Rl. Kellett et B. Rivard, CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BENNY DEFORMATION ZONE, SUDBURY, ONTARIO, Canadian journal of earth sciences, 33(9), 1996, pp. 1256-1267
Remote sensing imagery and geophysical data are well known as valuable
tools for reconnaissance mapping in unknown areas, but they can also
be used to reinterpret existing regional geological maps. A combinatio
n of airborne magnetic data and synthetic aperture radar images, at bo
th a regional and a detailed scale, have been used to identify a wrenc
h-fault system on the Canadian Shield north of the Sudbury structure.
The 3-4 km wide deformation zone comprises a set of subparallel vertic
al faults bounding blocks of Archean granites, Archean metavolcanics o
f the Benny greenstone bell, and Paleoproterozoic melasediments of the
Huronian supergroup. Using high-resolution airborne radar and magneti
c data, the Fault zone is found to extend for 40 km along the southern
margin of the Benny greenstone bell. The wrench-fault system may have
been tectonically active during several episodes throughout the Prote
rozoic. An interpretation of these data, supported by additional field
mapping, indicates that the 1240 Ma Sudbury dyke swarm has been intru
ded through the deformation zone after its most active period of movem
ent. Overprinting of Sudbury impact breccia at the southern edge of th
e deformation zone suggests that same movement occurred on the faults
postdating the 1850 Ma meteorite impact, Lineaments that correlate spa
tially with the wrench-fault system can be traced across the southern
Superior Province and the Cobalt Embayment on the regional Images. How
ever, more high-resolution studies are required to establish the same
overprinting relationships along the length of the lineaments.