The Grenville Front Tectonic Zone: Results from the 1986 Great Lakes Onshore Seismic Wide‐Angle Reflection and Refraction Experiment

Abstract

The Grenville Front, which marks the orogenic boundary between the Archean Superior Structural Province and the much younger Grenville Province to the southeast, is one of the major tectonic features of the Canadian Shield. Within Canada, it is approximately 1900 km in length extending from the north shore of Lake Huron across Ontario and Quebec to Labrador. In 1986, a major coincident onship near‐vertical reflection and onshore wide‐angle reflection/refraction experiment (GLIMPCE–Great Lakes International Multidisciplinary Program on Crustal Evolution) was conducted along a series of lines across the Great lakes. One of the lines, line J, ran across Georgian Bay and Lake Huron for a distance of 350 km and crossed the Grenville Front Tectonic Zone (GFTZ). The seismic signals from the air gun array source were well recorded by the onshore stations up to distances of 250 km with a seismic trace spacing of 50–62.5 m. The GFTZ had a profound effect on the nature of the reflector patterns observed on the onshore seismic sections. Data recorded by the stations on the east end of the line indicate that the crustal P phases are very complex and form a “shinglelike” pattern of reflected waves. Data recorded by stations at the center and at the western end of the line show that the Pg phases are normal and lack the shinglelike appearance. This character of arrivals was also observed on the corresponding S wave sections. A combined P and S wave forward modeling analysis shows that the GFTZ is composed of bands of reflectors dipping at angles of 20°–35° extending to the lower crust. These reflectors were also well imaged on the coincident near‐vertical reflection data. Reflectors under the Britt domain to the east of the GFTZ have a shallower dip than those along the zone. The structure of the crust under the Manitoulin terrane to the west of the GFTZ is laterally homogeneous with a major intracrustal reflector at a depth of 17–20 km below the surface. Poisson's ratio is slightly higher to the east of the Grenville Front compared to the region to the west. The travel times of the PmP signals indicate that the Moho may be deeper under the GFTZ than under the surrounding regions. Our results give added support to tectonic theories that the Grenville Front owes its origin to a continental collision process.