Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

The Geology of Ontario

Gregory C. Finn
Department of Earth Sciences
Brock University

Outline
• Discuss the geologic make-up of Ontario
• Examine four geologically significant
features in Ontario
– The Sudbury Structure
– The Thousand Islands
– Niagara Falls
– Oakridges Moraine

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Ontario’s Geologic Legacy

• Geologic history dates back to 3.25 billion
years
• Rocks present represent
• ocean floor
• deep crustal sections
• remnants of ancient mountain chains
• deep sea sediments
• ancient and modern glacial deposits
• Rocks divided into 4 geologic provinces

Geologic Time Scale

Eon Era Age Era Period Age
Era Period Epoch Age
Cenozoic

Cenozoic Quaternary
c

Quaternary
oi

Mesozoic
oz

Tertiary Holocene
er
an

Paleozoic
65
Ph

570 0.01
Late Cretaceous Pleistocene
1,000
Mesozoic

144 1.6
Cenozoi c
Proterozoic

Middle Jurassic Pliocene

1,750 208 5.3
Triassic Miocene
Tert i ary

245
Early Permian 23.7
Precambrian

286
Oligocene
C a rb o n ife ro u s

Pennsylvanian
320
2,510 36.6
Mississippian
360 Eocene
Late
Paleozoic

Devonian
Archean

57.8
3,000 408
Silurian Paleocene
Middle 438
3,400 66.4
Ordovician
Early
4,000 505 Cretaceous
Hadean

Cambrian

570
4,650
Precambrian Ages in Millions
3.25 billion years Oldest rock in Ontario of Years

Geologic Provinces
• Formed at different times - three (Superior,
Southern and Grenville) collectively form
Ontario’s portion of the Canadian Shield,
and form the bedrock in northern and
central Ontario
• The fourth, consists of Paleozoic, Mesozoic
and Cenozoic rocks, and occur as sediments
which covers the ‘bedrock” in eastern,
southwestern and extreme north of Ontario

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Geologic
Provinces of
Ontario

(From ROCK ONtario1994)

Geologic Provinces (continued)

Criteria for defining Geologic Provinces
• Lithologies (rock types) present
• e.g. volcanic
» basalt vs. andesite vs. rhyolite
• Age
• based of geochronologic studies to determine the ages of the
lithologies present
• Structure and Metamorphism
• intensity of deformation and degree of metamorphism
preserved/recorded
• Metallogeny
• Types of mineral deposits present

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Superior Province
• Oldest part and covers most of Northern Ontario
• Can be further subdivided, based on rock type into
12 smaller subprovinces:
• Granite-Greenstone - plutonic and volcanic
» Uchi, Wawa, Abitibi
• Sedimentary - range of sedimentary rock types
» English River, Quetico
• Plutonic - mainly granite
» Winnipeg River
• High Grade - deep crustal slice of a greenstone
» Kapuskasing Zone

Sugluk

Superior Province Cape

Smith
Belt
Subprovince Types Minto
La

High Grade
br
ad

Hudson Bay
or
Tr
ou
g

Volcanic Thompson Trans - Hudson

h
ba

Belt Orogen
i to

r io
an

Ashuanipi
nt
M

Plutonic Bienville
O

Pikwitonei
La Grande R.
James
Metasedimentary Sachigo Winisk
Bay Opinica R.
N

Berens River

Bird River
Uchi
English River Nemiscau R.

Canada Opatica
Winnipeg River
Quetico Abitibi
g

U.S.A. Wabigoon
sin

Grenville
Pontiac Province
ska

Wawa
pu

Quetico
Ka

Wawa
Quebec
Southern Province
Minnesota Ontario
River Valley

St. Catharines

0 250 Km

Modified from Percival 1989

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Superior Province Highlights

• Subprovinces separated from each other by
faults
• Granite-Greenstone
• long narrow belts of volcanic rocks which were once
island arcs - much like modern day Japan
• rocks formed on ancient sea floors, in ancient
volcanoes
• host to world famous mines
– e.g.
» gold at Hemlo,
» copper, zinc, and silver at Kidd Creek

A portion of the Superior

Province in NW Ontario.
Greenstone belts (in green)
are remnants of ancient
volcanic rocks.

