Multiple ages of Nipissing Diabase intrusion: paleomagnetic evidence from the Englehart area, Ontario

Abstract

Nipissing Diabase sills and baked host sediments of the Coleman Member of the Huronian Supergroup east of Englehart, Ontario, are shown to have a characteristic remanent magnetization direction (called N3) that is steeply up and to the west (D = 268.0°, I = −59.0°, k = 42, α95 = 6.0°). Petrographic study indicates that fresh pyroxene gabbro carries the N3 component at most sill sites. A baked contact test with the Coleman Member suggests that the magnetization is primary. The N3 magnetization direction is unlike either the N1 or N2 magnetization direction reported for Nipissing sills at other localities in the Southern Province. Three distinct ages of Nipissing sill emplacement are proposed. A single Nipissing sill site in the sampling area carries the N1 direction.A northeast-trending diabase dyke crosscuts both the Nipissing sills and Coleman sediments. It carries an N2 direction and has overprinted nearby intrusive and sedimentary rocks (D = 282.0°, I = 61.1°, k = 48, α95 = 5.8°). Several N3 sill sites far from the dyke may also carry a softer N2 overprint. However, the N3 and N2 directions and the direction of the present Earth's magnetic field fall near a great circle, making it difficult to separate the N2 and present-field components in such cases.