The Whitehorse trough is an Early to Middle Jurassic underexplored and undrilled sedimentary basin in the northern Canadian Cordillera that is prospective for oil and gas. It records deposition in a collapsing forearc that evolved to become a synorogenic piggyback basin within the nascent Cordilleran orogen. The basin developed atop the Triassic and older arc terranes of Stikinia and Quesnellia, and locally overlaps the Cache Creek accretionary complex. A regional seismic survey and bedrock mapping across the northern Whitehorse trough in Yukon indicate that Jurassic strata of the Laberge Group are up to 3000 m thick and were deformed by southwest-verging folds and thrust faults. These structures have an overall en échelon, sigmoidal pattern that is consistent with dextral transpression associated with strike-slip displacement along the Teslin and Braeburn faults. The structures likely began developing in Middle to Late Jurassic and were further enhanced during the mid-Cretaceous. Fold-and-thrust structures of the northern Whitehorse trough present suitable structural plays in areas where Jurassic strata with good source rock potential and adequate thermal maturity are most prospective.

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