2015 GSA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (1-4 November 2015)

Paper No. 40-12
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-5:30 PM

CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHY OF UPPER JURASSIC TO LOWER CRETACEOUS STRATA OF THE SVERDRUP BASIN, CANADIAN HIGH ARCTIC


GALLOWAY, Jennifer, Geological Survey of Canada, 3303-33rd Street N.W., Calgary, AB T3A0A2, Canada, GRASBY, Stephen E., Geological Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, 3303 33rd Street NW, Calgary, AB T2L 2A7, Canada, DEWING, Keith, Geol Survey of Canada, 3303-33rd St NW, Calgary, AB T2L 2A7, Canada, HADLARI, Thomas, Geological Survey of Canada (Calgary), 3303-33rd St NW, Calgary, AB T2L 2A7, Canada, SANEI, Hamed, Environmental Study Group, Geological Survey of Canada, 3303-33rd Ave NW, Calgary, AB T2L 2A7, Canada and SWINDLES, Graeme T., School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom, jennifer.hadlari@gmail.com

Paleoenvironmental change is poorly understood at high northern latitudes compared to mid and low latitudes. Numerous oil and gas wells drilled in the Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, during exploration in the 1970s, coupled with exceptional outcrop exposure, offer an opportunity to characterize the timing and environmental manifestation of significant climate changes over geologic time.

Here we present new chemostratigraphic characterization of Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous strata from the Canadian Sverdrup Basin based on major and trace element geochemistry and Rock-Eval pyrolysis data. We explore the utility of chemostratigraphic correlation in this high latitude basin by comparing signatures preserved in cuttings samples from three oil and gas wells distributed across the basin. We examine chemostratigraphic changes in the context of tectonic, paleoceanographic, and climatic change and diagenesis associated with halokinetic uplift.