Abstract
Sixty Landsat scenes of the Canadian Shield have been used to map lineaments in a test of the regmatic shear theory, and to evaluate orbital remote sensing methods for the study of high-latitude low-relief shields. It has been found that most lineaments represent a natural class of brittle fractures (joint sets or normal faults) formed by crustal extension. Many lineaments are associated with Precambrian diabase dyke swarms, suggesting that both they and parallel unfilled fractures resulted from uplift and bending of the crust by mantle plumes. There is no unified lineament pattern for the entire shield or even for crustal provinces. However, photogeologic interpretation may be biased against compressional features which may be mylonite zones not differentially eroded, and many thrusts, reverse faults, and wrench faults have probably been missed. Accordingly, the negative results of this study do not necessarily constitute decisive disproof of the regmatic shear theory. The most effective visual range imagery has been found to be near-infrared Multispectral Scanner scenes taken late in the fall. However, orbital radar imagery from Seasat and the Shuttle Imaging Radar system has been shown to be useful for structural mapping if taken with near-vertical incidence angles and illumination nearly normal to structural trends, when strong highlighting occurs. Further investigations of shield structure using higher resolution (20 meter) visual range sensors with stereoscopic coverage, and with orbital radar, are of great potential value.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Badgley, P.C., 1965, ‘Structural and Tectonic Principles.’ New York, Harper and Row, 521 p.
Baer, A.J., 1981, ‘Lac Simard.’ In: Landsat Images of Canada. V.R. Slaney (ed.). Geological Survey of Canada Paper 80–15, p. 34–35.
Baragar, W.R.A., 1977, ‘Volcanism of the stable crust.’ In: Volcanic Regimes in Canada. W.R.A. Baragar (ed.). Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 16, p. 377–405.
Blanchet, P.H., 1957, ‘Development of fracture analysis: as exploration method.’ Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 41, p. 1748–1759.
Burke, K.C. and W.S.F. Kidd, 1980, ‘Volcanism on Earth through time.’ In: The Continental Crust and Its Mineral Deposits. D. Strangway (ed.). Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 20, p. 503–522.
Card, K.D., 1978, ‘Geology of the Sudbury-Manitoulin area, Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin.’ Ontario Geological Survey Report 166, 238 p.
Card, K.D., W.R. Church, J.M. Franklin, MJ. Frarey, J.A. Robertson, G.F. West and G.M. Young, 1972, ‘The Southern Provinces.’ In: Variations in Tectonic Styles in Canada. R.A. Price and RJ.W. Douglas (eds.). Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 11, p. 335–380.
Douglas, R.J.W., 1968, ‘Geology and Economic Minerals of Canada.’ Economic Geology Report, No. 1, Geological Survey of Canada.
Escher, A., S. Jack and J. Watterson, 1976, ‘Tectonics of the North Atlantic Proterozoic dyke swarms.’ Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society of London, v. A 280, p. 529–539.
Elachi, C., T. Bicknell, R.L. Jordan and C. Wu, 1982, ‘Spaceborne synthetic-aperture radars: Application, techniques, and technology.’ Proceedings of the IEEE, v. 70, p. 1174–1209.
Fahrig, W.F. and R.K Wanless, 1963, ‘Age and Significance of diabase dyke swarms of the Canadian Shield.’ Nature, v. 200, p. 934–937.
Fahrig, W.F. and T.D. West, 1986, ‘Diabase dyke swarms of the Canadian Shield.’ Geological Survey of Canada Map 1627A cale 1:4,873,900.
Gay, S.P., Jr., 1973, ‘Pervasive orthogonal fracturing in Earth’s continental crust’ Salt Lake City, UT, 121 p.
Gramberg, J., 1966, ‘A theory on the occurrence of various types of vertical and sub-vertical joints in the earthcrust.’ Proceedings of the First Congress, International Society of Rock Mechanic, p. 443–450.
Gussow, W.C., 1983, Discussion of ‘The importance and potential of mafic dyke swarms in studies of geodynamic processes.’ (Halls, 1982). Geoscience Canada, v. 10, p. 28–29.
Halls, H.C.,1978, ‘The structural relationship between Archean granite-greenstone terrains and late Archean mafic dikes.’ Canadian Journal of the Earth Sciences, v. 15, p. 1665–1668.
Halls, H.C., 1982, ‘The importance and potential of mafic dyke swarms in studies of geodynamic processes.’ Geoscience Canada, v. 9, p. 145–154.
Haman, P.J., 1964, ‘Geomechanics Applied to Fracture Analysis on Aerial Photographs.’ West Canadian Research Publications of Geology and Related Sciences, 96 p.
Hobbs, W.H., 1911, ‘Repeating patterns in the relief and in the structure of the land.’ Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, v. 22, p. 123–176.
Hodgson, R.A., 1961, ‘Regional study of jointing in Comb Ridge-Navajo Mountain area, Arizona and Utah.’ Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 45, p. 1–38.
Hodgson, R.A., 1976, ‘Review of significant early studies in lineament tectonics.’ Proceedings of the First International Conference on the New Basement Tectonics, p. 1–10.
Isachsen, Y.W., 1975, ‘Possible evidence for contemporary doming of the Adirondack Mountains, New York, and suggested implications for regional tectonics and seismicity.’ Tectonophysics, v. 29, p. 169–181.
King, P.B., 1969, Tectonic Map of North America. U.S. Geological Survey. Scale 1:5,000,000.
Knepper, D.H., Jr., 1983, ‘Summary of some analysis techniques for linear features with examples from the Cascade Range.’ IEEE Digest, v. 2, 6.1–6.5.
