Abstract
The Slave Geological Province of the Tundra Shield is a Late Archean craton extending from the north shore of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories to the Coronation Gulf in Nunavut. Underlain by metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks intruded by granitoid plutons, the region is rich in gold, base metals, and diamonds and hosts numerous historic, active, and prospective mines. Most recently glaciated in the Late Wisconsinan, till and glacifluvial sediments form the most prevalent surficial materials. Glacial landscape features reflect complex ice flow patterns recording several different events. Raised post-glacial marine sediments are significant in the north along the Coronation Gulf at elevations below 200 masl, whereas glacilacustrine sediments related to glacial Lake McConnell are abundant in the south. Ground ice in glacigenic sediments has been preserved since deglaciation as much of the region also lies well within the zone of continuous permafrost. Segregated ice occurs separately within glacimarine and glacilacustrine sediments, and polygonal terrain is abundant on outwash sediments. Glacially derived ground ice includes buried glacial ice within glacifluvial outwash deposits and buried glacial and meltwater ice within eskers. Sediment-rich ice has also been encountered within hummocky till terrain during mine development operations. Surficial features attributed to partial thawing, and creep of massive ground ice, are regionally apparent. Although massive ice has been encountered in only a few locations to date, ground ice may be common within this glaciated region of the Tundra Shield.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Benn DI, Evans DJA (2010) Glaciers and glaciation, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York, p 802
Bleeker W (2002) Archaean tectonics: a review, with illustrations from the Slave craton. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 199:151–181
Bostock HS (1970) Physiographic regions of Canada; Geol Surv Can, “A” Series Map 1254A, 1:5000000, 1 sheet
Dredge LA, Kerr DE, Kjarsgaard IM, Knight RD, Ward BC (1997) Kimberlite indicator minerals in till, central Slave Province, Northwest Territories. Geol Surv Can, Open File 3426, 1 sheet
Dredge LA, Kerr DE, Wolfe SA (1999) Surficial materials and related ground ice conditions, Slave Province, N.W.T. Can J Earth Sci 36:1227–1238
Geurts M-A (1985) Le paysage végétal holocène dans la région d’Escape Rapids, Territoires du nord-ouest. Géogr Phys Quat 39:215–220
Helmstaedt HH (2009) Crust-mantle coupling revisited: the Archean Slave craton, NWT, Canada. Lithos 112:1055–1068
Heginbottom JA, Dubreuil MA, Harker PA (1995) Canada-Permafrost. In: National Atlas of Canada, 5th edn. National Atlas information service: natural resources Canada, Ottawa, Plate 2.1. MCR 4177, scale 1:7500000
Judge AS, Taylor AE, Burgess MM, Allen VS (1981) Canadian geothermal data collection-Northern Wells 1978–1980. Earth Physics Branch, Geothermal Series Number 12, Ottawa
Kerr DE (1996) Late Quaternary sea level history in the Paulatuk to Bathurst Inlet area, Northwest Territories. Can J Earth Sci 33:389–403
Kerr DE, Knight RD, Sharpe DR, Cummings DI, Kjarsgaard BA (2014) Surficial geology, Snowdrift, NTS 75-L, Northwest Territories. Geol Surv Can, Canadian Geoscience Map-137, (preliminary), scale 1:125000
Lemmen DS, Duk-Rodkin A, Bednarski JM (1994) Late glacial drainage systems along the northwest margin of the Laurentide ice sheet. Quat Sci Rev 13:805–828
Langley Jr CC (1967) Stratigraphic analysis of a deep ice core from Greenland. US Army, Cold Regions Res and Engineering Lab Res, Rept 77, p 133
Lytton Minerals Limited (1996) Jericho diamond project. Unpublished submission in support of class a land use application. Submitted to DIAND, NWT Region, Yellowknife
Mackay JR, Dallimore SR (1992) Massive ice of the Tuktoyaktuk area, western Arctic coast, Canada. Can J Earth Sci 29:1235–1249
MacDonald GM, Edwards TWD, Moser KA, Pienitz R, Smol JP (1993) Rapid response of treeline vegetation and lakes to past climate warming. Nature 361:243–246
Moser KA, MacDonald GM (1990) Holocene vegetation change at treeline north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Can J Earth Sci 24:227–239
Padgham WA, Fyson WK (1992) The Slave Province: a distinct Archaen craton. Can J Earth Sci 129:2072–2086
Pell J (1994) Kimberlites and diamond exploration in the Central Slave Province, N.W.T. (75 M, N; 76 C, D, E, F; 85 P; 86 A, H). Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. EGS-1995-1, scale 1:500000
Rampton VN (2000) Large-scale effects of subglacial meltwater flow in the southern Slave Province, Northwest Territories. Can J Earth Sci 37:81–93
Stern RA, Bleeker W (1998) Age of the world’ oldest rocks refined using Canada’s SHRIMP: the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Northwest Territories, Canada. Geosci Can 25:27–31
St-Onge DA (1984) Surficial deposits of the Redrock Lake Area, District of Mackenzie. Geol Surv Can, Curr Res Part A, Paper No. 84-1A, pp 271–278
Wheeler JO, Hoffman PF, Card KD, Davidson A, Sanford BV, Okulitch AV, Roest WR (1996) Geological map of Canada. Geol Surv Can, “A” Series Map 1860A, scale 1:5000000
Wolfe SA (1997) Permafrost research and monitoring stations northern West Kitikmeot: Slave Geological Province. Unpublished Report of Field Activities 96/97. Prepared for DIAND, NWT Region, Yellowknife
Wolfe SA, Burgess MM, Douma M, Hyde C, Robinson S (1997) Geological and geotechnical investigations of ground ice in glaciofluvial deposits, Slave Geological Province, NWT. Geol Surv Can, Curr Res no. 1997-C, pp 39–50
Wolfe SA (1998) Massive ice associated with glaciolacustrine delta sediments, Slave Geological Province, N.W.T., Canada. In: Proceedings, 7th international conference on permafrost, Yellowknife, N.W.T. Nordicana Publication Number 57, pp 1125–1131
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wolfe, S.A., Kerr, D.E., Morse, P.D. (2017). Slave Geological Province: An Archetype of Glaciated Shield Terrain. In: Slaymaker, O. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of Western Canada . World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44595-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44595-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44593-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44595-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)