Geology, southern part of Hall Peninsula, south Baffin Island, Nunavut

Abstract

In 2012, the Canada-Nunavut Geoscience Office initiated a targeted regional bedrock mapping project on Hall Peninsula, southern Baffin Island. During the first field season, mapping focussed on the southern portion of the peninsula covering approximately 20 000 km2. Mapping defined two lithological domains: an eastern domain comprising a tonalite gneissic basement overlain or imbricated with supracrustal rocks, and intruded by two granitic suites; and a western domain characterized by metasedimentary rocks intruded by a tonalite-granodiorite suite, charnockite and garnet monzogranite. The discovery of ultramafic rocks points to possibly interesting new sources of carving stone and may also have potential for nickel-copper-PGE mineralization. The large area underlain by orthogneiss basement units could be host to diamond-bearing kimberlites similar to the ones found in the northern portion of the peninsula. Based on the reported geology, other types of mineralization can also be considered, such as gold associated with iron-formation and VMS deposits associated with supracrustal packages.