bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Jurassic
Authors: Poulton T.P. , Braun W.K. , Brooke M.M. , Davies E.H.
Published: April 2015

The Jurassic System in western Canada is of interest particularly for the evidence it brings to bear on the early history of the mid-Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous Columbian orogeny, and for its economic significance. Its sediments contain the record of eustatic and epeirogenic events related partly to the early stages of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the history of collision of allochthonous terranes in the west with the westerly drifting continent. Superimposition of the effects of the early phases of the Columbian Orogeny and the related foredeep on the older pre-orogenic sediments of Western Canada Basin, and the demise of Williston Basin as a depocentre are seen in the Jurassic succession of the western Plains and Rocky Mountains. Late events of the Ellesmerian tectonic phase in Brooks-Mackenzie Basin are recorded in northern Yukon Territory and adjacent Northwest Territories.

Jurassic sedimentary rocks form significant hydrocarbon reservoirs and source rocks in western Canada. The immense coal reserves of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains occur in an Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous succession; the Jurassic of southern Manitoba hosts two of Canada’s major gypsum mines; and some of the phosphate deposits, currently subeconomic, in southeastern British Columbia are Jurassic in age.
Cretaceous
Authors: Stott D.F. , Caldwell W.G.E. , Cant D.J. , Christopher J.E. , Dixon J. , Koster E.H. , McNeil D.H. , Simpson F.
Published: April 2015

Cretaceous rocks extend through the mid-continent from northern Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie southward along Mackenzie and Rocky Mountains and eastward across the Plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to the Canadian Shield. They underlie Mackenzie Delta and Plains in the District of Mackenzie. Exposures of Cretaceous rocks are found in the southern Plains along many of the major river systems. One of the celebrated localities is at Dinosaur Park, southeastern Alberta, designated a World Heritage Site. Elsewhere in the Plains, Cretaceous rocks are mainly covered by Pleistocene drift, except in the Cypress Hills and along the Manitoba Escarpment on the eastern side of the basin.

Many investigations of Cretaceous rocks have been carried out over a period of more than 125 years. Studies of oil sands, heavy oil areas, and coal-bearing areas, regional and economic studies, and detailed surface and subsurface studies have contributed to understanding the history of these rocks. More than 100 000 boreholes have been drilled in the southern part of the Western Canada Basin. Well control is relatively sparse in the District of Mackenzie where, too, outcrops are lacking in large areas. Drilling in the Eagle Plains, Mackenzie Delta, and along the Mackenzie Valley has provided much needed data. Recent coal exploration in the foothills and mountains of British Columbia and in the Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan has contributed greatly to the overall knowledge of the Cretaceous rocks.
Tertiary
Authors: Stott D.F. , Dixon J. , Dietrich J.R. , McNeil D.H. , Russell L.S. , Sweet A.R.
Published: April 2015

The depositional environments existing at the end of the Cretaceous Period continued into the Paleocene Epoch as the Laramide Orogeny continued to affect the western margin of the basin. Thick sequences of sediments derived from the Cordilleran Orogen were deposited in the Beaufort Sea in the north, while continental Paleocene beds were widely distributed in the south, spreading eastward from the rising Rocky Mountains across the Interior Platform.

The thickest Tertiary sediments in the southern part of Western Canada Basin are preserved along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountain Foothills and within the adjacent Alberta Syncline (Fig. 4J.1). These strata originally extended much more widely across the Interior Plains, but occur now only as erosional remnants, the largest being the Cypress Hills of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan (Fig. 4J.2) and their eastern extension along the Saskatchewan-United States border from Wood Mountain to Turtle Mountain in Manitoba. Tertiary sediments of the eastern Canadian Cordillera and Interior Plains are almost wholly continental, contrasting with the thick marine and nonmarine section encountered in the region of Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea.

Tertiary sediments are extensively developed in Mackenzie Delta, Arctic Coastal Plain, and on the Arctic Continental Shelf. Limited exposures are found in the Caribou Hills on the eastern side of Mackenzie Delta (Fig. 4J.3), along the western margin of the delta, in the Richardson Mountains, and in a small area near Babbage River on Yukon Coastal Plain. Other occurrences are found in Bonnet Plume Basin, Brackett Basin near Norman Wells, and
Tectonic Framework
Authors: Aitken J.D.
Published: April 2015

This subchapter is concerned only with the tectonics affecting the Phanerozoic sedimentary cover of the Interior Platform, western basins, and eastern Cordillera and with those Upper Proterozoic deposits genetically related to them. Interpretation of the sedimentary and tectonic history of pre-Late Proterozoic time is subject to uncertainties much greater than those of Phanerozoic history, and Phanerozoic rocks are the principal focus of this volume. Precambrian tectonics as determined from stratified rocks is dealt with in Subchapter 4A, and the geology of the sparsely sampled and remotely sensed crystalline basement in Chapter 3. Furthermore, this subchapter is concerned only with those sedimentary successions that were deposited upon or in immediate connection with North America; the extremely complex history of the accreted terranes to the west is beyond the compass of this volume, and in any case is not recorded by the strata of the Western Canada Basin. The accreted terranes are fully treated by Gabrielse and Yorath (1991). In this subchapter only the most critical sources are cited; all significant literature is cited in Chapter 4.

