ABSTRACT
The broad structural geology and stratigraphy of the Northwest Passage is controlled by the Boothia Arch and structural depressions on each side, namely, Viscount Melville Sound and M’Clure Strait to the west (graben), and Lancaster Sound to the east (half-graben). Negative rift movements began during Mesozoic time and continued into the Tertiary.
Outcrop and well information from the islands are related to marine seismic data in the Northwest Passage. Paleozoic strata appear to continue off-shore in facies predictable from data on the islands. Mesozoic and Tertiary strata, however, are represented by sparse remnants on land but are well developed under Lancaster Sound, if low velocity beds present there are of these ages. M’Clure Strait also seems to have thicker Tertiary and Mesozoic sediments than do the adjacent islands.
