.List of minerals for each chemical element
Other Regions, Features and Areas that Intersect
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References
Irving, E., Naldrett, A. J. (1977) Paleomagnetism in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, and Abitibi and Matachewan Diabase Dikes: Evidence of the Archean Geomagnetic Field. The Journal of Geology, 85 (2) 157-176 doi:10.1086/628283
Barnes, Sarah-Jane (1985) The petrography and geochemistry of komatiite flows from the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and a model for their formation. Lithos, 18. 241-270 doi:10.1016/0024-4937(85)90030-1
Wood, Tim B. Vander, Clayton, Robert N. (1985) Age Relationships in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt: Evidence from Ion-Microprobe-Determined Lead Isotope Ratios. The Journal of Geology, 93 (3) 251-270 doi:10.1086/628951
Ludden, John, Hubert, Claude, Gariépy, Clement (1986) The tectonic evolution of the Abitibi greenstone belt of Canada. Geological Magazine, 123 (2) 153-166 doi:10.1017/s0016756800029800
Ludden, John, Hubert, Claude (1986) Geologic evolution of the Late Archean Abitibi greenstone belt of Canada. Geology, 14 (8) 707 doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<707:geotla>2.0.co;2
Birkett, Tyson (1987) The petrography and geochemistry of komatiite flows from the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and a model for their formation — Comments. Lithos, 20 (2) 181-182 doi:10.1016/0024-4937(87)90006-5
Barnes, Sarah-Jane, Naldrett, Anthony J. (1987) Fractionation of the platinum-group elements and gold in some komatiites of the Abitibi greenstone belt, northern Ontario. Economic Geology, 82 (1) 165-183 doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.82.1.165
Barnes, Sarah-Jane (1987) The petrography and geochemistry of komatiite flows from the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and a model for their formation — Reply. Lithos, 20 (2) 182-185 doi:10.1016/0024-4937(87)90007-7
Feng, Rui, Kerrich, Rob (1990) Geobarometry, differential block movements, and crustal, structure of the southwestern Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Geology, 18 (9) 870 doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1990)018<0870:gdbmac>2.3.co;2
Jackson, S. L., Sutcliffe, R. H. (1990) Central Superior Province geology: evidence for an allochthonous, ensimatic, southern Abitibi greenstone belt. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 27 (4) 582-589 doi:10.1139/e90-054
Laflèche, M.R., Dupuy, C., Dostal, J. (1991) Archaean orogenic ultrapotassic magmatism: an example from the southern Abitibi greenstone belt. Precambrian Research, 52 (1) 71-96 doi:10.1016/0301-9268(91)90014-2
Corfu, Fernando (1993) The evolution of the southern Abitibi greenstone belt in light of precise U-Pb geochronology. Economic Geology, 88 (6) 1323-1340 doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.88.6.1323
Desrochers, Jean-Philippe, Hubert, Claude, Ludden, John N., Pilote, Pierre (1993) Accretion of Archean oceanic plateau fragments in the Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Geology, 21 (5). 451 doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1993)021<0451:aoaopf>2.3.co;2
HOFMANN, HANS J., MASSON, MARIO (1994) Archean stromatolites from Abitibi greenstone belt, Quebec, Canada. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106 (3) 424-429 doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1994)106<0424:asfagb>2.3.co;2
Xie, Qianli, Kerrich, Robert (1994) Silicate-perovskite and majorite signature komatiites from the Archean Abitibi Greenstone Belt: Implications for early mantle differentiation and stratification. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99. 15799 doi:10.1029/94jb00544
Lacroix, S., Sawyer, E. W. (1995) An Archean fold-thrust belt in the northwestern Abitibi Greenstone Belt: structural and seismic evidence. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 32 (2) 97-112 doi:10.1139/e95-009
