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Escholarship@Mcgill " " 1] • " ., , if - • - THE AlLOCHTItONOUS ·ORIGIN Of "BIOHERMS" IN THE EARLY DEVONiAN STUART SAY FORMA~IeN , ' OF BATHURST IS~ND,'~RCTic.CANADA. / 1 / / KEVIN PATRICK POLAN, / / OEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICA~ SCIENCES" , ~ McGItL UNIV~RSITY, MONTREAL~ '., ( DECEMBER, 1982. A the~i s submi t'ted to the Facul ty . of Graduate Stùdies and Researeh in' partial fulfillment of the requirements, l for the degree of Master of Sci ence. , " 3 ~ ,~ ~ ~ ~ .. ! ~ j J . J ~ .{ " ~ @ Kevin P. Palan, 1982. , i! 1 ~" . ~ o i ; ~ j - \ /1' , ABSTRACT Blocks of limestone and dol9,mite 'up to tens of metres i1\ sfz.e occur • near the base of the Lower Oevonian (Siegenian-Emsian) Stuart Bay Formation 1\, . at s~x sites, on eastern Bathurst Island. These blocks occur in gro~ps of up . " , , ",. 1 : ta thirty individuals and, at the two localit'ies with the greatest numer 'of , . • 1 blacks, are disposed in two roughly linear groups reflecting,their occurrence on two beddin9 planes. Stromatoporoids (genera: 'Cl..a.t:hJr.od.rj.ctyon, Atopo.4.tJwma., GeJrJUmO.4.t1r.om4, Acünccli.c.t.yon. IJr,u.pe.t:o.!).tJwma.,. 'P.6eu.d.ot:Jw.pet.o.4~IfIIJ., Sa.lai.Ir.eUa . and S~ngo.!)~ma.l and favositid corals are the MOst co~n framebuilders. <1 ,<:, . The blacks have weathered from a matrix of finelY-la~~nated deePj . water siltstone. Neighbourin9 bloc~~ differ i~ bedding orientatiqp. Although they, h~ve been described as' bioherms in place~ this evidence indicates tha~ l th~ are blocks deri~ed during cata~trophic events such as earthqu~kes from ( " a Devonian reef tract developed on the western flank of the Cornwallis Fold- belt. The occurrence of blocks on two bedding pla~es implies two such cat~strophic e,v.ents. .. .. D , .J v ;'", ! , } " " ... " \ , RESUME , ft;' . '- fDeS bloès de calcaire et de dolomite 'aY4nt des dÎipens,ions parfois excéd~t ~ , ~ ., - y J , ., plusieUrs dizain~s de mètres, se trouvent près, de la 'base de la formation Stuart Bay(Siegénien-Emsien) a six~endroits dans l·'Est de TIHe, Bathurst. CI. ,. Ces blocs ~nt rassembl€s en group~s de ,Jusqu 1 a trente individus. Aux deux localités 00 les blocs sont le plus abondants, ils sont dispos€s ( 1 linéairement en deux groupes reflétant le plan de, litage. Des • •• "/,.1' • ' , stromatoporol des (genres :Clathrood:r.. atyon, Atopostl"cma, ?Ge:rtloonostpoma" l ~ Aatinodiatyon" Trupetost1'oma." 2Pseudotrupetostrooma, SalaireZZa, et Sy1'ingostI:oma) e~!,s coraux' favositides sont les plus important constructeurs de récifs. Les blocs sont' situés dans' une matrice Ide siltstone finement laminée~ " ... • -..fIl ( et deposee en eau profonde. L'orientation du litage'varfe d'un bloc a l'autre. Quoique ayant été "identifie comme des biohermes en place, ces faits indiquent que les blocs ont 'etê fonmfs et deposéS pendant des catastrophes tel que des tremblements de terre. Au moins deux de ces catastrophes ont eu lieu, car les blocs se trouvent suivant deux pl?ns de litage. Ces blocs sont des fragments delo,gés d'un récif développe sur , " f le flanc ouest de la zone de plissemen~s Cornwallis. \ • Oc ( .' ., 1 '- ,c, . " • " , "- (': ' . text ': page ACKNOWlEDGEMENTS B6 \ \ REFERENCES 87 ~ PLATE CAPTIONS 98 figures 1. Regional geology of tne Aret;e Islands .. 