David Good - Seeing the forest through the trees: The LIP Print approach to characterizing mantle source for basalt and associated Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in the Midcontinent Rift, North America

David Good, Ph.D., P. Geo

WS Fyfe Visiting Scientist, University of Western Ontario

Talk Abstract:

The mid-Proterozoic Midcontinent Rift (Keweenawan Large Igneous Province) in central North America contains the most diverse assemblage of mafic rock types for any LIP on earth including 9 distinct basalt groups and more than 15 major Ni-Cu-PGE occurrences or deposits such as the Duluth Complex and the Eagle deposit. The LIP print approach of J. Pearce et al. (2021) to characterize a mantle source and extent of magma-crust interaction for various basalt types is based on comparison to systematic variations in trace element signatures for basaltic rocks that were generated by partial melting in various mantle domains.

In this presentation, I test the usefulness of the LIP print approach to characterize 7 basalt types in the MCR and compare results to other well-known global large igneous provinces (Norilsk and Parana). I take it one step further by indirectly characterizing the mantle sources for mafic/ultramafic host intrusions of known Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization by correlation to basalts having similar incompatible trace element signatures. Then I map out the temporal and spatial distributions for the rock units and build a hypothetical model for the origin of the Midcontinent Rift that accounts for these observations.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Good is the W.S. Fyfe Visiting Scientist in the Department of Earth Sciences at University of Western Ontario. He completed his MSc at University of Toronto and PhD at McMaster University. Recently, Dr. Good was VP Exploration for Marathon PGM Corp. until the company was acquired by Stillwater Mining Company in 2010, after which he stayed with the project as VP Exploration and Director for Stillwater Canada Ltd. He is currently Chairman for E2Gold and technical advisor for a few other mining/exploration companies.

At Western, David developed a unique course on Mineral Resource Development. His research interests focus on the application of fundamental geochemical processes and the mineral systems approach to exploration, primarily in the Coldwell Complex and the Midcontinent Rift. Since 2015, he has published a total of 30 articles.

David Good | LinkedIn

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