Bravo Lake Formation

The Bravo Lake Formation is a mafic volcanic belt and large igneous province^[1] located at the northern margin of the Trans-Hudson orogeny on central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is exposed along a nearly continuous east–west passage for 120 km (75 mi) and changes in stratigraphic thickness from 1 to 2.5 kilometers.^[2] The formation is a rare alkaline-suite that formed as a result of submarine rifting during the Paleoproterozoic period.^[3] The Bravo Lake Formation is surprisingly undeformed by the Himalayan-scale forming event during the Trans-Hudsonian orogeny.

The stratigraphy of the Bravo Lake Formation starts with a basic section of iron-oxide rich sandstones, psammites, and semi-pelites which cover a series of deformed pillow lavas which expand in viscosity towards the west, and volcanic/clastic deposits and ultramafic sills. The lower volcanic section is covered by garnet and diopside bearing calc–silicate layers and finely layered metasediments composed of coarse-grained actinolite, hornblende and biotite followed by pelites and semi-pelites that are intruded by separate sills. In the area, the volcanic belt includes an interlayered series of amphibolite, gabbro, iron formation, sulfidic schist and metasediments.^[2]

Geochemical results of pillow lavas and chill boundaries along five transects across the volcanic belt suggest the existence of three chemically different magma types within the Bravo Lake Formation.^[2]

Lavas of the volcanic belt display geochemical characteristics similar to modern ocean-island–basalt groups. They range from moderately to intensely fractionated. REE-profiles are similar to those from tholeiitic basalts to extremely alkaline lavas in Hawaii.^[2]