2, 2. Northeastern Batpurst Island 4 • 3. Enlargement of the Arct1c Platform 9 "x 5. Polarh~ear Pass locality 28 6. Moses Robinson River .1ocality 30 J 7. Cheyne River locality '31 8. Sample eut and polished to reveal geopetal, structures 38 9. Wulff projectio~ of two lines fram sample 8-6 ~ 40 10. Wulff projection of rotated poles to geopetal ~tructures 41 , and bedding attitudes ~uring Il. Part of eastern Bathurst Island Stuart Bay time 55 4- 12. Favosites tabular density plotted against corallite diameter 69 ( 13. Three different measurements of corallite diameter 74 14. Frequency hi stograms", of Pavofi tes cora 11 i te di ameter 77 tables " . 1. Age of the Stuart Bay Formation 23 2. Perc/ntages of thin sections exhibi~in~ specifie textures 35 3. Percentages of framebuilders in the blocks 35 4. Orientation of beddipg and, geopetal structures of blocks 37 ..1 5. Three theories to account for the presence of carbonate 49 , .... masses in the Stuart Bay Formation 6. , Summary of data for the samp 1es of Favosi tes 66 7. Data from thin sections 68 68 ' 8. Statistical studY.of three possible groupings of the c Favosites samples 9a. Summary of data for 12 species of Favosites 7f , b. Summary of data for possible divisions of the Favosites samples n 't - , , , , . .. .. 1 (' ,. 1 NTRODUCTt ON Bathurst Island is hocated in the .,centre- of the éanadian Arct;c 0 0 Islands between Latitudes 75 and nON uarx:! Longitudes 97 and 1050W{f;q.l~.. _ Because o~ i ts pro!JmftY te the nortr'l magn.èti c po)~ ordi nary compasses - " ~ are useless and di rectlons must be estimated by 'topography and sun pos; tiqn. In genera 1 the topo~raphy of the ; s land i s gent1y rD 11 ; n9 but eut by 1 • deeply" inci sed s treimlS. , Bathurst Island was discovered in 1819 by W.E. Perry. ' Sir John " ' '. Frànkl in and ,his expedition sàiled a10ng the east coast before the winter of 1845-6. Be.tween 1850 and 1853 several groups searched for the lost Franklin expedition and vis~ted and partial1y mapped the i~land. Various Aretie expeditions visited the'island between 1853 and 1917. The true nature of the Bathurst Island group of is1ands was not discovered until ( 1947. Previously all' of, the islands except for the Berkel~ Islands were . ~ - thought to belong te one landmas5. Only th'ree, wells for ail have been drilled on, Bathurst Island. In the winter of 1963-4 thé Dominion EfCp10rers-Canso et. al. Bathurst , - ..J Ca1edonian J-34 wel1 wa5. dri11ed . In 1971 the Sun KR All'ison Ri ver N-12 , , and'Sun KR Young Inlet 0-21 ~lls were dril1ed. < , ',Little geo1ogical work was done before the 1950's when Jenness ~.7 - • (1952 a, b) and Taylor (1~56L.investi.gated the surticial geology.of the " island. In 1953'Operat~Çlh FrankJin, a major g.eologica1 survey of the , . Arçtie Islands, took place (Fortier et at, 1963). Kerr, MeGregor' and McLaren (1965) described an unconfonnity between the Middle and U~r , ;.-. .De'vonian' strata on Bathurst Islana. Kerr (1968) deser;'bed the Devonian , rocks of the is1and in a regional paper. kèrr (1974) has published the . " ,.' \ .1, \ 2 1 r . \ --- '" , " " , (, 120 100 1. , . 