--> ABSTRACT: Unusual Folding and Rolling of Glacio-Lacustrine Sediments, Upper Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, by Sonny Baxter; #91038 (2010)

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Unusual Folding and Rolling of Glacio-Lacustrine Sediments, Upper Fraser Canyon, British Columbia

Sonny Baxter

Folding and rolling of graded but unconsolidated sediments by at least 720° produced a structure resembling a large Swiss roll about 6 ft wide and 4 ft high. The sediments were initially horizontal and well sorted, grading from coarse sands to fine silts. About 50 ft away, at the same level, the sediments include irregular layers of poorly sorted, ice-rafted pebbles and boulders. The sequence is unconformably overlain by till. The axis of folding appears to be parallel to the eastern wall of the Fraser Canyon.

The outcrop is in the Stevens Pit (sand and gravel) immediately east of the Trans-Canada Highway, 2 mi south of Lytton, B.C., at an elevation of 1,000 ft, approximately 600 ft above the present level of the Fraser River.

The sands and silts accumulated in a lake adjacent to the east margin of a stagnant and relatively small glacier occupying the upper part of the Fraser Canyon. Partial or complete melting of small icebergs caused deposition of coarser material. A subsequent cooling trend led to an advance of the glacier, an advance which at this location caused some of the adjacent and by now frozen sediments to be rolled up like an old carpet. Further advance of the glacier caused it to override and thus preserve the deformed sequence.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91038©1987 AAPG Annual Convention, Los Angeles, California, June 7-10, 1987.