Although visited by GAC-NL Section excursions twice previously (Tuach, 1987; Kerr et al., 2004), the western White Bay area has seen more recent renewed gold and Ni-Cu mineral exploration interest and has been the subject of several subsequent geoscientific investigations. The relatively small area provides a snapshot of the long-lived and diverse geological and tectonic evolution of this part of the Appalachian orogen, juxtaposing spectacular rocks across short and relatively abrupt transitions. GAC Newfoundland section welcomes field trip participants to southwestern White Bay, and we hope that everyone will be fascinated by this rugged, scenic and geologically diverse region.

The field trip will examine a wide-age range of regional rock-types, stratigraphy, regional geochronology and ages, structures and their collective relationships with gold and Ni-Cu mineralization. The trip consists of four days. Day 1 consists of travel from St John’s to Pollards Point, a seven hours trip – at best. If time is available, two possible stops in the Carboniferous Anguille Group may be considered on Highway 420. Day 2 is devoted largely to the geology exposed along the Cat Arm hydroelectric project access road, an area dominated by Precambrian basement rocks, autochthonous Cambro-Ordovician sedimentary rocks equivalent to those of the west coast of Newfoundland and, basement granitoid-hosted gold mineralization at the Rattling Brook deposit and a number of stops on the way back south. Day 3 largely examines the Silurian rocks of the Sops Arm Group, which unconformably overlies the Ordovician Southern White Bay allochthon but is apparently in thrust contact with some units. Some gold prospects in the Sops Arm Group, including some of Newfoundland's first gold workings, may be visited time permitting. On the final morning of the trip on Day 4, we will examine an interesting and little-studied example of Pb-Zn mineralization, before returning to St. John's.