Revised Stratigraphy of the Hunting Formation (Proterozoic), Somerset Island, Northwest Territories

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Author: Dixon, James
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1974
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Northwest Territories; Somerset Island; Boothia Peninsula
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e74-060; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e74-060

In a revision of the stratigraphy of the Hunting Formation three members are recognised in the vicinity of the lower reaches of the Hunting River, northwestern Somerset Island. Member 1 rests conformably upon the Proterozoic Aston Formation and consists of sandstone, sandy dolostone, and dolostone; member 2 consists of alternating dolostone and cherty dolostone; and member 3 contains a variely of dolostone types. Depositional environments ranged from supratidal to shallow subtidal and much of the deposition may have been on a tidal flat complex.An unconformity is present at the top of the Hunting Formation and is equated to the regional unconformity at the base of the Paleozoic succession. The strata overlying the Hunting Formation have been correlated with Middle Cambrian rocks on the Boothia Peninsula, south of Somerset Island. A K–Ar date of 702 ± 25 m.y. for a diabase intrusion stratigraphically close to the contact between the Aston and Hunting Formations favors a Proterozoic age for the Hunting Formation.