Extending the record of the Lomagundi-Jatuli carbon isotope excursion in the Labrador Trough, Canada

The Labrador Trough in northern Québec and Labrador is a 900 km long Rhyacian-Orosirian orogenic belt containing mixed sedimentary-volcanic successions. Despite having been studied intensively since the 1940s, relatively few chemostratigraphic studies have been conducted. To improve our understanding of the Labrador Trough in the context of Earth history, and better constrain the local record of the Lomagundi-Jatuli carbon isotope excursion, high-resolution sampling and carbon isotope analyses of the Le Fer and Denault formations were conducted. Carbonate carbon isotopes (δ¹³C) in the Le Fer Formation record a large range in values from −4.4‰ to +6.9‰. This large range is likely attributable to a combination of post-depositional alteration and variable abundance of authigenic carbonate minerals; elemental ratios suggest that the most ¹³C-enriched samples reflect the composition of the water column at the time of deposition. Cumulatively, these data suggest that the Lomagundi-Jatuli Excursion was ongoing during deposition of the Le Fer Formation, approximately 2 km higher in the stratigraphy than previously recognised. However, the possibility of a post-Lomagundi-Jatuli Excursion carbon isotope event cannot conclusively be ruled out. The directly overlying Denault Formation records a range in δ¹³C values, from −0.5‰ to +4.3‰, suggesting that it was deposited after the conclusion of the Lomagundi-Jatuli Excursion and that the contact between the Le Fer and Denault formations occurred sometime during the transition out of the Lomagundi-Jatuli Excursion, ca. 2106 to 2057 Ma. (author)