The region of concern here has generally been treated as the Western Canada Basin, a term useful only in designating a geographic area underlain entirely by sedimentary rocks. Most of the “basin”, as conventionally outlined, was a tectonic and sedimentary platform (“shelf” of some authors) during the divergent-margin phases of sedimentation, a part of it was a platform during the convergent-margin phases, and it has been a tectonic platform for most of Tertiary time. where
Quaternary
Authors: Stalker A. MacS. , Vincent J.-S.
Published: April 2015

The Quaternary spans approximately the last two million years (Fig. 4K.1). In Canada, it is associated with glaciation, and the Interior Plains display a glacial record that may be unrivalled for detail and completeness. This review gives a synopsis of the period; a fuller account is found in Chapter 2 (Klassen, 1989; Vincent, 1989) of the Quaternary volume of this series (Fulton, 1989). That account also includes additional references, figures, and tables.

The Quaternary record of the Interior Plains is relatively rich, but still very incomplete. First, although much is known about the glaciations and some of the interglaciations, most of nonglacial time is probably unrecorded. Second, much of the region, and especially parts of northern Alberta, northeast British Columbia, and southern parts of the Northwest Territories, have not been mapped. This lack of information renders correlation between the better known southern Plains and the region near the Arctic coast extremely difficult. Third, the available information indicates little about climate and environment during most of the Quaternary Period.
Tectonic Evolution and Basin History
Authors: Aitken J.D.
Published: April 2015

The sedimentary cover of the North American craton in western Canada (see Fig. 5.5, in pocket) is in large part related to processes at the continental margins. It is in part the proximal deposits of continental terrace wedges, laid down on subsiding, divergent margins (miogeoclines), and in part the deposits of foreland basins depressed by the load of crustal and sedimentary rocks tectonically thickened at convergent margins. Evidence from the Omineca Belt of the Cordillera suggests that it may, in late Paleozoic to mid-Jurassic times, have been a back-arc basin, but that record cannot be read from the sediments of the Western Canada Basin. Certain disconformities and instances of stratigraphic condensation are probably related to the flexural bulge inboard of the foreland basin. An analogous, though less pronounced flexural bulge due to the sediment load at and inboard of divergent margins is expected, but has nowhere been identified beyond question.

On the other hand, the view of the authors, based on current information presented in this volume, is that the development of circumscribed Phanerozoic basins and arches well within the craton (Fig. 2D.2, 2D.3, 2D.4, 5.1) was independent of activity, whether convergent or divergent, at the continental margins. Contemporaneity of some events deep inside the craton with events at the margins may be apparent, rather than real, and plausible mechanisms for linkage of epicratonic movements with activity at the margins have not been proposed. The several arches and basins that were active during both convergent and divergent phases provide the
Petroleum
Authors: Johnson R.D. , McMillan N.J.
Published: April 2015

Petroleum has been discovered in commercial quantities in two major sedimentary basins of the Western Interior: Western Canada Basin and Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin. Western Canada Basin comprises the Phanerozoic sedimentary wedge lying between the Canadian Shield and the Cordillera; it includes the thrust-faulted rocks of the Foothills Belt but not the Rocky, Mackenzie, and Ogilvie mountains. This vast basin extends from the 49th parallel northward beyond the Arctic Circle (Fig. 6 A.1). Western Canada Basin is divided into the following regions: Alberta Basin, Williston Basin, Foothills Belt, and Northern Basins. Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin straddles the Arctic coastline north of Western Canada Basin; a summary description is given in this subchapter but its geology and economic potential are described more fully in the companion volume on the Arctic Region (Grantz et al., 1990).

The distribution of oil and natural gas in western Canada south of latitude 60°N is shown on two pocket figures (Maps 1558A, 1559A), which may be used to locate fields referred to in the text. The maps are coloured to show the geological age of the reservoirs. Marginal notes contain statistical data on the largest pools, including Initial Volume In Place (IVIP), initial recoverable oil (Initial Established Reserves (IER)), pool area, net pay, porosity, and discovery year. Pie diagrams show the initial volume and the initial reserves, and the initial reserves by age of reservoir (see also Fig. 6 A.2, 6A.3). For current statistical data on reserves and production for individual fields, the annual summaries published by the provincial regulatory
Geophysical and petrological Characteristics of the basement rocks of the Western Canada Basin
Authors: Burwash R.A. , Green A.G. , Jessop A.M. , Kanasewich E.R.
Published: April 2015

Precambrian basement underlying the Interior Plains is a lateral extension of the exposed Canadian Shield. From the trend and width of most of the major tectonic units of the western part of the shield it can be inferred that they extend some distance beneath the sedimentary cover. Recognition of these units on the exposed part of the shield has been based primarily on geological mapping combined with studies of structural style, metamorphic fabric and facies, geochronology, and geophysical characteristics. In those areas of the Shield with an extensive cover of Pleistocene deposits, geophysical surveys have served to trace the boundaries of distinctive rock units. In sedimentary platforms with moderate Phanerozoic cover, geophysical maps are the only practical means of tracing the boundaries of major units. Core samples from wells drilled to basement provide information on rock assemblages, metamorphic history, geochronology, and petrophysical characteristics, but yield little of the detailed structural information that can be obtained from outcrop.

