Geology of the Orion South kimberlite, Fort à la Corne, Canada

Abstract

A wide variety of primary pyroclastic, volcaniclastic and re-sedimented volcaniclastic deposits derived from multiple kimberlite eruptions are exceptionally well preserved at the Orion South kimberlite body in the Fort à la Corne field in central Saskatchewan. Construction of this kimberlite complex involved episodic kimberlite volcanic events punctuated by periods of volcanic quiescence, erosion and sedimentary deposition within the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The Orion South kimberlite complex erupted into deltaic coastal plain/transitional estuarine (Mannville Group: Cantuar and Pense formations) and shallow marine (Lower Colorado Group: Joli Fou, Viking and Westgate formations) environments. At Orion South, eight distinct kimberlite phases erupted over 6 to 7 million years from ca. 106 Ma (Cantuar Formation equivalent) to ca. 99 Ma (Viking Formation equivalent). Detailed core logging, geochemistry, chronostratigraphy, petrography and geophysics were undertaken to define distinct eruptive phases and reconstruct the depositional environment, volcanic styles and 3-D architecture of the complex. The eight main kimberlite deposits record eruptive styles ranging from magmatic, to ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ phreatomagmatic, to submarine eruptions, a consequence of the varying interaction between kimberlite magma and seawater and/or groundwater.