The age of the Gunflint Formation, Ontario, Canada: single zircon UPb age determinations from reworked volcanic ash
Abstract
The Gunflint Formation, a Paleoproterozoic chemicalclastic sedimentary assemblage outcropping to the immediate northwest of Lake Superior, became famous in 1954 as containing the oldest fossil assemblage known at that time. Older microfossils have since been discovered, but the Gunflint procaryotes remain one of the most diverse Precambrian fossil communities. The finding of possible multicellular organisms in correlative lithic units in Michigan has recently added to the need for an exact age of the Formation. Zircons were extracted from rainout and storm reworked volcanoclastic beds in the upper portion of the Gunflint Formation. A euhedral zircon population has yielded a 1878.3 ± 1.3 million years BP UPb age, believed to be nearly synchronous with the depositional age. This not only provides a precise age for the community of organisms, but also strongly supports a back-arc extensional setting for the Animikie Basin, rather than a foreland trough.
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Between 1.9 and 1.8 Gya there was an apparent return to deposition of massive shallow-water iron formations, with iron oxidation occurring in the wave-mixed upper portion of the oceans.
“Most notably, between 1.9 and 1.8 Gya (Fralick et al. 2002) there was an apparent return to the deposition of massive shallow-water iron formations, with iron oxidation occurring in the wave-mixed upper portion of the oceans (Dimroth & Chauvel 1973, Planavsky et al. 2009, Raye et al. 2015).”
From The History of Ocean Oxygenation (2022) · cites this paper as Fralick et al. 2002
Correlative and texturally similar GIF in the northern part of the Superior Craton were deposited in extensional basins coeval with submarine basaltic volcanism.
“Correlative and texturally similar GIF are also recognised in the northern part of the Superior Craton in the Hudson Bay region (Richmond Bay and Belchers islands) and in the Sutton Inliers, and are considered to have been deposited in extensional basins coeval with submarine basaltic volcanism”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Fralick et al., 2002
The North American GIFs are correlative based on high-precision geochronology and extend discontinuously at the surface for more than 3000 km along the southern and eastern margins of the Superior Craton.
“Recognised now to be correlative based on high-precision geochronology”
From Iron formations: A global record of Neoarchaean to Palaeoproterozoic environmental history (2017) · cites this paper as Fralick et al., 2002
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- Authors
- Fralick, P., Davis, D. W., & Kissin, S. A.
- Affiliations
- Lakehead University (CA)
- Royal Ontario Museum (CA)
- ORCID
- Fralick, Philip
- Venue
- Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
- Publisher
- Canadian Science Publishing
- Published
- 2002-07-01
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1085-1091
- ISSN
- 0008-4077 (ISSN-L)
- 1480-3313
- OpenAlex
- W2037568805
- Cited by
- 149
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 4.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geology › Geological Studies and Exploration
- Keywords
- zircon U-Pb geochronology, Paleoproterozoic, Precambrian microfossils, depositional age, back-arc extension, Precambrian stratigraphy
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