The objectives of this chapter are to present the currently available geophysical and petrological data that characterize the major tectonic units of the basement beneath the Western Canada Basin. An attempt is made to draw a map of the basement within the framework of the structural geology of North America.

The western limit of the crystalline rocks of the Canadian Shield was first shown with reasonable accuracy on a map drawn by Sir John Richardson in 1851 (Kupsch, 1979). In his travels from Hudson Bay to the Interior Plains of western Canada, Richardson
Coal
Authors: Cameron A.R.
Published: April 2015

Over 95% of Canada’s known coal resources are found in the sedimentary basins of the Interior Platform and eastern Cordillera (Fig. 6B.1); a minor amount is found in the Moose River Basin of the Hudson Platform. This distribution is shown in Table 6B.1, which summarizes coal resources for all of Canada. Coal also occurs in the platforms and basins of western Northwest Territories, eastern and northern Yukon Territory and the Arctic Islands, but low exploration activity has limited calculation of regional resources. The coals range in rank from lignite to anthracite and in age from Early Carboniferous to Tertiary.

An interesting pattern of resource distribution by rank is shown by Table 6B.1. A large proportion is subbit-uminous and lignite - valuable as fuels for power generation and possible future feedstocks for gasification and liquefaction. High-volatile bituminous coals constitute a relatively small percentage of total resources. On the other hand, Canada is well endowed with medium- and low-volatile bituminous coals, and these are of special interest to the metallurgical market. Of Canada’s total resources of immediate interest probably 25% are in the medium/low-volatile bituminous category, virtually all of which are in Alberta and British Columbia.

Coal in western Canada has gone through periods of fluctuating fortunes paralleling the experience of the industry elsewhere in North America. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, production decreased markedly and many mines closed. In the late 1960s and the decade of the 70s, a resurgence in mining took place due to increased exports of
Geothermal Energy
Authors: Jessop A.M.
Published: April 2015

Geothermal sources in sedimentary basins are of moderate to low temperature, are associated with flat-lying or gently dipping sediments, extend over long distances, and take the shape of the layered host rocks. They contrast with geothermal fields on continental margins associated with subduction zones or of rift zones associated with crustal extension; these are the result of vigorous hydrothermal systems feeding on volcanic heat sources, are relatively localized, generally small, irregular in shape, and of diverse character.

Geothermal heat may be recoverable from almost any part of the sedimentary section because mobile water is present to some extent in all sediments with the exception of halite and other evaporite beds. However, the amount of water, its temperature, chemical character, pressure, and potential production rate may vary considerably from place to place, even in the same aquifer. Porosity and permeability of the rock are factors that affect the pressure drawdown and the lifetime of any production well. Thus, the economic geothermal potential must be individually evaluated at any proposed location.

Temperatures in sedimentary aquifers range from near zero to 150°C and possibly higher in very deep basins. The lower limit of utility is about 40°C, which corresponds to a depth of about 500 to 1500 m, depending on surface temperature and geothermal gradient. Geothermal gradient in sediments is often distorted by hydrological effects, and conductive heat is disturbed by convective heat transfer. Areas of relatively high surface elevation act as recharge zones, depressing subsurface temperature, and low areas act as discharge
Industrial Minerals of the Western Canada Basin
Authors: Guliov P.
Published: April 2015

The Western Canada Basin is a storehouse of vast industrial mineral wealth. All of the Phanerozoic systems are represented in the basin and most of them have contributed or have the potential of contributing useful industrial mineral commodities. Producing deposits and significant occurrences are scattered throughout the more populous southern region of the basin (Fig. 6D.1, 6D.2). Commodities of low value such as sand and gravel, brick clay, and expandable clays tend to be relatively common and widespread. Development of these therefore tends to be concentrated around urban centres close to markets. Others, such as refractory clays, gypsum, cement raw materials, and lime are processed or used in manufacturing end products, whose added value permits transportation over relatively long distances. Some commodities, potash and sulphur for example, have gained global significance.

Production of industrial minerals in the Western Canada Basin accounts for about 65% of the total value of Canadian production, of which about 75% is contributed by sulphur and potash (Table 6D.1). Reviews of industrial minerals have been published recently for Manitoba (Bannatyne, 1984a; Davies et al., 1962; Fogwill, 1983), for Saskatchewan (Guliov, 1984; Saskatchewan Energy and Mines, 1983) and for Alberta (Hamilton, 1976, 1984). An earlier summary of the industrial minerals of the western provinces was published by Douglas (1970).
Groundwater in the Interior Plains Region
Authors: Lennox D.H.
Published: April 2015

The Canadian Interior Plains lie between the Canadian Cordillera on the west and the Canadian Shield on the east and extend as far north as the Arctic Ocean. The Interior Plains Hydrogeological Region is defined as that part of the Canadian Interior Plains that lies to the south of the southern limit of discontinuous permafrost.