Kumarapeli, P.S. and V.A. Saull, 1966, ‘The St. Lawrence Valley system: a North American equivalent of the East African rift valley system.’ Canadian Journal of the Earth Sciences, v. 3, p. 639–657.
Kupsch, W.O. and J. Wild, 1955, ‘Lineaments in the Avonlea area, Saskatchewan.’ Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 42, p. 127–134.
Kutina, J., 1971, ‘The Hudson Bay paleolineament and anomalous concentrations of metals along it.’ Economic Geology, v. 66, p. 314–325.
Lattman, L.H., 1958, ‘Technique of mapping geologic fracture traces and lineaments on aerial photographs.’ Photogrammetric Engineering, v. 24, p. 568–576.
Lowman, P.D., Jr., 1987, ‘A comparison of three fronts: Grenville, Nelson, and Allegheny’ (abstract). Program with Abstracts, Joint Annual Meeting, Geological Association of Canada, Mineralogical Association of Canada, Saskatoon, 68 p.
Lowman, P.D., Jr., J. Harris, P.M. Masuoka, V.H. Singhroy and V.R. Slaney, 1987, ‘Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-B) investigations of the Canadian Shield: Initial report.’ IEEE Transactions of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, v. GE-25, p. 55–66.
Lumbers, S.B., 1971, ‘Geology of the North Bay area, Districts of Nipissing and Parry Sound.’ Ontario Department of Mines and Northern Affairs, Geological Report No. 94, 104 p.
Lumbers, S.B., 1975, ‘Geology of the Burwash area, Districts of Nipissing, Parry Sound, and Sudbury.’ Ontario Geological Survey Report 116, 158 p.
Martin, R.F. and A.J. Piwinskii, 1972, ‘Magmatism and tectonic settings.’ Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 77, p. 4966–4975.
Masuoka, P.M., J. Harris, P.D. Lowman, Jr. and H.W. Blodget, 1987, ‘Digital processing of orbital radar data to enhance geologic structure: Examples from the Canadian Shield.’ Submitted to Photogrammetric Engineering.
Mollard, J.R., 1957, ‘Aerial mosaics reveal fracture patterns on surface materials in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.’ Oil in Canada, August 5, p. 26–35.
Moody, J.D., 1973, ‘Petroleum exploration aspects of wrench-fault tectonics.’ American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 57, p. 449–476.
Moody, J.D. and M.J. Hill, 1956, ‘Wrench-fault tectonics.’ Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 67, p. 1207–1246.
Nickelsen, R.P., 1975, ‘“New basement tectonics” evaluated in Salt Lake City.’ Geotimes, October, p. 16–17.
Nur, A., 1982, ‘The origin of tensile fracture lineaments.’ Journal of Structural Geology, v. 4, p. 31–40.
O’Leary, D.W., J.D. Friedman and H.A. Pohn, 1976, ‘Lineament, linear, lineation: Some proposed new standards for old terms.’ Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 87, p. 1463–1469.
Percival, J.A. and K.D. Card, 1983, ‘Archean crust as revealed in the Kapuskasing uplift, Superior Province, Canada.’ Geology, v. 11, p. 323–326.
Podwysocki, M.H., 1974, ‘Fortran IV programs for the summarization of fracture trace and lineament programs.’ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Document X-644–74–3, 39 p. Price, N.J., 1961, ‘Mechanics of jointing in rocks.’ Geological Magazine, v. XCVI, p. 149–167.
Rousell, D.H., 1984, ‘Structural geology of the Sudbury Basin.’ In: The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Sudbury Structure. E.G. Pye, A.J. Naldrett and P.E. Giblin (eds.). Ontario Geological Survey Special Volume 1, Chapter 5, p. 83–95.
Sawkins, F.J., 1976, ‘Widespread continental rifting: some considerations of timing and mechanisms.’ Geology, v. 4, p. 427–430.
Siegal, B.S., 1977, ‘Significance of operator variation and the angle of illumination in lineament analysis on synoptic images.’ Modern Geology, v. 6, p. 75–85.
Sonder, R.A., 1947, ‘Discussion of shear patterns of the Earth’s crust.’ American Geophysical Union Transactions, v. 28, p. 939–945.
Spencer, E.W., 1977, ‘Introduction to the Structure of the Earth.’ New York, McGraw-Hill, 640 p.
Stearns, D.W. and M. Friedman, 1972, ‘Reservoirs in fractured rock. Stratigraphic Oil and Gas Fields.’ American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 16, p. 82–106.
Vogt, P.R., 1974, ‘Volcano spacing, fractures, and thickness of the lithosphere.’ Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 21, p. 235–252.
Warner, L.A., 1976, ‘The Colorado Lineament: A middle Precambrian wrench fault system.’ Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 89, p. 161–171.
Windley, B.F., 1984, ‘The Evolving Continents.’ New York, John Wiley, 399 p.
Wise, D.U., 1974, ‘Sub-continental sized fracture systems etched into the topography of New England.’ Proceedings of the First International Conference on the New Basement Tectonics, p. 416–422.
Yoder, H.S., 1976, ‘Generation of Basaltic Magma.’ Washington, D.C., National Academy of Sciences, 265 p.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lowman, P.D., Whiting, P.J., Short, N.M., Lohmann, A.M., Lee, G. (1992). Fracture Patterns on the Canadian Shield: A Lineament Study with Landsat and Orbital Radar Imagery. In: Mason, R. (eds) Basement Tectonics 7. Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0833-3_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0833-3_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4117-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0833-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive