The tectonic significance of some basic dyke swarms in the Canadian Superior Province with special reference to the geochemistry and paleomagnetism of the Mistassini swarm, Quebec, Canada

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Abstract
The Mistassini dykes extend northwest from the Mistassini embayment and comprise both tholeiitic and komatiitic suites. They are probably > 2000 Ma old and yield two major paleomagnetic components. One of these, with a pole at 131°W, 13°S, is thought to be an overprint related to the Elsonian Disturbance 1400–1500 Ma ago. A very steeply down (and reversed) component may be primary and has a pole at 080°W, 50°N.These spacial, chemical, and age relationships between the Mistassini, Molson, Marathon, and Payne River dyke swarms and the Aphebian supracrustal fold belts on the perimeter of the Superior Province suggest a genetic relationship between the dyke swarms and the fold belts. The supracrustal belts are evidence of the opening and closing of oceans, and the dyke swarms are evidence of early-stage failed arms related to these openings. More rarely (for example, the Payne River dykes), early-stage dyke swarms are developed and preserved parallel to the edges of newly developed spreading plate boundaries. Presumably if a spreading episode stops, the dykes themselves may remain as the only evidence of that event. Probably all the world's great continental dyke swarms have the above-described tectonic setting, and the number and extent of dyke swarms during a geological epoch may be a measure of the number and vigour of spreading events.

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