The Interior Plains Hydrogeological Region and adjacent areas to the north were divided by Bostock (1970) into seven physiographic subregions (Fig. 6F.1). The three largest of these, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta plains, are separated from one another by two pronounced west-to-east downward steps in the terrain, the Missouri Coteau and Manitoba Escarpment. To the north of Alberta Plain lie three somewhat smaller subregions: Alberta Plateau, Peace River Lowland, and Fort Nelson Lowland. The smallest of the seven subregions, Cypress Hills, rises 700 m above the surrounding Alberta Plain just north of the International Boundary.

Surface elevations in the region range from 1500 m next to the Rocky Mountain Foothills belt to 150 m at the eastern boundary. The Manitoba Plain is very gently undulating to flat, with an average elevation of about 250 m above sea level (Bostock, 1970). Average elevation increases successively in the Saskatchewan and Alberta plains, as does the amount of local relief. This trend continues into the Alberta Plateau to the northwest. In the Alberta Plain the average elevation is 750 m and river valleys are entrenched to 100 m or more beneath the surrounding terrain. Elevations in some upland areas, such as the Neutral Hills and Porcupine Hills, exceed 1000 m (Fig. 6F.2).
Hudson Platform – Introduction
Authors: Norris A.W.
Published: April 2015

Hudson Platform, in the central part of the Canadian Shield, covers an area of 971 250 km. Its margins have been greatly eroded, so that most of its sedimentary cover now resides in two linked cratonic basins, Hudson Bay Basin and Moose River Basin. Most of this area is covered by water of Hudson and James bays (608 650 km2). Onshore in the south, parts of the platform form Hudson Bay Lowland (323 750 km2) and in the north, Southampton, Coats, and Mansel islands form Southampton Plain (38 850 km2).

A northeast-trending positive area, Cape Henrietta Maria Arch (Sanford et al., 1968; the Patricia Arch of Nelson and Johnson, 1966) divides Hudson Platform into two Phanerozoic sedimentary basins, Moose River Basin in the southeast and Hudson Bay Basin in the northwest (Fig. 7.1, 7.2). These basins are largely defined by post-Devonian movements; their largely common histories involve periods in which they were depocentres alternating with periods in which they were parts of a vast, undifferentiated platform. Thus, the two basins are in part depocentres, in part syndepositional and post-depositional structural basins, and in part basins of preservation. The most reliable thickness measurements are those based on drilling. In Moose River Basin, which developed within the platform somewhat later than Hudson Bay Basin, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Middle Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous rocks have a total thickness of about 760 m in the central part.
St. Lawrence Platform – Introduction
Authors: Sanford B.V.
Published: April 2015

The St. Lawrence Platform borders the Canadian Shield in southeastern Canada and adjacent areas of the United States, and is in turn bounded on the south by the Appalachian Orogen (Fig. 10.1). The Upper Precambrian to Carboniferous (and locally Jurassic) rocks within the platform consist of carbonates, shales, evaporites, and sandstones that dip at low angles southward, either into Michigan Basin, or into Allegheny, Quebec, and Anticosti foreland basins that parallel the Appalachian structural front (Fig. 10.2, see also Sanford et al., 1979). The strata are for the most part undeformed but are locally folded and faulted. Deformation is most evident near the southeastern platform margin where the beds were complexly faulted and folded by overriding thrust slices during various episodes of Paleozoic orogeny.

This account provides a summary of the depositional and tectonic history of the region. Brief reference is made to events in the Appalachian Orogen, Hudson Platform, Interior Platform, and adjoining regions of the United States. For complete treatment of these regions, the reader is referred to the appropriate chapters of this volume, and to the companion volumes of the Decade of North American Geology series (Williams and Neale, in prep.; Sloss, 1988).
St. Lawrence Platform — Geology
Authors: Sanford B.V.
Published: April 2015

Precambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield extend into the subsurface to form the basement beneath Paleozoic rocks of St. Lawrence Platform and St. Lawrence Trough (Fig. 11.1), where they were in part involved in Taconian, Acadian, and Alleghenian orogenic deformation. The southeastern boundary of the Precambrian basement beneath the Appalachian Orogen is unknown, but is assumed to coincide roughly with the southeastern limit of anomalous concentrations of seismic events (Sanford et al., 1985; Fig. 10.2).

Evolution of St. Lawrence Platform and its periodic connections with the Hudson and Interior platforms were linked with Paleozoic plate-tectonic events at the eastern margins of the North American continent (which at that time included Greenland).

Two major tectonic cycles are recorded: Tectonic Cycle I, extending from late Precambrian to late Paleozoic time, and Tectonic Cycle II, extending from early Mesozoic to the present (Fig. 11.2).
St. Lawrence Platform – Economic Geology
Authors: Sanford B.V
Published: April 2015

The principal economic deposits of the Paleozoic formations of St. Lawrence Platform are non-metallic, the most important being limestone and dolostone, salt, oil and gas, shale, gypsum, and sandstone in that order. Carbonate rocks also have some potential as hosts to metallic deposits, such as lead, zinc, and cadmium.
Proterozoic Sedimentary Rocks
Authors: Aitken J.D.
Published: April 2015

Over vast areas of the undeformed platform of southwestern Canada, the sedimentary cover of the ancient North American Craton is entirely of Phanerozoic age. In northwestern Canada, on the other hand, thick Proterozoic strata intervene between Phanerozoic deposits and crystalline basement (Fig. 4A.1). Even there, the preserved sediments contain only a fraction of the record of geological events that is preserved in the Foreland Belt of the Cordillera.