Richardson
Arm

Rapson

Stull Stull
Lake Rapson
Bay

0 5 km

(From ROCK ONtario1994)

Sample Test Questions

1. List three minerals that you would expect to find in each of the following rocks:
– Diorite Syenite Phyllite Marble

2. Define each of the following terms:

– metamorphic rock texture euhedral Porphyroblast

3. Minerals are classified as belonging to either the silicate or non-silicate groups or

classes. Provide the characteristics that define two non-silicate classes of minerals
and give examples for each class:
– a) b)

4. Describe the three types of material produced as a result of volcanic eruptions:

– a) b) c)

5. One identifiable group of metamorphic rocks are the foliated. What 2 processes
result in the development of the foliation?
• a) b)

Ten questions, equal value, 60 minutes

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

RECAP
• Finished off Metamorphic rocks
– Index minerals, isograds
– Prograde vs retrograde
• Metamorphic Environments
– Thermal or contact
– Dynamic
– Dynamothermal
• Geology of Ontario
– Geologic provinces
• Lithology, age, structure/metamorphism, metallogeny
– Superior Province

The Southern Province

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

SUPERIOR PROVINCE
Cobalt Embayment

Sudbury
Structure
Sault Ste. Marie -
Elliot Lake Area
Sudbury -
GRENVILLE
Espanola Area PROVINCE
North Channel

Southern Province
• Rocks present range in age from 2.49 to 2.21 billion years
• Consists mainly of sediments (3,000 to 15,000 m thick)
• conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone
• Deposited by rivers, wind, glaciers etc. in an ancient ocean
• comparable to the modern Atlantic Coast of North America
• Following deposition a period of mountain building
occurred when Ontario collided with another continent
• preserved along the north shore of Lake Huron
• 1.11 billion years ago the the Earth’s crust of the Southern
Province cracked forming a rift valley along which
igneous rocks were formed
• volcanic rocks around Lake Superior
• plutonic rocks around Lake Nipigon

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

1.85 Billion Years Ago in the

Southern Province
• Sudbury Event

Geologic Cross Section - Sudbury Area ~ 1.85 Ga

Impactor/Bolide
~10 km diameter
~ 25 km/sec
230 km

70 km
Huronian
Sedimentary
N Rocks S

Creighton Nipissing
Archean Basement Rocks
Granite Diabase

Lower Crust
Mantle Nipissing Magma Chamber

Ejecta
Curtain

Huronian Melt +
Vapour
Cratering
Archean
Flow
Lower Crust Field

70 km

Time ~ 5 seconds

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Ejecta

Huronian Melt +
Vapour Formation of Proto-Footwall
Breccia and Sublayer,
Archean

Lower Crust Transient Cavity at

Maximum Depth
70 km

Time: ~1 minute

Transient Cavity at maximum diameter

Uplift of cavity floor and beginning of
rim collapse
70 km

Time: ~2 minutes

Near completion of uplift Formation of additional

and rim collapse Sudbury Breccia, Footwall
Breccia and Sublayer

70 km

Time: minutes

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Formation of SIC, Basal

Final Form Onaping and Gray Member

70 km

Time: minutes

SIC

Formation of Black Onaping,

Fall-back, Cooling Cooling and differentiation of SIC
Local Readjustments Intrusion of Offset Dikes, Ores

70 km

Time: ~ Hours to 105 a

Penokean and Grenvillian

70 km

Time: 1.85 Ga
Present Day

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

The Sudbury Structure

• The preserved remnant of this meteorite impact is
termed the Sudbury Structure composed of:
• the Sudbury Basin
• the Sudbury Igneous Complex

– World famous for:

