Metallogenic epochs and metallogenic provinces of the Estrie-Beauce region, southern Quebec Appalachians

Abstract

Eight distinct metallogenic epochs have been identified within the southern Quebec Appa-lachians as follows: 1. Precambrian-Early Cambrian intracontinental rifting of Laurentia is related to the for-mation of black sand palcoplacer, volcanic red-bed copper, and strata-bound Cu and Zn deposits in dolomite marble and metagraywacke. 2. The Cambro-Ordovician opening of the Iapetus ocean (proto-Atlantic) resulted in the formation of uraniferous phosphoritc, strata-bound Zn-Cu-Ba deposits, and magmatic Ni-Cu deposits on or along the margin of a carbonate platform. 3. Early Ordovician immature island-arc formation is related to the initial closure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean and yielded chromitite and Cyprus-type volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. 4. The Middle Ordovician Taconian orogeny produced disseminated- and vein-type Cu-Mo-U-Au-Ag mineralization that formed within the frontal zone of the Taconian internal metamorphic domain.