Precambrian crystalline rocks beneath the sedimentary cover of the Interior Platform are dealt with in a separate chapter (Burwash et al., Chapter 3 in this volume). This brief treatment is largely a condensation of two chapters (“Middle Proterozoic”, and “Upper Proterozoic”) of the companion volume, “Geology of the Cordilleran Orogen in Canada” (Gabrielse and Yorath, 1991); it considers not only the Proterozoic sedimentary record of the undeformed basins and platforms, but also the more complete record preserved in the Eastern Cordillera.

H. Gabrielse and M.E. McMechan have provided welcome assistance with fact and interpretation.
Evolutionary Models and Tectonic Comparisons
Authors: Aitken J.D.
Published: April 2015

This chapter attempts comparisons among the various sectors of the Phanerozoic platforms and basins of North America (Fig. 13.1) and among the various sectors of the frontal parts of the outboard orogens, whose behaviour has profoundly influenced the sedimentary record of the former. The syntactical difficulties of making comparisons among more than two entities are formidable; accordingly, a graphical summary is also provided (Fig. 13.2). Each column of the graphical summary is a generalization of an entire transect of a platform, basin, or frontal orogen; it thus contains numerous half-truths and serves mainly to highlight coincident and non-coincident events. The graphical summary should not be treated as a source of data.
Cambrian and Lower Ordovician - Sauk Sequence
Authors: Aitken J.D.
Published: April 2015

The Western Canada Basin provides exceptional opportunities for the study of Cambrian and Lower Ordovician rocks. In the southwest, these rocks are part of the Cordilleran Miogeocline, the wedge of sedimentary and minor volcanic rocks deposited on a passive margin of western North America that came into being at about the beginning of the Cambrian (Fig. 4B.1). In the northeast, they form the purely sedimentary and much thinner cover of the Interior Platform. Although it is clear that a hinge line marked the transition from platform to miogeocline, the position of the hinge is difficult to locate precisely, even for small chronostratigraphic units, because of the vagaries of preservation and the uneven distribution of thickness data. In any event, the position of the hinge line was not fixed. The best approximation of its long-term average position is the eastern limit of Mesozoic deformation.

The unit chosen for analysis here is the Sauk Sequence of L.L. Sloss (1963, 1976), the record of a long period of almost continuous sedimentation on the cratons, limited below by a widespread unconformity near the base of the Cambrian and above by a widespread unconformity near the base of the Middle Ordovician. Sub-sequences I, II, and III are demarcated by relatively subtle breaks at the base of the Middle Cambrian and the base of the Franconian.

The present synthesis provides a descriptive summary, and emphasizes the striking differences seen between cross-sections from platform to miogeocline drawn through the southern Rocky Mountains, the northern Rocky Mountains, the
Precambrian Successions in the Northernmost Part of the Canadian Shield
Authors: Frisch T. , Trettin H.P.
Published: April 2015

This chapter summarizes information on the northernmost parts of the Shield relevant to the understanding of the early history of the Innuitian region; a systematic description of the Canadian Shield and Greenland can be found in another volume of this series (Hoffman et al., in prep.). From a stratigraphic point of view, the Shield is divisible into crystalline basement, metamorphosed in Archean and/or Early Proterozoic time, and unconformably overlying sedimentary and volcanic successions of Proterozoic age that are only slightly deformed.

The following section describes briefly the crystalline basement rocks at the margin of the Arctic Platform, proceeding from southwest to northeast. Regional metamorphic facies of the Canadian part have been compiled by Fraser et al. (1978).

Victoria Island. Granodiorite on the northeast side of the Minto Arch yielded a’ K-Ar age of 2391 ± 125 Ma (recalculated from Lowdon et al., 1963), suggesting that it may be part of the original Slave Province. This interpretation is supported by the inferred Early Proterozoic age of unconformably overlying sediments (Campbell, 1981; see below). A later thermal event, however, is apparent from the 1645 ± 20 Ma K-Ar age on a pegmatitic granite in the Wellington High (W.A. Gibbins, quoted by Campbell and Cecile, 1979).

