Ichnology, Sedimentology, and Stratigraphy of the Jurassic Bug Creek Group, Richardson Mountains and Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada

C. R. Barnett
University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The Jurassic Bug Creek Group is a succession of sand and shale that can be found in outcrop in the northern Richardson Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada, and extends into the subsurface in the regions of the modern day Mackenzie Delta. These rocks are located within the Brooks-Mackenzie Basin, which is structurally enclosed by the northern Interior Platform, the Cordilleran Orogenic belt, and the northern margin of the stable craton.

Within the subsurface of the region, rocks of the Bug Creek basin margin terminate abruptly to the northeast against the Tununuk High, a structural uplift that trends northwest-southeast. The Eskimo Lakes Fault Zone is the preservational limit to the southeast, suggesting that this fault system was active syndepositionally.

Overall, deposition within Bug Creek time records numerous transgressive-regressive episodes that were largely influenced by the active extensional tectonics within the basin. These depositional cycles make up the general subsiding shelf system interpreted for the strata of the Bug Creek Group.

Currently, the study that focuses on these rocks aims at furthering the understanding of the sedimentology, stratigraphy, and ichnology of this group of formations. As well, due to the renewed interest in the Mackenzie Delta as a hydrocarbon rich basin, emphasis will be placed on outcrop study, in order to better understand the syndepositional relationships with some of the major faults in the region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90902©2001 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid