Bundled slaty cleavage in laminated argillite, north-central Minnesota

Abstract

Exceptional bundled slaty cleavage (defined herein) has been found in drill cores of laminated, folded, weakly metamorphosed argillite at several localities in the early Proterozoic Animikie basin of north-central Minnesota. The cleavage domains are more closely spaced within the cleavage bundles than outside them, the mean tectosilicate grain size of siltstone layers, measured normal to cleavage, is less in the cleavage bundles than outside them, and the cleavage bundles are enriched in opaque phases and phyllosilicates relative to extra-bundle segments. These facts suggest that pressure solution was a major factor in bundle development. If it is assumed that opaque phases have been conserved during pressure solution, the modal differences in composition between intra-bundle and extra-bundle segments of beds provide a means for estimating bulk material shortening normal to cleavage. Argillite samples from the central part of the Animikie basin have been shortened a minimum of about 22%, as estimated by this method. These estimates are similar to the shortening values derived from other strain markers in other rock types interbedded with the argillite, and are also consistent with the regional pattern of deformation.