Boothia Peninsula, Somerset Island and Prince of Wales Island. The Precambrian core of the Boothia Uplift (Fig. 4.2, 4.3) consists of quartzofeldspathic, pelitic, calcareous, and mafic rocks metamorphosed largely in the transitional granulite facies (Blackadar, 1967; Brown et al., 1969). Structural trends are northerly on
Cambrian to Silurian Basin Development and Sedimentation, North Greenland
Authors: Higgins A.K. , Ineson J.R. , Peel J.S. , Surlyk F. , Sønderholm M.
Published: April 2015

The Franklinian Basin extended from northern Ellesmere Island across North Greenland, where its sedimentary infill is exposed from Inglefield Land and Washington Land in the west to Kronprins Christian Land in the east (Fig. 7.1–7.3). The segment of the basin exposed in North Greenland is approximately 800 km long and has a maximum preserved north-south width of 200 km. The thickness of the sedimentary column reaches about 8 km; the main part of the succession is of Cambrian-Silurian age, but it may extend down into the latest Precambrian and up into the earliest Devonian. A distinction into a shelf sequence and deep water trough sequence can be recognized in northern Ellesmere Island and in North Greenland, and the variations in facies with time in the two regions show close parallels. Correlation on group or formation level is often possible across Nares Strait (Peel and Christie, 1982; Peel et al., 1982). Detailed knowledge of the North Greenland sequences, however, permits an integrated account of shelf and trough development in the North Greenland segment of the Franklinian Basin.

A craton composed of Archean and Upper Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks, overlain by Middle and Upper Proterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks, lies to the south of the Franklinian Basin (Chapter 6). This is now exposed intermittently along the margin of the Inland Ice, and more extensively in eastern North Greenland (Fig. 7.1). In the early Paleozoic, this craton was fringed to the north by an east-west trending shallow marine shelf, Two main facies belts
Cambrian to Early Devonian Basin Development, Sedimentation, and Volcanism, Arctic Islands
Authors: Trettin H.P. , Mayr U. , Long G.D.F. , Packard J.J.
Published: April 2015

Two first-order depositional provinces are distinguished — a southeastern shelf, which encompasses nearly all of the Arctic Platform and a large part of the Franklinian mobile belt, and a northwestern deep water basin. The latter, in turn, is divisible into a southeastern sedimentary subprovince, and a northwestern sedimentary and volcanic subprovince. The unstable boundary between deep water basin and shelf migrated cratonward from late Early Cambrian to Early Devonian time.

In the preceding chapter, the Cambrian to Silurian depositional history of North Greenland has been divided into seven evolutionary phases that are applicable to both shelf and deep water basin as they are based, to some extent, on shifts of their mutual boundary. This organization was feasible because in Greenland only northern parts of the shelf province, which have been affected markedly by the cratonward expansion of the basin, are exposed.

Separate schemes for shelf and basin, however, are required in the Arctic Islands where both provinces are more extensive and more complex stratigraphically. It is most convenient to discuss the stratigraphy of Franklinian Shelf and Arctic Platform in terms of informal time-rock slices, and that of the deep water basin in terms of unrelated, variably diachronous, informal rock units. The basic differences in the stratigraphic record of the two provinces reflects the fact that different geological processes are important in them. Eustatic fluctuations in sea level, for example, affect primarily the shelf; tectonic events in “outboard” orogenic belts affect primarily the basin.

The different classifications chosen in Chapters 7
The Proterozoic to Late Silurian Record of Pearya
Authors: Trettin H.P.
Published: April 2015

A geological province in northernmost Ellesmere Island, named Pearya by Schuchert (1923) and interpreted as the relict of a Precambrian borderland, is now regarded as an exotic continental fragment with an internal suture, i.e. as a composite terrane (Chapter 4). This chapter outlines its late Middle Proterozoic to Late Silurian record and briefly compares it with the records of the Franklinian and Caledonian mobile belts. Special emphasis is placed on Ordovician tectonic and plutonic events, which are important for the evaluation of Pearya’s relationships with these two regions.

Establishment of this history has been difficult because of sparse age control for the pre-Caradoc stratigraphic record, the effects of five orogenies, and partial ice cover. On first approach, Pearya is divisible into four major successions that differ in age and overall lithology (Fig. 9.2; for geographic names throughout this chapter see Fig. 9.1). Succession I includes sedimentary and(?) volcanic strata of uncertain age that have been deformed, metamorphosed in the amphibolite facies, and intruded by granitic plutons in late Middle Proterozoic time (1.0-1.1 Ga). Succession II, ranging in age from Late Proterozoic to Early Ordovician, consists mainly of “miogeoclinal” or “platformal” sediments (carbonates, quartzite, mudrock) with lesser proportions of mafic and siliceous volcanics, diamictite, and chert. Its concealed contact with succession I is tentatively interpreted as an angular unconformity. Succession III includes arc-type and(?) ocean floor volcanics, mudrock, chert, and carbonates, and has associated with it fault slices of ultramafic-mafic complexes of late Early Ordovician (Arenig) age. The faulted contact between
Middle-Upper Devonian Clastic Wedge of the Arctic Islands
Authors: Embry Ashton F.
Published: April 2015

Carbonate deposition dominated the Franklinian miogeocline from Late Cambrian until earliest Middle Devonian. Following a transgression in early Eifelian (within the costatus-costatus conodont Zone), quartzose clastics replaced carbonates as the dominant sediment type and, from that time until Early Carboniferous, clastic sedimentation was widespread across the Franklinian miogeocline. During this interval an enormous clastic wedge prograded southwestward, heralding the advance of Ellesmerian deformation.