Jackson, S. L., Cruden, A. R. (1995) Formation of the Abitibi greenstone belt by arc-trench migration. Geology, 23 (5) 471 doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1995)023<0471:fotagb>2.3.co;2
Carignan, Jean, Machado, Nuno, Gariépy, Clément (1995) U-Pb isotopic geochemistry of komatiites and pyroxenes from the southern Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Chemical Geology, 126 (1). 17-27 doi:10.1016/0009-2541(95)00100-8
Powell, W. G., Carmichael, D. M., Hodgson, C. J. (1995) Conditions and timing of metamorphism in the southern Abitibi greenstone belt, Quebec. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 32 (6) 787-805 doi:10.1139/e95-067
Mueller, W.U, Daigneault, R, Mortensen, J.K, Chown, E.H (1996) Archean terrane docking: upper crust collision tectonics, Abitibi greenstone belt, Quebec, Canada. Tectonophysics, 265 (1) 127-150 doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(96)00149-7
Lahaye, Y. (1998) Re-Os Isotopic Study of Komatiitic Volcanism and Magmatic Sulphide Formation in the Southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canada. Mineralogical Magazine, 62 (2) 844-845 doi:10.1180/minmag.1998.62a.2.111
Robert, François (2001) Syenite-associated disseminated gold deposits in the Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Mineralium Deposita, 36 (6). 503-516 doi:10.1007/s001260100186
Benn, Keith, Peschler, Anne P. (2005) A detachment fold model for fault zones in the Late Archean Abitibi greenstone belt. Tectonophysics, 400 (1) 85-104 doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2005.02.011
Mueller, W.U.; Stix, J.; Corcoran, P.L.; Daigneault, R. (2009) Subaqueous calderas in the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt: An overview and new ideas. Ore Geology Reviews, 35 (1). doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2008.12.003
Schandl, E. S., Gorton, M. P. (2012) HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION AND CO2 METASOMATISM (NATURAL CARBON SEQUESTRATION) OF KOMATIITES IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN ABITIBI GREENSTONE BELT. The Canadian Mineralogist, 50 (1) 129-146 doi:10.3749/canmin.50.1.129
Dostal, Jaroslav, Mueller, Wulf U. (2013) Deciphering an Archean mantle plume: Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Gondwana Research, 23 (2) 493-505 doi:10.1016/j.gr.2012.02.005
Grunsky, E.C. (2013) Predicting Archaean volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit potential from lithogeochemistry: application to the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 13 (4). 317-336 doi:10.1144/geochem2012-176
Madon, Baptiste, Mathieu, Lucie, Marsh, Jeffrey H. (2020) Oxygen Fugacity and Volatile Content of Syntectonic Magmatism in the Neoarchean Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Superior Province, Canada. Minerals, 10 (11) 966 doi:10.3390/min10110966
Mathieu, Lucie (2021) Intrusion-Associated Gold Systems and Multistage Metallogenic Processes in the Neoarchean Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Minerals, 11 (3) 261 doi:10.3390/min11030261
Azevedo, Christophe; Jébrak, Michel; Genna, Dominique; Pinti, Daniele L. (2022) Evidence of gold related to Neoarchean alkaline magmatism in the Abitibi greenstone belt (Canada) from mineral parageneses and microscale trace element geochemistry on pyrite. Ore Geology Reviews, 145. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2022.104878
[2]Mole, D.R.; Frieman, B.M.; Thurston, P.C.; Marsh, J.H.; Jørgensen, T.R.C.; Stern, R.A.; Martin, L.A.J.; Lu, Y.J.; Gibson, H.L. (2022) Crustal architecture of the south-east Superior Craton and controls on mineral systems. Ore Geology Reviews, 148. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2022.105017
[1]Mokhtari, Ahmad Reza, Behnia, Pouran, Lafrance, Bruno, Naghizadeh, Mostafa, Simmons, Jack M., Harris, Jeff R. (2025) Mineral prospectivity mapping of orogenic gold mineralization in the Malartic-Val-d’Or Transect area, Metal Earth project, Canada. Ore Geology Reviews, 178. 106498 doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2025.106498
