Submarine carbonate breccia beds—a oppositional model for two-layer, sediment gravity flows from the Sekwi Formation (Lower Cambrian), Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. F. Krause ◽  
A. E. Oldershaw

In the Sekwi Formation, carbonate breccia beds interbedded with slope sediments are interpreted as submarine sediment gravity flows that formed a two-layer deposit during a single transport event. They are intermediate between true slumps and turbidites and may initiate by slumping anywhere on the continental slope and rise. Textural characteristics of the deposits are a function of downslope transport distance.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R B MacNaughton ◽  
K M Fallas

A composite reference section for the upper Ediacaran and lower Cambrian is documented for a location near Moose Horn River in Wrigley Lake map area (NTS 95-M), Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories. Four measured stratigraphic sections cover, in ascending order: the uppermost Sheepbed Formation; the informal Sheepbed carbonate; the lower, middle, and upper members of the Backbone Ranges Formation; the Sekwi Formation; and the lowermost beds of the Rockslide Formation. The uppermost Sheepbed Formation is dominated by dark-weathering shale and siltstone. The Sheepbed carbonate (440 m) lies conformably on the Sheepbed Formation and consists of limestone, dolostone, and dolomitic siltstone, including several horizons of rudstone with clasts up to boulder size. The upper surface of the Sheepbed carbonate has been eroded and the unit thins to a zero edge to the east. The lower member of the Backbone Ranges Formation (253 m) is heterolithic, including interbedded quartzose siltstone and quartzose sandstone, quartz arenite (locally with horizons of quartz pebbles), and dolostone to dolomitic sandstone. The middle member of the Backbone Ranges Formation (93 m) consists mainly of pink to grey-weathering limestone with red mudstone partings. The upper member (501.5 m) is dominated by quartz arenite, but also contains intervals of siltstone. Partway through the upper member there is a marker unit of dolostone to dolomitic sandstone that previous work suggests is a tongue of the Ediacaran Risky Formation. Based on regional correlations, the top of this marker may approximate the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in this section. The Sekwi Formation lies abruptly upon the Backbone Ranges Formation. The contact is unconformable at this locality and mapping in the area indicates eastward erosional removal of the upper member of the Backbone Ranges Formation beneath the Sekwi Formation. The Sekwi Formation here consists of variegated siltstone with lesser dolostone, limestone, and quartz sandstone. An abrupt contact with nodular limestone and grey shale of the overlying Rockslide Formation approximates the base of Cambrian Series 3.


1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Martin

The utility of benthic foraminifera in bathymetric interpretation of clastic depositional environments is well established. In contrast, bathymetric distribution of benthic foraminifera in deep-water carbonate environments has been largely neglected. Approximately 260 species and morphotypes of benthic foraminifera were identified from 12 piston core tops and grab samples collected along two traverses 25 km apart across the northern windward margin of Little Bahama Bank at depths of 275-1,135 m. Certain species and operational taxonomic groups of benthic foraminifera correspond to major near-surface sedimentary facies of the windward margin of Little Bahama Bank and serve as reliable depth indicators. Globocassidulina subglobosa, Cibicides rugosus, and Cibicides wuellerstorfi are all reliable depth indicators, being most abundant at depths >1,000 m, and are found in lower slope periplatform aprons, which are primarily comprised of sediment gravity flows. Reef-dwelling peneroplids and soritids (suborder Miliolina) and rotaliines (suborder Rotaliina) are most abundant at depths <300 m, reflecting downslope bottom transport in proximity to bank-margin reefs. Small miliolines, rosalinids, and discorbids are abundant in periplatform ooze at depths <300 m and are winnowed from the carbonate platform. Increased variation in assemblage diversity below 900 m reflects mixing of shallow- and deep-water species by sediment gravity flows.


1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1205-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Archibald ◽  
Alan H. Clark ◽  
Edward Farrar ◽  
U Khin Zaw

K–Ar dating of magmatic biotite, and of hydrothermal biotite and muscovite, demonstrates that quartz monzonite intrusion and exoskarn scheelite mineralization at Cantung, N.W.T., took place over a brief interval in the Upper Cretaceous (ca. 91 Ma). The regional age relationships of magmatic and ore-forming activity in the Logan–Mackenzie Mountains are poorly defined, but it is tentatively inferred that tungsten mineralization may have been related to a late stage in the plutonic development of the area.


1984 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Simmons ◽  
M. B. Bayer ◽  
L. O. Sinkey

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. K. Kaiser ◽  
J. V. Simmons

The transport mechanism of some rock avalanches of the Mackenzie Mountains in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada is reassessed on the basis of evidence collected during fieldwork and by comparison with results from numerical simulations of the debris flow mechanism. A new hypothesis of glaciation-related transport is advanced as an alternate explanation of apparently very mobile rock avalanches with anomalous travel distances. By the example of the Avalanche Lake slide, it is demonstrated that the debris was most likely not deposited on the current topography but on valley glacier ice at an elevation of about 400–500 m above the valley bottom. This conclusion is supported by field evidence, an empirical runup relationship, and the results from numerical flow simulations. A qualitative interpretation of other debris deposits suggests that several events in the Mackenzie Mountains can be interpreted in the same manner. Key words: rock avalanches, rock slides, debris transport, debris flow modelling, Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories.


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