Intrusive origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex: Structural and sedimentological evidence

摘要

In recent years, many geoscientists have come to believe that the Sudbury event was exogenic rather than endogenic. Critical to a recent exogenic hypothesis is the impact melt origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC). Such origin implies that the SIC was emplaced before deposition of the Whitewater Group, in contrast to origins in which the SIC postdates the lithification of the Onaping Formation. Structural and sedimentological evidence is summarized herein that supports an intrusion of the SIC after lithification of all Whitewater Group strata, and conflicts with the hypothesis advanced by other researchers.