Digital geoscience atlas of Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland and Labrador

Abstract

The Baie Verte Peninsula is located in the northern Appalachians of Newfoundland. It is underlain by the ancestral Laurentian continental margin (Humber zone), the accreted (Taconic Orogeny) Cambrian Baie Verte Oceanic Tract and its Ordovician ophiolite volcano-sedimentary cover. These three marine successions were intruded by late Ordovician to Silurian felsic plutons and associated subaerial volcanic cover emplaced prior to, and during the Salinic Orogeny. There is a long history of mineral exploration and mining on the Baie Verte Peninsula, with the most important commodities being gold, copper and asbestos. To assist in the understanding and exploration of this geologically diverse region, the Baie Verte digital geoscience atlas, a companion output to three previously released Canadian Geoscience Maps, contains GIS datasets including new and compiled bedrock geology (with 1:50,000 pdf maps). These are combined with compiled structural geology, geochronology (U/Pb and 40Ar/39Ar), lithogeochemistry, metallogeny (mines and drilled prospects), reprocessed aeromagnetic survey data (government and industry survey data), a digital elevation model, and base-map data (topography, hydrographic etc.). These GIS data are compatible with a number of GIS platforms, and have also been organized into a project suitable for viewing via ESRI ArcReader(TM) (links provided).