Journal article
Variable Phanerozoic thermal history in the Southern Canadian Shield: Evidence from an apatite fission track profile at the Underground Research Laboratory (URL), Manitoba
S Feinstein, B Kohn, K Osadetz, R Everitt, P O'Sullivan
Tectonophysics | ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV | Published : 2009
Abstract
Analysis of a 1.15 km deep apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology profile at the Underground Research Laboratory (URL), in the southwestern Canadian Shield suggests two Phanerozoic heating and cooling episodes indicating significant, previously unsuspected, Phanerozoic heat flow variations. Phanerozoic temperature and heat flow variations are temporally associated with burial and erosion of the Precambrian crystalline shield and its overlying Phanerozoic successions, which are now eroded completely. Maximum Phanerozoic temperatures occurred in the late Paleozoic when the geothermal gradient is estimated to have been ~ 40-50 °C/km (compared to a present day gradient of ~ 14 ± 2 °C/km) a..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The sub-samples reported in this study were collected from materials obtained as part of the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program, which was jointly funded by AECL and Ontario Hydro under the auspices of the CANDU Owners group. Thermochronological analysis was funded by the Earth Sciences Sector, Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary; the Office for Energy Research and Development (Canada), the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, the Australian Research Council and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Rebecca Flowers and an anonymous reviewer provided constructive criticism of an earlier version of the manuscript. Geological Survey of Canada contribution number 2006XXX.