Middle-Upper Devonian clastic sediments are widely preserved and are most widespread in the western Arctic, where they occur over much of Bathurst, Melville, Prince Patrick and Banks islands (Fig. 10.1). In the eastern Arctic the deposits occur mainly in a broad synclinorium which stretches from central Ellesmere Island to eastern Grinnell Peninsula. Isolated occurrences are present on northern Ellesmere Island in the Yelverton Pass region and in Tertiary grabens on Cornwallis Island (Fig. 10.1, Fig. 4 [in pocket]). Forty-two wells have penetrated the strata and numerous surface sections are described in the literature (Fig. 10.1, Fig. 1 [in pocket]). The maximum preserved thickness of the clastic wedge is about 4000 m, although thermal maturation levels of strata within and directly below the wedge suggest that original thicknesses may have been nearly twice this figure in some areas.

Regional mapping studies carried out by the Geological Survey of Canada in the 1950s and 1960s established a general stratigraphic framework for these clastic sediments (McLaren, 1963; Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1962; Tozer and Thorsteinsson, 1964; Kerr, 1974). Embry and Klovan (1976) reviewed all previous work up to 1975 and presented
Devonian – Early Carboniferous Deformation and Metamorphism, North Greenland
Authors: Soper N.J. , Higgins A.K.
Published: April 2015

As outlined above (Chapters 7, 8), the sedimentary subprovince of the Franklinian deep water basin (Hazen Trough) extends eastward from the Canadian Arctic Islands (Chapter 8C) into northern Greenland (Chapter 7), and the pulses of deformation which affected the Canadian sector (Hazen Fold Belt) in Late Silurian or Devonian to Early Carboniferous time (Chapter 12) likewise extended into Greenland producing an east-west striking mobile zone, known traditionally as the North Greenland fold belt. The fold belt has an exposed width of up to 100 km on the north coast of Greenland and is flanked to the south by the weakly deformed lower Paleozoic platform sequence described in Chapter 7.

Figure 11.1 shows that several distinct tectonic zones can be recognized in the fold belt, and Figure 11.2 illustrates how these are spatially related to the geometry of the deep water basin (Hazen Trough). A southern fold and thrust zone coincides with a region which was transitional between the platform and trough for much of the Cambrian and Ordovician. It is bounded to the south by the Navarana Fjord lineament, which represents the position to which the platform margin had retreated by Early Silurian time. The structure of the southern zone is of thin skinned fold and thrust type, with an approximately east-west strike and southerly vergence.

A northern orthotectonic zone is developed on the site of the trough proper with its thick fill of dominantly Lower Cambrian turbidites. It forms the mountainous regions of Johannes V. Jensen Land, Nansen Land,
Silurian – Early Carboniferous Deformational Phases and Associated Metamorphism and Plutonism, Arctic Islands
Authors: Trettin H.F.
Published: April 2015

In the Arctic Islands, intermittent and localized deformational phases of Late Silurian to Frasnian age were followed by the Ellesmerian Orogeny sens stricto of latest Devonian (Famennian) to Early Carboniferous age (Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1970, p. 566), which affected the entire mobile belt. Regional metamorphism of greenschist and higher grades, and granitic plutonism were restricted to parts of northern Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands.

The structural events and associated phases of metamorphism and granitic plutonism will be described in historical order, and, within given phases, from the oceanic side toward the craton. The most important conclusions are summarized at the end of the chapter. For an overview of the orogen, see Figures 12A. 1 and 121.1, and for geographic names, Figure 1 (in pocket).

The most important event in the structural history of northern Ellesmere Island was the accretion of Pearya, which resulted in intensive deformation in Pearya and the Clements Markham Fold Belt, and possibly also in adjacent parts of the Hazen and Northern Heiberg fold belts (Fig. 12B.1). Preliminary geological maps for this region have been published by Trettin and Mayr (1981), Mayr et al. (1982a, b), Trettin (1982, 1987b), Trettin et al. (1982), and Trettin and Frisch (1987); other relevant references arequoted in Chapters 8 and 9.

Available evidence strongly suggests that Pearya is an exotic terrane that was part of the Caledonides, at least until late Middle Ordovician time (Chapter 9).The Ashgill Wenlock deep water facies of Pearya are broadly comparable to those of the Franklinian
Late Cretaceous and Tertiary Basin Development and Sedimentation, Arctic Islands
Authors: Miall A.D.
Published: April 2015

Macrofossils are extremely rare in Arctic Cenozoic sediments, apart from rare nondiagnostic gastropods and pelecypods, plus foraminifera, fish, scaphopods and land vertebrates recorded from the Strathcona Fiord area, Ellesmere Island (Westetal., 1977, 1981). These have only a local distribution and are therefore of limited chronostratigraphic value. Macroflora, particularly pine cones, occur in Neogene sediments and some are age diagnostic. Marine fossils are rare throughout the Cenozoic section, except for rare dinoflagellates, particularly in the Banks Island area, and foraminifera on Meighen Island. However, spores and pollen are abundant throughout the Cenozoic and in the Campanian-Maastrichtian sediments of similar facies that lie conformably beneath the Cenozoic section.

Palynostratigraphic studies therefore form the main chronostratigraphic basis for the largely nonmarine or brackish water facies that comprise the bulk of the Cenozoic section of the Innuitian region (plus Campanian to Maastrichtian in the eastern Arctic).

