U. Mass Lowell Prof. Nelson Eby Department of Environmental, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences

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Diatremes, Dykes, and Diapirs: Rrevisiting Ultra-alkaline to Carbonatitic Magmatism of the Monteregian Hills
GAC-MAC 2006

2006 Geological Association of Canada - Mineralogical Association of Canada two and one-half day field trip (May 18 to May 20) to the western intrusions of the Monteregian Hills, Canada. Day 1 focused on the diatremes, dykes, and the Oka carbonatite complex west of Montreal. Day 2 focused on the Mont Royal alkaline intrusion and Île Ste-Hélène. Day 3 was spent at Mont St. Hilaire with a visit to the Poudrette quarry, one of the world's most prolific mineral localities (>365 species identified from this locality), and a brief look at the mafic alkaline suites of the main intrusion. The field trip guide (GAC-MAC 2006) is available as a pdf file.

Monts Bruno (l), St. Hilaire, and Rougemont (r) as seen from Mont Royal. 

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Île Bizard breccia pipe. The "backyard" exposure. Limestone fragments in Île Bizard breccia pipe. Investigating lower slopes of Île Bizard breccia pipe. Not the "backyard" exposure. Syenitic segregations in monchiquite sill at Ste. Dorothée.
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Examining the sill at Ste. Dorothée. Rain makes the grass grow (photo by G. Duke). Flooded pit at Oka. Collecting from the dump at Oka. Examining Oka drill core. The search for niocalite.
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A "gnat attack" while examining the Oka drill core (photo by G. Duke). A well behaved "gaggle of geologists" leaving the Monastery pipe at La Trappe (photo by G. Stott). Utica shale, country rock for the Mont Royal intrusion. Aligned feldspars in melanocratic gabbro. Mont Royal.
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Syenitic veins cutting melanocratic gabbro. Mont Royal. Deformed limestone at entrance to Cimetière Côte des Neiges. Mont Royal. Adrian indicating the source of the aqueous phase at Île Ste.-Hélène (photo by G. Stott). Hornfels dipping in toward intrusion. Poudrette quarry. Mont St. Hilaire.
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Examining outcrops in Poudrette quarry during the height of the monsoon. Pegmatitic pod in nepheline syenite. Poudrette quarry. Partially digested inclusion of coarse-grained syenite in porphyritic nepheline syenite. Poudrette quarry. Fluorite in breccia. Poudrette quarry.
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Marble xenoliths, surrounded by reaction rims, in nepheline syenite. Poudrette quarry. Breccia blocks by Lac Hertel (they really do exist). Mont St. Hilaire.  Group photograph at the Chalet. Mont Royal (photo by K. Yang).

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