• its origin by
meteorite impact
• Nickel deposits

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Subdury Mining History

• Sudbury copper-nickel ores have been mined since 1883
• Early smelting took place out in the open - Copper Cliff
• Until WWII only copper was produced
• During WWII it was discovered that the addition of nickel
served to strengthen steel - “armour plate”
• Ontario produces 2/3 of Canada’s nickel (2nd to Russia in
terms of worldwide production)
• In 1993 17 operating mines produced 124 million
kilograms of nickel worth of $835 million
• A total of 45 ore minerals are present at Sudbury, yielding
in addition to Ni and Cu, Au, Ag, Co, Pt, Pd, Se

The Grenville Province

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Ce
ne n tr
Zo Tomiko al
Sudbury ary Gn Quebec
nd eis
ou
BNipissing sB
elt

Algonquin
Pembroke
Parry
Georgian Sound one
ry Z
Bay nda Bancroft
B ou

ke
aw
La
Lake

zim

ot
arb
Elzevir

Ma
Huron

Sh
Frontenac
Centra Kingston
l Met
ased
imen
tary B
Bancroft elt 100 km

The Grenville Province

(From ROCK ONtario1994)

Grenville Province
• Consists of a patchwork of many different pieces of crust
or terranes, which collided to form a major mountain
range.
• Rocks present range in age from 1.76 to 1.00 billion years
• Rocks have been baked, squeezed, stretched and twisted
into metamorphic rocks by a series of mountain building
events 1.18 to 1.00 billion years ago.
• Consists of two major belts:
• Central Gneiss Belt
• Central Metasedimentary Belt

• Complex history still being unraveled by geologists

Central Gneiss Belt

• Oldest part of Grenville Province
• Nipissing Terrane oldest
• metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks
• Parry Sound Domain Youngest
• volcanic island arc, formed at some locality far removed from Ontario
(Suspect Terrane)
• Consists of metamorphic rocks that have been subjected to
intense heat (~800°C) and pressure (up to 10 kbars) due to
burial during mountain building activity
• Central Gneiss Belt exposes deep sections of Earth’s crust
the was buried to depths of 20 to 30 km
• Responsible for scenery in Algonquin Park

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Central Metasedimentary Belt

• Largest section of Grenville Province
• Consists of two sections
• A ‘Superterrane’ (Bancroft, Elzevir, Mazinaw, Sharbot Lake
terranes)
– mixture of sedimentary and volcanic rocks formed ~1.30 billion
years ago
– metamoprhosed 1.25 billion years ago when the four terranes
collided and at the same time intrusions of granite ‘stitched’
together the terranes
• The Frontenac Terrane
– lots of marble, quartzite and gneiss, but no volcanic rocks,
formed 1.28 billion years ago
• Story of erupting volcanoes, island arcs, erosion of
sediments and mountain building ( = Himalayas)
• Volcanoes formed in a tropical environment, comparable
to present-day Indonesia‘

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

The Thousand Islands

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Kingston

Westport

Athens

Gananoque

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Phanerozoic Lithologies

Paleozoic (early life) and Mesozoic

(middle life) Eras

Paleozoic Lithologies
• Occur in Southeastern Ontario,
Southwestern Ontario and the Hudsons Bay
and James Bay Lowlands
• Essentially flat lying sedimentary rocks
• In general they get younger as you move
from east to west in Southern Ontario

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

The Niagara Escarpment

• Is NOT a fault scarp
• It is an erosional
feature
• Extends from:
• up state New York
through Ontario, along
the Bruce Peninsula,
into Michigan
• Represents a series of
sediments deposited in
an inland sea

