SUDBURY IMPACT STRUCTURE – AERIAL EXPLORATION

SUDBURY IMPACT STRUCTURE AERIAL EXPLORATION

The controversy over the origin of the Sudbury Structure and the Sudbury Igneous Complex was ongoing before the beginning of mining in the area. My father was involved in the mining industry before the onset of WWII and he always thought that the structure was somehow involved with volcanic activity. I remember being in high school when my science teacher mentioned that he had recently read a paper hypothesizing that the Sudbury Structure may be the result of a meteorite impact and that it had happened long before any life had evolved to survive on land (evolution was not allowed to be taught in Ontario schools at that time!). I found this idea fascinating and I think that this was probably where my interest in meteorite craters originated.

I want to thank Frank Brunton and James E. Mungall for their assistance and allowing me to quote from their published papers (listed at the end of this article). Most of my aerial images of the Sudbury Structure were taken from an altitude of 2000 feet above ground.

Frank Brunton: THE FACTS-SIGNIFICANCE OF SUDBURY GEOLOGY MINING HISTORY. This is Frank Brunton beside my chariot, C-GOZM (GOZooM). This image was taken immediately after our aerial exploration of the crater. Note the F18 in the right background. The Sudbury airport is on the east rim of the SIC and directly over the South Range Shear Zone.

The Sudbury impact crater/structure from GOZooM over the centre of the structure looking north-east. Lake Wanapetei is top left in the image and Kelly Lake right centre. The flatness of the internal crater structure is obvious.

This image was taken from the north of the structure while flying over the Superior province country rock. In the immediate foreground is the area containing the Matachewan dykes and the Sudbury Breccia followed by the north rim of the SIC comprising of the different minerals of the lower and upper zones. In the background is the internal bowl shaped portion of the SIC containing the Whitewater group.

I took this image above the SIC north rim. The internal edge of the SIC is illustrated here by the Vermillion River which is immediately adjacent to the internal north rim of the SIC and meanders through the relatively flat area of the Whitewater Group.

This image of the floor of the Sudbury Structure was taken over the center of the SIC looking east over the Proterozoic rocks of the Whitewater group. The deepest mine shaft in the Sudbury complex, the Creighton Deep Project, is more than twice as deep as the altitude where this image was taken from! The northern rim of the SIC is visible in the left of the image with Lake Wanapitei in the left background. The town of Val Therese is in the foreground with the town of Hanmer just behind and to the east. Garson Lake visible to the extreme right of the image is situated in the center of the southern rim of the SIC. The long axis of Garson Lake points at the Sudbury airport which is at the south east SIC origin of the South Range Shear Zone (SRSZ) barely visible in the haze in the background.

This lower altitude image is looking north east from directly over the north-east corner of the Whitewater Group. The relatively flat geology of the Whitewater Group is terminated by the sharp north east rim of the SIC. In the background beyond the SIC is Lake Wanapitei.

The south rim of the SIC illustrated in this image is not as well defined as the relatively intact northern rim. The infamous Sudbury “stack”, visible in the foreground, rests on the Huronian supergroup south of the SIC. The SIC south rim is visible as the “mound” behind the stack and the “bowl” of the internal Sudbury Structure is visible in the background. To give an excellent perspective of the size of the structure, the north rim of the SIC is barely discernable just below the horizon in the far background

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