| Title | Tertiary Marine Events of the Beaufort -Mackenzie Basin and Correlation of Oligocene To Pliocene Marine Outcrops in Arctic North America |
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| Author | McNeil, D H |
| Source | Arctic vol. 43, no. 4, 1990 p. 301-313, https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic1626 |
| Year | 1990 |
| Alt Series | Geological Survey of Canada, Contribution Series 30088 |
| Publisher | The Arctic Institute of North America |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Northwest Territories; Nunavut |
| NTS | 107C; 560B/02; 69H/11; 69H/13; 69H/14; 340C; 27C; 26I |
| Area | Alaska; Arctic Ocean; Arctic Archipelago; Carter Creek; Meighen Island; White Point; Ellesmere Island; Baffin Island; Canada; United States of America; Greenland |
| Lat/Long WENS | -148.0000 -15.0000 84.0000 66.0000 |
| Subjects | paleontology; sedimentology; structural geology; pliocene; miocene; oligocene; correlations; faunal studies; fossil assemblages; fossils; paleogeography; sea level changes; oceanography;
biostratigraphy; marine sediments; extinctions, biotic; Beaufort Basin; Mackenzie Basin; Foraminifera; Nuwok Member; Sagavanirktok Formation; Beaufort Formation; Invertebrata; Tertiary; Cenozoic |
| Illustrations | sketch maps; tables; stratigraphic columns |
| Released | 1990 01 01 |
| Abstract | The benthic foraminiferal succession from the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin of arctic Canada reflects many of the major oceanographic and climatic events of the Tertiary. The Paleocene-Eocene epochs are
characterized by restricted marine circulation and pronounced foraminiferal endemism. Paleogeographic reconstruction illustrates that the Paleocene-Eocene Arctic Ocean was markedly different from its modern counterpart and it is thus referred to as
the "Arctic Gulf." Marine connections between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans were broadened and deepened during the Oligocene. The Arctic Gulf thus evolved into a modern Arctic Ocean configuration by sea floor spreading in the Greenland-Norwegian
Sea. The Oligocene index, Turrilina alsatica Andreae, appeared in the arctic regions concurrent with increased circulation between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. In the Beaufort-Mackenzie subsurface, Turrilina alsatica has proven to be a
widespread and reliable zonal index. In outcrop, it is known from only one locality, the Nuwok Member of the Sagavanirktok Formation on Carter Creek, Alaska. During the Miocene, increased circulation between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans was further
established, and a moderate warming trend developed after a cool early Oligocene episode. The foraminifer Asterigerina staeschei (Franke) is an abundant and widespread marker of this phase of arctic marine history. Asterigerina staeschei became
extinct in the middle Miocene in both the arctic and North Atlantic regions. ln the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, many associated species ranged through into the late Miocene but disappear abruptly at the terminal Miocene unconformity. Major faunal and
depositional sequence changes mark this as one of the most significant events in arctic Tertiary history, and the unconformity itself was caused by a widespread relative drop in sea level. A major faunal turnover in the Pliocene is characterized by
Cibicides grossus ten Dam and Reinhold, which first appeared in the early Pliocene but became extinct through the North Atlantic and arctic regions at approximately 2.4 Ma, closely approximating the climatic deterioration and initiation of
continental glaciation in the late Pliocene. Cibicides grossus has a widespread distribution in arctic North America, occurring in the subsurface of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin and in outcrops of the marine tongue of the Beaufort Formation on
Meighen Island, in unnamed strata on White Point of northwest Ellesmere Island, on eastern Baffin Island, and on eastern and northern Greenland. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 132755 |
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