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Niagara Falls

0 1 2 km Lewiston

Queenston
Niagara Escarpment

Power Power
St

Stations
.D

Stations
av
id
s
Bu
rie

Niagara
d
G

Glen
or
eg

Whirlpool Whirlpool State Park

N
Eddy Basin Whirlpool
Rapids
Gorge
e
org
tG

Niagara Falls Lyell/Johnson

ea

(Ontario) Ridge
Gr

Niagara Falls
ra
ga

(New York)
ia

N
American
Falls
Canadian or
Horeshoe Falls
Nia
gar
a Riv
e r

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

From Tinkler 1993

Stages in the Recession of Niagara Falls

0 1 2 km Lake Iroquois 0 1 2 km
St

St
.D

.D
av

av
id
s

id
Bu

s
Bu
rie

rie
d
G

d
or

Dry Land
or
eg

ge

? Newly Excavated Gorge

N N Recently Emerged
?
Exhumed Buried Gorge
?
Now Dry
Submerged

Nia
12500 BP Nia
gara
Riv
11500 BP gara
Riv
er e r

From Tinkler 1993

Stages in the Recession of Niagara Falls

0 1 2 km 0 1 2 km
St

St
.D

.D
av

av
id
id

Niagara
s

Niagara
Bu
Bu

Glen Glen
rie
rie

d
d

G
G

or
or

Dry Land
g
g

e
e

Newly Excavated Gorge

N N Recently Emerged
Exhumed Buried Gorge
Now Dry
Submerged

Nia
gara 5500 BP Nia
gara
10500 BP Riv
e r
Riv
e r

From Tinkler 1993

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Stages in the Recession of Niagara Falls

0 1 2 km 0 1 2 km
Sediment

St
St

.D
.D

av
av

id
id

s
s

Bu
Bu

rie
rie

d
d

G
G

or
Dry Land
or

ge
ge

Newly Excavated Gorge

N N Recently Emerged
Buried Gorge
Exhumed Exhumed Buried Gorge
Now Dry
Lyell-Johnson Ridge Submerged

Lake
Tonawanda
high

Nia Nia
gara gara
4500+/-150 BP Riv
er 4000-3500 BP Riv
er

From Tinkler 1993

Stages in the Recession of Niagara Falls

0 1 2 km
St
.D
av
id
s
Bu
rie
d

Dry Land
G
or
ge

Newly Excavated Gorge

N Recently Emerged
Exhumed Buried Gorge
Now Dry
Submerged
Lake
Tonawanda
drained

Now Nia
gara
Riv
e r

From Tinkler 1993

Recession Rate of Niagara Falls

16000
C Age for Localities

14000 Lewiston Whirlpool State park

Above Gorge Walls
12000 rio
nta
10000 eO
ak
oL
8000 gt
t slu
en
6000 dim
Se
4000 Exhumed Preset
Niagara Gorge
14

Falls
2000 Glen
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Distance Up River From Lewiston In Kilometres

From Tinkler 1993

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Historic Crest Position

Niagara Falls
• Mean flow is ~ 5,760 m3s-1
• Since 1953 half of this is extracted
for power generation
• At night in the summer and
throughout the winter 3/4 of this is
extracted from the river
• Effect is that the recession rate of 5
ft yr-1 from 19th Century is greatly
reduced

The Oak Ridges Morraine

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Geomorphology of Toronto Region

From: Toronto Rocks, 1998

Digital Elevation Model wof Oak Ridges Moraine. Of particular note in this
scene is the extremely linear character of the Oak Ridges Moraine across the
centre of the image. Major difference in terrain features north and south of the
moraine can be recognized. North of the moraine the terrain is dissected by
large valleys and has extensive drumlin uplands. South of the moraine the
elevation is lower, the topography smoother and there are fewer valleys and
drumlins.
http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/orm/landscapes.asp

Final Stages of Last Ice Age:

Formation of Oak Ridges Moraine

From: Toronto Rocks, 1998

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Well stratified matrix-supported gravels (1) have been eroded and the resulting
channel filled with a massive sand-silt diamicton (2). These deposits are part
of the Paris Moraine, a thick accumulation of glacial fluvial deposits and
illustrate the high energy associated with ice-front sedimentation.

http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/orm/sediments.asp

These medium sands have well-developed planar laminations (1) resulting

from deposition under high velocity flows commonly associated with glacial
fluvial conditions. These planar laminated sands have been truncated by an
erosional surface (2) which is overlain by a second phase of deposition (3).
These types of deposits are common within the Oak Ridges Moraine, a
regional glaciofluvial - glaciolacustrine complex http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/orm/sediments.asp

Cross Section Oak Ridges Moraine:

13,000 years ago

From: Toronto Rocks, 1998

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Geology of Ontario 8/5/2005

Geologic Cross Section:

Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario

From: Toronto Rocks, 1998

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