GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA OPEN FILE 8033 Microfossils from the Cache Creek Complex in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon M.L. Golding, M.J. Orchard, A. Zagorevski 2016 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA OPEN FILE 8033 Microfossils from the Cache Creek Complex in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon M.L. Golding, M.J. Orchard, A. Zagorevski 2016 © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Natural Resources, 2016 Information contained in this publication or product may be reproduced, in part or in whole, and by any means, for personal or public non-commercial purposes, without charge or further permission, unless otherwise specified. You are asked to: • exercise due diligence in ensuring the accuracy of the materials reproduced; • indicate the complete title of the materials reproduced, and the name of the author organization; and • indicate that the reproduction is a copy of an official work that is published by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and that the reproduction has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of, NRCan. Commercial reproduction and distribution is prohibited except with written permission from NRCan. For more information, contact NRCan at [email protected]. doi:10.4095/298696 This publication is available for free download through GEOSCAN (http://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/). Recommended citation Golding, M.L., Orchard, M.J., and Zagorevski, A., 2016. Microfossils from the Cache Creek Complex in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8033, 25 p. doi:10.4095/298696 Publications in this series have not been edited; they are released as submitted by the author. Microfossils from the Cache Creek Complex in northe rn British Columbia and southern Yukon Golding, M.L., Orchard, M.J., Zagorevski, A. compiled from unpublished paleontological Introduction reports of the Geological Survey of Canada The Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals (prefaced OF-, MJO-, or FC-), and from lab (GEM) program is laying the foundation for processing records for unreported samples sustainable economic development in the North. Also included is a tabulation of the current The Program provides modern public determinations of conodonts from the archival geoscience that will set the stage for long-term samples. This information has been drawn from decision making related to investment in the paleontological reports, although some responsible resource development. Geoscience nomenclature has been updated. The taxonomy knowledge produced by GEM supports and stratigraphic age of the conodonts in some evidence-based exploration for new energy and of these samples are under revision, and any mineral resources and enables northern modifications will be reported on at a later date. communities to make informed decisions about As such, this paper reflects the current state of their land, economy and society. The on-going our understanding of microfossils from the GEM-Cordillera project is focused on northern part of the Cache Creek terrane, which improving the regional stratigraphy and tectonic is subject to change. models in northern British Columbia and Yukon and producing publically available, regional- Geological Setting scale geoscience knowledge in Canada’s North. The Cache Creek terrane is exposed in a near- The Geological framework of ancient oceanic continuous belt from southern to central British crust in northwestern British Columbia and Columbia, and in a separate northern section in southwestern Yukon activity aims to develop an northwestern British Columbia and southern updated regional geologic framework for the Yukon, initially referred to as the Atlin terrane northern part of the Cache Creek terrane (Monger, 1975; Fig. 1). The northern part of the (Zagorevski et al., 2014, 2015), with a focus on Cache Creek terrane is flanked to the east by the the Whitehorse (NTS 105D), Teslin (105C), Yukon-Tanana and Quesnel terranes, and to the Atlin (104N), Tulsequah (104K), Dease Lake west by the Stikine terrane (Colpron & Nelson, (104J), and Cry Lake (104I) 1:250,000 scale 2011; Fig. 1). It consists primarily of imbricated map areas. carbonate, chert, basalt, gabbro and ultramafic Biostratigraphic support for this activity is rocks, and has been interpreted as a forearc being provided by the analysis of conodont and accretionary complex (Mihalynuk, 1999). radiolarian samples, from both new and archival Permian rocks of the Cache Creek terrane collections. The initial step in this process contain fossils that are exotic in relation to North involves the re-examination of all the existing America (Monger & Ross, 1971; Orchard et al., conodont and radiolarian collections in the 2001), and