Isotopic Studies of Ore-Leads in the Hanson Lake-Flin Flon-Snow Lake Mineral Belt Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Abstract

Lead isotope abundances in 4 stratabound sulfide ores are presented and show characteristics of being single-stage lead deposits. Model ages based on these data range from 1780 ± 44 to 1900 ± 44 m.y. and are considered to be close approximations of the time of ore formation. Geological evidence in the massive sulfide deposits suggests they are coeval with their host rocks, which are predominantly volcanics of the Amisk Group. If this assumption is correct the average model lead age of the ores is essentially the age of the enclosing rocks. Within error limits the results are in good agreement with published Rb-Sr ages for Amisk rocks of the Flin Flon area, and with U-Pb ages in zircons of rhyolites, which also contain similar, massive sulfide ores in the Churchill Province of Arizona. This is considered to be good evidence that the Hanson Lake-Flin Flon-Snow Lake volcanic mineral belt, previously regarded as Archean, is Aphebian in part.A previously published Archean, Rb-Sr isochron for volcanic rocks in the Hanson Lake area may indicate that Amisk-type rocks are a folded complex of both Aphebian and Archean lithologies. The suggested Aphebian age of the Amisk-Missi Groups and their equivalents, indicates they are possibly eugeosynclinal equivalents of the miogeosynclinal Hurwitz sediments.