Many local, spot age determinations have been carried out on the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic section. The only thorough stratigraphic investigations are those by Doerenkamp et al. (1976) in Banks Island and Rouse (1977) in Remus Creek, Ellesmere Island, for the Maastrichtian to Early Oligocene interval. These workers established zones based on comparison with contemporaneous sections in the Northern Interior Plains, Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, British Columbia, Alaska, Siberia and elsewhere. In addition, G. Norris and M. Head (pers. comm., 1983-1985) have examined the writer’s collections from Axel Heiberg and central Ellesmere islands, and G. Norris (pers. comm., 1987) examined the Eocene to Miocene section in the Meighen Island well
Middle and Late Tertiary Tectonic and Physiographic Developments
Authors: Trettin H.P.
Published: April 2015

The post-Eurekan pre-Pleistocene history of the Arctic Islands is poorly known because the stratigraphic record of this interval is limited mainly to the northwestern margin of the Queen Elizabeth Islands (Chapter 15). The lack or scarcity of preserved sediments in other areas indicates uplifts, which, in interaction with erosion and eustatic sea level changes, gave rise to the present landscape (cf. Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1970).

Middle or Late Tertiary positive movements were most pronounced within the Eurekan Orogen and a belt surrounding the Labrador Basin, and of lesser magnitude in the area south of the Eurekan Orogen. The uplift of the Eurekan Orogen represents isostatic adjustments to post-Eurekan erosion; the causes of the uplifts in the other areas are uncertain although a thermal model appears to be applicable to the mountains around Labrador Basin. The positive movements have been amplified to a minor extent by an overall drop in sea level since early Tertiary time (Vail and Hardenbol, 1979). The Holocene postglacial rebound will not be considered in this context because it merely tends to restore conditions that existed before the Pleistocene.

Crustal thickening during the Eurekan Orogeny resulted in high topographic relief that produced the syntectonic clastic sediments of the Eureka Sound Group (Chapter 15). Post-Eurekan erosion must have caused an isostatic disequilibrium that was compensated by upward movement. The presence of high mountain ranges and matching negative Bouguer anomalies shows that the crustal roots of the orogen have not yet been eliminated by these processes. It is generally
The Quaternary Record
Authors: Hodgson D.A.
Published: April 2015

Quaternary geology studies in most of the Arctic Archipelago inevitably have focused on the age and extent of Pleistocene glaciations. In the islands south of Parry Channel (Fig. 19.1), repeated advances of temperate glaciers spreading from continental dispersal centres have eroded and deposited a wide range of landforms. There, till is the most widespread surficial material; marine deposits, raised with a crust rebounding from the last glaciation, are also conspicuous. In the Queen Elizabeth Islands to the north, the mountainous eastern rim (Fig. 19.2) remains half glacierized and has attracted the interest of the glacial geologist as well as glaciologist; drift landforms are scarcer than to the south. In the western islands, drift is sparse and glacial studies are retarded in comparison with the rest of the archipelago. Suitably, this area has drawn some studies of Holocene and older nonglacial deposits and processes, including the thermal history of near-surface sediments.

The Quaternary of the archipelago is discussed at greater length in Fulton (1989), by Hodgson (1989) for the Queen Elizabeth Islands, by Funder (1989) for north Greenland, and, in three separate articles by Andrews (1989), Dyke and Dredge (1989), and Vincent (1989), respectively, for the islands south of Parry Channel.

The Quaternary climate of the Arctic Islands is poorly understood — in particular, the polar weather patterns that resulted when continental ice domes lay to the south. The present climate of most of the northern islands is dominated year-round by the anticyclonic air of the central Arctic Ocean, and thus
Geographic and Geological Exploration
Authors: Christie R.L. , Dawes P.R.
Published: April 2015

The region discussed in this chapter encompasses the Canadian Arctic and northern Greenland. A dividing seaway — Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Nares Strait — forms a prominent route by which generations of explorers, from the Norsemen to the classical late 19th century voyages of geographic discovery, pushed north to explore the mysteries of “Ultima Thule”. Ardent pursuit of two geographic objectives, the Northwest Passage and the North Pole, resulted in the discovery and outline mapping of much of the region. Ship and sledge expeditions directed at specific scientific programs followed in the 20th century; these activities were superseded by aircraftsupported operations in the years following World War II.

Geographic and geological research continues, now supported by Canadian and Danish government agencies and private operators. Paradoxically, it was as recently as 1978 that the region’s (and the Earth’s) most northerly land was discovered: a Danish helicopter party that year landed on Oodaaq Ø, a small island at about 83°40N off the north Greenland coast.

This account of exploration in the Innuitian Region is divided into five roughly chronological sections: I. Paleoeskimo habitation and Norsemen, 2000 B.C. – A.D. 1500; II. Early mariners and the Franklin Search, 1576-1859; III. Exploration along the Polar Route, 1852-1909;IV. Geological exploration by ship and dog sledge, 1903-1947; V. The aircraft age of geological study, 19 47 to the present. Brief notes on the development of geological understandingof the region follow sections II to IV1.

Archeological finds indicatethat the Innuitian Region was inhabitated by paleo-eskimos as far