60 J ( ·Seque.oces 7,~ Aretic Coastal Plàin SeqJ.lences 4,5,6 Sverdrup ,l~asin Sequence 3 A Franklinia~ 0 ArcÎ:ic t1l1\ Frank1inian c1astic belt 9 .MiQ-geoclin~' Platform \lLJ} l " \ " Sequence 2 \ Proteroz.oic Bàsins Sequence 1, Preeam~rian Shield " Figure 1. Régional geol~gy o~ t~e A.ctic Is1anqs {aftar Thorsteinss~n and Tozer, 1970; Ke~r, 1974, 1977, 1?8l}. Bathurst Island i9 i~di~ated , \ l\ by a star. :_,( 3 most comprehènsive geological repart on Bathurst and adjacent small islands (the Bathurst Island Group). Powell (1978) assessed the hydro­ carbon potential of the wells on Bathurst Island. Mayr (1980) corrèlated ·the subsurfaçe of the Bathurst Island Group. The lnteresting structure of Bathurst Island has been described i,n seyeral papers including those of Fortier and Thorsteinsson (1953) and McNair (1961). The Devonian paleontology of Bathurst Island has been discussed by Ormiston (1967( (trilobites). McGregor, and Uyeno (1'972) (spores ant\c~donts), Hueber 1 (1971) (land plants), L'~nz (1973) and Smith (1980) (6ChiOPOdS)., Kerr (1974} in his description of the geology of Bathurst ls1and not~d the presence o~two paral1el rows of limestone masses* in section 34 - . ' " (Polar Bear Pass locality of this report. see fig., 2). Bioherms were als'o " noted in ,Kerr' s sections 21, 23, 25 and 33 (Kerr" 1974). He concl uded'" ( that their fauna and lithology indicated that they were in-place bioherms. ~n' the summer of 1980 the writer discovered severa1 other 10catiQQs where these curio(2 "biohenns ll are present (see fig. 2). LithOl0g~'ca.l,· c:al ' .' "'= ànd stromatoporoid 'samp1es were taken from the blocks at these localities. Beddihg was measured and samples taken to 10cate geopetal strutture~. The 1itho1ogy and structure of the surrounding beds were examined. The consensus of JOOst geologists (Kerr, 197;'4; Smith, 1974; Mayr, 1980)' iS that the Stuart Bay Formation was deposit,ed. in deep water. However th~ litho- b logy, te,xture and fauna of the block:s ,;ndicate deposition in shallow water, ~nd the bedding and geopeta1 structures show by their variability 1 0 the blocKs have be~n transported. For these reasons l believe that the ' 6 carbonate "biohenns", in the"Stuart Bay 'Formation at Kerr's (1974) section * Hereafter referred ta as blacks or ·"biohenns". ( . , 1 ~ \. 4 " CR. " - : r , - / / o 20 40 60"", Figure 2. Map of northeastern Bathurst Island showing the loèations of blocks in the Stuart Bay Formation. PBP Polar Bear Pase PB~N Polar ~ar Pass North 'AS Arthur' s Seat MœUR Moses'Robinson River CR Cheyne Riyer CRN Cheyne River North • 1 } , f, 5 34 and at other loca~ities (see f1g.2) are allochthonous blocks derived from reefs té' the east. .. "( t, '" •• Th i s s tlJdy .i 11 us tra tes how êas il y JJ loch t,honous \b l ocks can be mistaken for bioherms in the lield. Other examp1es of the misinterpre­ tation of allochthonous blocks have been documented by Mountjoy et al. (1972), conaghii~"-et à'1. (1976) ,and Wendt and Fürs;ch {1979}. The identifi- '\. , ,cation of the blocks as biohenns by Kerr (1974) in section 34 has led to the conclusion that the Q.W1~ fauna found in thin caryonate beds within the si1tstone and 1aterally equiva1ent to the blocks represents _ -' a "fairly shallow, subtidal cOl1l11unity " (Lenz, 1973).
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