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Bell & Hawell Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1348 USA Depositional environments, provenance and sequence stratigraphy of the type Sassenach Formation, Jasper, Alberta. - Sherry Becker Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences McGill University, Montreal July 1997 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Science. 8 Sherry Becker 1997 National Library BiMiothèque nationale 1+1 of cana, du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services sentices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Welt'a~gtori OttawaON K1AON4 OarawaON K1AW Canada Canade The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à ia National Libmy of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sefi reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la foxme de microfiche/nlm. de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retaùis ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Preface The followiag statements are made in Mllment of the "Guidelines Conceming Thesis Preparation" of McGili University. Candidates have the option of including, as part of the thesis, the text of a papex(s) submined or to be submitted for publication, or the clearlyduplicated text of a published paper(s). These texts must be bound as an integral part of the thesis. If this option is chosen, comecting te- that provide logical bridges between the different papers are mandatory. the thesis must be written in such a way that it is more than a mere collection of manuscripts; in other words, results of a series of papers must be integrated. The thesis must dlconform to ail other requirements of the "Guidelines for Thesis Preparation". The thesis must include: A Table of Contents, an abstract in Engiish and French, an introduction which clearly States the rationale and objectives of the study, a comprehensive review of the iiterature, a final conclusion and sumrnary, and a thorough bibiiography or reference list. Additional materiai must be provided where appropnate (e-g. in appendices) and in sufficient detail to aiiow a clear and precise judgment to be made of the importance and origioality of the research reported in the thesis. In the case of manuscripts CO-authored by the candidate and others, the candidate is required to make an explicit statement in the thesis as to who contributed to such work and to what extent. Supervisors must attest to the accuracy of such staternents at the doctoral oral defense. Since the task of the exarniners is made more difficult in these cases, it is in the candidate's interest to make perfectiy clear the responsibilities of al1 the authors of the CO-authoredpapers. Under no circumstances can a CO-authorof any component of such a thesis serve as an examiner for that thesis. This project was initiateci in January 1992 under the supe~sionof Dr. E. W. Mountjoy who suggested a study of the Sassenach Formation, adjacent to the Ancient Wall reef complex in the Jasper Basin. Eight weeks in the summer of 1993 and one week in the slllllmer cf 1999 were spent in the field. Data were collected by the author and Dr. Mountjoy hm17 sections in Jasper National Park, Alberta: Mount Hauitain, Thornton Creek, Thomtoa Creek II, Mono Peak, Mount Strange, Gap Lake, F- Section, Overlander, Medicine Lake, Pallisades, Cinquefoil, Greenock Mountain and Roche Miette (Figure 1). Responsibility for the content of this thesis rests with the author, except where indicated in the text. Dr. Mountjoy's name appears as junior author on manuscripts contained within the thesis, having served as supervisor, field assistant, and editor for the dwation of the thesis. Dr. Sandy McCracken anaiysed samples, provided by the author, for conodonts and provided a summary of his work which is included as Appendix B. In addition, Gil Klapper also provided condont analyses of samples nom the study area which are also included in Appendur B. A discussion of the lelevance of these data is included in Chapter 1, Section 1.45. Thesis Format This thesis comprises six chapters. Chapter 1 is a general introduction to the thesis and includes a description of the methodology and data used througbout the study. Chapter 2 is titled, "Stratigraphy and Type Section" and comprises a description of the type section of the Sassenach Formation, and a brief description of the bounding stratigraphy. Chapter 3 is titled "Depositional Facies". This chapter describes and interprets and correlates the depositional facies within the Sassenach Formation and in the underlying Mount Hawk Formation and Simla Member. Chaptter 4 is titled, "Sequence Stratigraphy and Depositional Models". Chapter 4 describes and identifies the bounding sucfaces, parasequences and parasequence stacking patterns for the uppermost Simla Member, Mount Hawk and Sassenach formations. Two end- member sequence stratigraphie and depositional models for the Sassenach Formation are proposed for the late Frasnian to early Famennian Jasper Basin. The remainder of Chapter 4 provides a rough estimate for the minimum and maximum possible magnitudes of latest Frasnian sea-level fall, (associated with the Sequence Stratigraphic and Depositional Models 1 & 2 respectively). Chapter 5 is titled "Potential Sources for Sassenach Formation Siliciclastics". Three potentiai sources and transportation routes for the Sassenach siliciclastics are described in detail. Chapter 6 is titled "Discussion and Conclusions". Chapter 6 provides a summary overview and discussion of alternative interpretations for the sequence strattigraphy and provenance of the Sassenach Formation and includes a detailed summary of the conclusions generated in this thesis. Acknowledgemenb The completion of this rexarch endeavor would not have been possible without the hancial, academic, technical and mord support of many individds and institutions. 1 would like to take this opportunitty to acknowledge their support and contributions- Firstly, 1 would like to achowIedge and sincerely thank my advisor Professor Eric Mountjoy for a fantastic summer of fieldwork, for his academic contributions and for his encouragement addedication to the completion of this thesis. Mostiy 1 wish to thank Professor Mountjoy for bis fnendship which 1 treaswe. 1 wish to thank Park Canada for granting access to Jasper National Park, and 1 especially would like to thank the black bear 1 met for an exhilarating yet fnendly encounter. "Wade", our helicopter pilot and Alpine Helicopters are sincerely thanked for flying us in and out efficiently and safely, and for the chocolate bars Wade brought on his "1 was in the area md just thought I'd drop in and check on you" visits. 1 want to thank my field assistant Kaj Jensen who tnisted a bunch of strangers enough to fly into a helicopter camp to stay with Prof. Mountjoy and 1 for a month. Kaj brought energy, curiosity and a strong pair of legs to help the "strange" geologists carry their rocks down to camp every night. She also shared with me her laughter and fkiendship and made every rainy, cold day on the rnountajni; seem a little warmer and a Little brighter. Financial support for this research was provided by NSERC, the AAPG (Student Grant) and the McGi11 University Department of Geology via Ming contributions, SC holarships and teachinghesearch assistantships. The University of Miami, Elf Aquitaine, Professon Gregor Eberli and Michael Whalen provided helicopter and logistic support for this thesis. 1 would also like to thank McGill University for providing my income and Thompson House for a place to spend it. 1 am also indebted to my family and friends. 1 wish to thank my parents for never telling me that 1 can't. My friends provided moral support and encouragement. Lastly, 1 thank my husband for his help in editing, bis love and understanding and for providing the incentive to finish my thesis and begin our life together. Tiiis thesis is dedicated to the memory of Chimo who always loved me anyway. Abstract In the Jasper Basin, Jasper National Park, Alberta, the late Frasnian Simla Member and Mount Hawk Formation comprise a shallow water carbonate platform (upper part of the Ancient Wall reef complex) and an adjacent slope and basin respectively . The Frasnian-Famennian paracodionnity overlies the Simla Member everywhere within the study area.

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