Neoarchean coastal sedimentation in the Shebandowan group, northwestern Ontario

The study interpreted depositional environments from sedimentological data present in metasedimentary rocks of the Neoarchean Shebandowan Group of the Wawa Suprovince. Outcrops in the study area contained sedimentary structures and bed sequences consistent with shallow water, coastal sedimentation, and represents an important record of Archean depositional processes. Three depositional environments are represented in the rock record; tidal strandline, the shoreface, and the offshore. The tidal strandline was further divided into the tidal flat and tidal channel sub-environments. The presence of these three environments provides unequivocal evidence for the existence of shallow-water shelves in the Archean; a period during which sedimentation was dominated by deposition in alluvial fan, fluvial environments and deep water settings.;The three environments and associated sub-environments record processes reflective of differing current activity which controlled and influenced deposition.;The tidal environment is composed of many sedimentary structures similar to those present in Phanerozoic and present-day tidal sequences. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).