suggest that this terrane originated Geological Survey of Canada’s archives from far outboard of the North American margin. The the northern Cache Creek terrane, which have present position of the terrane between the less been collected over a period of thirty years. New exotic, peri-Laurentian Stikine, Quesnel, and samples are currently being processed, and will Yukon-Tanana terranes has been explained by be described in a future publication. anticlockwise rotation of the Stikine terrane and The current paper contains a tabulation of the subsequent entrapment of the Cache Creek existing occurrences of conodont and terrane (Mihalynuk et al., 1994). radiolarian specimens in the archival samples, The upper Paleozoic to Mesozoic rocks of the as well as the interpreted stratigraphic ages of northern Cache Creek terrane belong to the these samples. This information has been Cache Creek Complex, previously referred to as consisting of volcanic rocks and minor carbonates; and the Permian Teslin Formation, consisting of limestone with minor amounts of chert, argillite and volcanic rocks. The Kedahda Formation has subsequently been regarded as Mississippian-Triassic on the basis of its microfossil content (e.g. Gabrielse, 1998). The heavily faulted nature of the northern Cache Creek Complex makes it difficult to recognize lithological sections, and to apply formation names to much of the complex (e.g. Mihalynuk et al., 2002; English et al., 2010). As such, although some of the samples reported herein have been referred to either Mulligan’s units or Monger’s formations, many have simply been attributed to the Cache Creek Complex undivided. Previous Work Microfossils from elsewhere in the Cache Creek Complex have been reported on extensively since the 1980s. Conodonts from the Figure 1 Geological map of the Canadian Cordillera, southern part of the Cache Creek Complex have showing the location of the northern Cache Creek terrane (from Colpron & Nelson, 2011). The majority of samples presented been reported by Rafek (in Trettin, 1980), in this report were collected from the area outlined in Figure 2 Orchard (1981, 1984, 1987), and Beyers & (with the exception of C-176495). Orchard (1991), whereas those from the central part of the Cache Creek Complex have been the Cache Creek Group (Aitken, 1959; reported by Orchard & Struik (1996), Orchard Mulligan, 1963; Monger, 1975), or the Atlin et al. (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001), and Sano & Complex (Mihalynuk, 1999). This complex was Orchard (2004). The conodont faunas in both defined in the southern part of the terrane, near the south and central parts of the Cache Creek Ashcroft (Selwyn, 1872), and has been Complex range in age from Early Pennsylva nia n identified in the central part of the terrane near to Late Triassic. Fort St. James (Armstrong, 1949; Schiarizza & Radiolarians from the southern part of the MacIntyre 1999; Struik et al., 2001). Cache Creek Complex have been reported by Mulligan (1963) designated two units in the Travers (1978), Cordey (1986, 1998), Cordey et Teslin map area as belonging to the Cache Creek al. (1988), and Cordey & Read (1992), whereas Group, his units 4 and 5; Gordey (1992) those from the central part of the Cache Creek subsequently included Mulligan’s unit 7 with Complex have been reported by Cordey & the Cache Creek Group as well. Monger (1975) Struik (1996, 1999), and Orchard et al. (2001). divided the Cache Creek Group in the Atlin map These radiolarian faunas range in age from area into five formations: the Mississippian - Permian to Jurassic. Pennsylvanian Nakina Formation, consisting of Far fewer microfossil samples have been volcanic rocks with minor amounts of chert and reported from the northern part of the Cache carbonate; the Mississippian-Permian Kedahda Creek Complex. The majority of productive Formation, consisting of chert, argillite, samples described in the present paper have limestone, and minor volcanic rocks; the previously been described in unpublished Mississippian-Permian Horsefeed Formation, paleontological reports. Some of the conodont consisting of carbonate and minor volcanic samples have subsequently been mentioned in rocks; the Permian French Range Formation, Figure 2 Simplified geological map of the northern Cache Creek and Stikine terranes, and the Jurassic overlap assemblage represented by the Laberge Group (from Massey et al., 2005, and Colpron, 2015). Detailed location information is presented in Table 1. Samples that plot in the Laberge Group comprise either inliers of possible Cache Creek terrane or clasts in the Jurassic strata that could be derived from either the Cache Creek or the Stikine terrane. Figure 3 Simplified Carboniferous to Triassic geologic time scale (created using TimeScale Creator v6.4, using data from Gradstein