Book Description

The purpose of this study was to provide a more detailed understanding of the basement, which has implications for the assembly and tectonic evolution of the Canadian Sheld, the provenance of sediments in the Cordilleran orogen, the tectonic affinities of crystalline basement exposed in structural culminations in the southern Canadian Cordillera and the structure of the crust that forms the floor of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. The Precambrian basement underlying the Paleozoic rocks of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin was studied by combining potential field (gravity and aeromagnetic) analysis with lithological and isotopic studies of crystalline basement samples. The 93 samples retrieved from hydrocarbon exploration wells are described and the geochronology and systematics of 50 of the samples are presented and interpreted. Monazite and titanite help delineate post-crystallization, regional thermal events. Data from 35 of the cores are presented and used to test and delineate models for the tectonic evolution of the region.