Crustal structure in Northwestern Ontario: Regional magnetic anomalies

Abstract

A regional aeromagnetic map, portraying the regional magnetic anomaly system in Northwestern Ontario west of longitude 92 °W and south of latitude 55 °N and extending westward into Manitoba to longitude 97 °W (with an additional block bounded by latitudes 54° N and 56 °N and longitudes 97° W and 102 °W) is presented. The map was prepared by multiple application of a two-dimensional smoothing operator applied to data digitized at 3 km intervals from the 1-inch-to-1-mile aeromagnetic map series published by the Geological Survey of Canada. Comparison was made with previous maps overlapping on portions of the area, which had been made by various techniques, including Fourier analysis, fitting of 6th-order polynomials, and photographic reduction. The general features of the anomaly system were found to be similar for all of these techniques. The regional anomaly system is found to be related in some cases to the thickness of the upper crustal layer (defined as lying above the Intermediate seismic discontinuity) and to structure within it, but not to the lower crustal layer or to the upper mantle.