Leaders: Michael Easton, Ontario Geological Survey, Sudbury e mail: mike.easton@ontario.ca
Sharon Carr, Carleton University, Ottawa
Contributors: Eric Moeller, Vermiculite Canada, Buckhorn, Ontario
Pam Sangster, Ontario Geological Survey, Tweed, Ontario
Second Circular: A registration form and a second circular will be posted in early August 2009.
Figure 1.
Subdivisions of the Composite Arc Belt of the Grenville Province, and generalized location of the field trip area (focussed on Cavendish Township).
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Figure 2.
Simplified geology map of Cavendish Township. Most trip stops lie on or near County Road 507, which transects the central part of Cavendish Township. The community of Buckhorn is located 6 km south of the bottom of this map.
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The 2009 Friends of the Grenville (FOG) trip will be based in Buckhorn, Ontario
( http://buckhorncanada.ca
) , which provides a range of reasonably-priced accommodation
( http://buckhorncanada.ca/Members/Accomodation-Members/index.php
- those located on Big Bald Lake, or
Upper and Lower Buckhorn Lake are closest to the field trip staging area ). Accommodation is also available in nearby Bobcaygeon (of Tragically Hip fame), some 20 km to the east
( http://www.bobcaygeon.org/motels.html
). All field trip stops are located less than 1 hour driving time from Buckhorn. No single facility is large enough to host the entire group, which is why we are relying on participants to make their own accommodation arrangements.
Buckhorn is located on Peterborough County Road 36, approximately 30 km north of
Peterborough, Ontario. From the east, it can be reached from either Highway 7 or Highway 401, via
Highway 28 to Burleigh Falls, then west on County Road 36 to Buckhorn. From the west, it can be accessed from Highway 35 to Bobcaygeon, and then County Road 36 to Buckhorn, or from Highway 401 and 115/35 to Peterborough, and then north on County Roads 29 and 23 to Buckhorn. Driving time from
Ottawa, Ontario is approximately 4 hours; Montreal ~5.5 hours; from Toronto via Peterborough ~2 to 2.5 hours.
A welcoming reception/trip briefing will be held between 7:30 and 10:00 PM, on Friday evening,
September 25, at the Cathacoma Community Centre, located on Peterborough County Road 507, roughly
20 km north of Buckhorn. It can be reached by taking County Road 36 north from Buckhorn, then turning onto County Road 507 by the gas station at Flynn’s Corner, than continuing roughly 13 km to the north.
The Community Centre is located on the east side of the Highway. Beaver Lake Road is located ~1.5 km north of the Community Centre, so if you reach it, you’ve gone too far and need to head south.
Refreshments and snacks will be available at the reception, but participants will need to make their own meal arrangements. There will be a couple of short presentations at the welcoming reception on the geology of the area, field trip logistics, and vermiculite mining in the area.
The traditional group dinner will take place on Saturday evening, at the “Cody Inn” in Buckhorn.
The cost of this dinner will be included in the registration fee for the meeting. Lunches for Saturday and
Sunday will also be included in the registration fee. Participants are responsible for their own breakfasts –
“Mainstreet Landing” in Buckhorn opens early and is reasonably priced.
Itinerary
The majority of the stops on Saturday will be located along Peterborough County Road 506, and are either road accessible or involve short walks on good trails. In addition, a tour of the Vermiculite
Canada mining and processing operation is planned for Saturday depending on operational and other considerations. This tour will occur after lunch on Saturday.
Stops on Sunday will focus on two separate areas, but they will cover the same geological theme, namely the boundary zone between Harvey-Cardiff and Bancroft domains. The morning stops are all along County Road 506 between Salmon Lake Road and Gooderham, and are all road accessible. Lunch is planned to be held in the community park in Gooderham. People wishing to leave early can head south, west or east from Gooderham to connect up with various regional roads. In the afternoon, weather permitting, we will be hiking along a snowmobile/ATV trail accessed from the Salmon Lake Road in order to examine features of the boundary zone not visible on the main highway. The trail is in good condition for walking, but sturdier footwear is recommended for this part of the trip than on Saturday and
Sunday morning.
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The guidebook will also include optional stops that can be visited by participants on their return journey. These include the following: 1) the Precambrian-Paleozoic unconformity on County Road 36 near Burleigh Falls; 2) a Tom Krogh PhD thesis locality on County Road 36 between Buckhorn and
Bobcaygeon; and 3) an exposure of nepheline syenite on Highway 118 north of Tory Hill.
