The direction of Wisconsinan glacial dispersion of distinctive Proterozoic erratics derived from the Belcher Group in southeastern Hudson Bay is shown to have been northwestward, westward and southward for hundreds of kilometres across Hudson Bay, Northern Ontario, western Canada, and several adjoining northern States. The most distinctive of these erratics, termed "omars", are composed of massive siliceous wacke characterized by buff-weathering calcareous concretions; these erratics were derived from the Omarolluk Formation of the Belcher Group, exposed in the Belcher Islands of eastern Hudson Bay, and probably underlying much of the southern part of this inland sea. Far less common but equally distinctive are erratics of red oolitic jasper that were derived from the Kipalu Formation of the Belcher Group. In parallel with the now widely accepted field term "omar", we introduce the term "kipalu" for such erratics of oolitic jasper. A map showing the distribution of the distinctive erratics, in relation to indicators of Wisconsinan glacier movement, provides the basis for inferring at least two discrete glaciations that produced several major ice lobes. This paper summarizes the field observations of numerous Canadian and American earth scientists, traces the evolution of thought on provenance of the distinctive erratics, and outlines the criteria for distinguishing "true" omars from erratics derived from other bedrock sources of concretion-bearing wackes.
Flat-pebble conglomerates in the McLeary Formation of the Belcher Group display close packing of intraformational slabs in near-vertical arrays that appear distinctively polygonal in sections parallel to bedding. Such arrangements of flat pebbles, known by names such as stone rosettes and slone packings, are common on modem beaches, especially within the swash and backwash zone of shore platforms. Association of the McLeary stone rosettes with sedimentary features suggestive of shallow subtidal to supratidal origin (herringbone cross-bedding, reactivation surfaces, desiccation cracks, tepee structures, gypsum casts, oncolites, stromatolites, and probable beachrock) supports a hydrodynamic origin for these polygonal arrays of flat pebbles, an origin that has been demonstrated for modern occurrences. Where associated structures corroborate interpretation of a shallow-water origin, such stone rosettes provide evidence for ancient strandlines, and the designation "beach rosettes" is suggested as appropriate to distinguish them from stone rosettes formed by periglacial processes.
An Archean conglomerate in the North Spirit Lake area of northwestern Ontario contains rare orthoquartzite pebbles. Detailed study of these pebbles shows that mineralogically they are very mature, consisting of as much as 99.8 percent quartz and a heavy mineral suite of zircon, tourmaline, and apatite. Textures are typically bimodal, characterized by rounded sand-sized quartz grains set in a 'matrix-cement' of thoroughly recrystallized finer quartz grains. These orthoquartzite pebbles provide the first definite evidence for local tectonic stability of the Canadian Shield before deposition of the immature sedimentary rocks that form part of an Archean (>2.6 Ga) greenstone belt of the Superior Province.
The assemblages consist of coccoid, colonial coccoid, and filamentous forms, which appear to be largely or entirely of cyanophycean affinity. Sedimentologic evidence indicates that the fossiliferous cherts and interbedded dolostones originated in intertidal settings. The occurrence of pseudomorphs after an evaporite mineral, probably gypsum, and the occurrence of displacement structures believed to have originated by precipitation of an evaporite mineral, suggest that these microbiotas originated in hypersaline settings. This study illustrates several problems that confront paleontologists investigating and interpreting microfossils preserved in Proterozoic cherts which must be carefully considered when speculating on the nature and evolution of life during the Proterozoic Eon.--Modified journal abstract.
