<strong>Moose</strong> <strong>River</strong> <strong>Basin</strong> 3.4-Hornblende-pyrite relationships, drillhole 75-02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 3.5-Hornblende-pyrite relationships, drillhole 75-06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 3.6-<strong>Basin</strong>al cross section from drillhole information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.7-Location of samples studied, 1975 drillholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 TABLES 3.1-S<strong>and</strong> sample intervals, 1975 drillholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 3.2-Petrographic comparison of units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 52
Petrography of Mesozoic <strong>and</strong> Pleistocene S<strong>and</strong>s ABSTRACT Study of Mesozoic <strong>and</strong> Pleistocene s<strong>and</strong>s from drillholes in the James Bay Lowl<strong>and</strong> indicates that their petrography may be used to differentiate four sedimentary units. Properties of colour, sorting, roundness, sphericity, purity, grain size, clay, organic <strong>and</strong> carbonate contents, granule li thology, calcite-dolomite ratios <strong>and</strong> heavy <strong>mineral</strong> assemblages are important. The Middle Juras sic Mistuskwia Beds consist of grey, calcareous, sorted, rounded, spherical, fine to medium, pure quartz s<strong>and</strong> without organics <strong>and</strong> may be second-cycle sediments. Lower Cretaceous Mattagami Formation s<strong>and</strong>s are divided into older, white, calcareous, sorted, angular, spherical, medium, pure quartz s<strong>and</strong> with abundant lignite fragments <strong>and</strong> authigenic pyrite, <strong>and</strong> younger, white, sorted, angular non-spherical, fine, very pure quartz s<strong>and</strong> with abundant kaolin. Pleistocene s<strong>and</strong> is char acterized as calcareous, unsorted, angular <strong>and</strong> impure, with little matrix, no organics <strong>and</strong> variable granule lithology. Heavy <strong>mineral</strong> suites for these units have been determined, <strong>and</strong> an inverse rela tion between blue-green hornblende <strong>and</strong> authigenic pyrite was identified. INTRODUCTION Stratigraphically useful criteria were sought to distinguish unlithified Pleistocene, Lower Cretaceous, <strong>and</strong> Middle Jurassic s<strong>and</strong>s known to occur in the subsurface of the <strong>Moose</strong> <strong>River</strong> <strong>Basin</strong>. Various parameters of sedimentary petrography, including heavy <strong>mineral</strong> analyses, carbonate analyses, <strong>and</strong> grain descriptions were used <strong>and</strong> additional details were determined in the petrogra phy <strong>and</strong> extent of the Mattagami Formation, <strong>and</strong> the newly-defined Mistusk wia Beds (Telford et al. 1975; Telford, this report). In a drillhole, if Cretaceous s<strong>and</strong>s are overlain by Pleistocene s<strong>and</strong>s rather than till, the two may be difficult to distinguish. For many years the Matta gami Formation was included in the Pleistocene, until Bell (1928) demon strated by paleobotany that sediments of Mesozoic age were present. The Mat tagami Formation <strong>and</strong> Mistuskwia Beds also have similar lithologies <strong>and</strong> placing contacts has been tentative. The only fossils contained in these Meso zoic deposits are a few lignitized twigs <strong>and</strong> branches, <strong>and</strong> palynomorphs requir ing extensive specialized study. The unconformity between Pleistocene <strong>and</strong> Cretaceous sequences spans probably 100 million years while that between the Lower Cretaceous <strong>and</strong> Middle Jurassic is about 60 million years <strong>and</strong> both are accompanied by palynological "gaps". The objective of this study was to estab lish petrographical "gaps" at the contacts, if they exist, <strong>and</strong> define criteria to differentiate the units in field examination. S<strong>and</strong> samples taken from four of six <strong>Ontario</strong> Geological Survey winter 1975 drillholes consisted of the finer fraction of interval samples from selected are naceous segments of drillholes 75-02,75-03,75-05, <strong>and</strong> 75-06 (Table 3.1). Five days of helicopter-supported field work allowed examination <strong>and</strong> sam pling of a few Cretaceous outcrops in the southern <strong>Moose</strong> <strong>River</strong> <strong>Basin</strong>, includ- 53