Geological Setting
Harvey-Cardiff domain underwent a considerable amount of geological study by government and academic researchers in the 1970s and in the early 1990s, but subsequently received little attention until mapping and the acquisition of new geochronological data by the Ontario Geological Survey began in the area again in 2007. The field trip will focus on the results from these recent studies, utilizing the many excellent road exposures along Country Road 507. A variety of geological features will be emphasized during the trip; including: a) the recognition of significant differences between northern and southern Harvey-Cardiff domain, with protolith being very difficult to determine for most rocks in the southern part of the domain. b) the long and involved magmatic history of the domain (spanning 1290 to 1055 Ma). c) the setting of vermiculite occurrences in the domain. d) the relationship between uraniferous pegmatites in the domain to both regional structures and coeval granitic plutonic rocks. e) the character of the boundary of Harvey-Cardiff domain and Bancroft domain, and the timing constraints on the formation of this boundary. f) the relationship of the “Bancroft shear zone”, if any, to the Harvey-Cardiff-Bancroft boundary, and, g) the alkalic Glamorgan (Trooper Lake) gabbro.
Selected References
Ontario Geological Survey Publications, including maps, can be downloaded at no charge from: http://www.geologyontario.mndm.gov.on.ca/
Armstrong, H.S., and Gittins, J. 1968: Geology of Glamorgan and Monmouth Townships, Haliburton County;
Ontario Department of Mines, Open File Report 5021, 210 p.
Burr, J.L., and Carr, S.D. 1994. Structural geometry and U-Pb geochronology near Lithoprobe seismic line 32, western Central Metasedimentary Belt, Grenville Province, Ontario; in Lithoprobe Abitibi-Grenville Project
Report No. 41, p.59-62.
Easton, R.M. 2007. Preliminary assessment of the geology and mineral potential of Cavendish Township, Central
Metasedimentary Belt, Grenville Province; in Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2007, Ontario
Geological Survey, Open File Report 6213, p.12-1 to 12-20.
Easton, R.M. 2008a. Geology and Mineral Potential of Cavendish Township, Central Metasedimentary Belt,
Grenville Province; in Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2008, Ontario Geological Survey, Open
File Report 6226, p.14-1 to 14-12.
Easton, R.M. 2008b. Rössing-style uranium potential of late granites and pegmatites from the Central
Metasedimentary Belt, Grenville Province; in Summary of Field Work and Other Activities, 2008, Ontario
Geological Survey, Open File Report 6226, p.16-1 to 16-10.
Fowler, A.D. and Doig, R. 1983. The age and origin of Grenville Province uraniferous granites and pegmatites;
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v.20, p.92-104.
Gittins, J. 1961. Nephelinization in the Haliburton-Bancroft District, Ontario, Canada; Journal of Geology, v.69, p.291-308.
Morton, R.L. 1983. Geology of Harvey Township; Ontario Geological survey, Report 230, 50p.
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Pehrsson, S., Hanmer, S. and van Breemen, O. 1996. U-Pb geochronology of the Raglan gabbro belt, Central
Metasedimentary Belt, Ontario: implications for an ensialic marginal basin in the Grenville Orogen; Canadian
Journal of Earth Sciences, v.33, p.691-702.
Published Maps
1:50 000 scale
Bright, E.G. 1987. Geology of the Eels Lake area, County of Peterborough; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File
Report 5604, 190p. and Map P.2205 (revised)
Bright, E.G. 1988. Precambrian geology of the Burleigh Falls area, Peterborough County, southern Ontario; Ontario
Geological Survey, Open File Report 5652, 131p and MapP.3096.
Lumbers, S.B. and Vertolli, V.M. 2000a. Precambrian Geology, Burleigh Falls area; Ontario Geological Survey,
Preliminary Map P.3404, scale 1:50 000. Colour.
Lumbers, S.B. and Vertolli, V.M. 2000b. Precambrian Geology, Gooderham area; Ontario Geological Survey,
Preliminary Map P.3405, scale 1:50 000. Colour.
1:15 840 scale (black & white)
Bright, E.G. 1981a. Precambrian geology of Cavendish Township (northern part), Peterborough County, southern
Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Preliminary Map P.2420, scale 1:15 840.
Bright, E.G. 1981b. Precambrian geology of Cavendish Township (southern part), Peterborough County, southern
Ontario; Ontario Geological Survey, Preliminary Map P.2421, scale 1:15 840.
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