Abstract This field guide covers the Precambrian geology of the western portion of the Clearwater complex and surrounding area in north-central Idaho in the vicinity of Marble Creek within the St. Joe National Forest. The regional geology of the Marble Creek area includes Precambrian basement orthogneisses, possible basement metasupracrustal rocks, and overlying metamorphosed Belt Supergroup strata. These rocks are exhumed within the western portion of the Cretaceous-Eocene Clearwater metamorphic core complex. This guide focuses on the western part of the Clearwater complex in the vicinity of Marble Creek. Outcrops of Paleoproterozoic basement and overlying Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary units provide a better understanding of the Precambrian magmatic and metamorphic history of this region. The road log in this guide describes the regional geology in a south to north transect from Clarkia, Idaho, to the confluence of Marble Creek with the St. Joe River.

Abstract This field guide describes a three-day trip from Vancouver, British Columbia, to the Wells Gray–Clearwater volcanic field (WGCVF) in east-central British Columbia. The WGCVF is the site of transitional to alkali olivine basaltic volcanism erupted over the last three million years. The small volume magmas (<1 km 3 ) erupted along preexisting normal faults related to the late stages of Cordilleran terrane amalgamation, along the boundary between the miogeoclinal and pericratonic rocks of the Kootenay terrane and the allochthonous Slide Mountain and Quesnellia terranes west of ancestral North America. The magmas are highly enriched in incompatible elements, especially large-ion lithophile elements, and are interpreted as the result of low degrees of partial melting of a heterogeneous, metasomatized mantle. Upon ascent through the crust, they carried up both crustal and mantle xenoliths. During the eruptive period of the WGCVF, at least four glacial periods have occurred. The interplay between volcanism and glaciation is captured in the wide range of volcanic features found in the region. Field trip participants will view numerous diverse volcanic landforms and deposits: from tuyas to ice-marginal valley-edge deposits, volcanoclastic-lacustrine deposits, and associated pillow lavas and hyaloclastites.

Abstract A commonly assumed element of sequence stratigraphic theory is that incised valleys must feed lowstand deltas. This model persists despite examples in which no lowstand deposit is present at the distal ends of some ancient and recent valley fills. The Clearwater Formation at Cold Lake Field, Alberta, Canada, presents a unique opportunity to investigate in detail the transition from fluvial incised-valley fills to open marine mudstone using over 1000 wells, over 400 with core, from an area of 3,200 km 2 . The presence of prominent marine well-log markers and the abundance and density of well logs allows confident correlation of the incised-valley fills. The Clearwater Formation consists of 13 stacked incised valleys with depths of incision ranging from 30 m to possibly 120 m. All of the valley fills show a depositional facies pattern from sandy fluvial or upper estuarine updip to muddy estuarine or marine deposits downdip. All of the valleys terminate downdip as thin (< 2 m) sheets of marine sandy mudstone. Significantly, none of the valleys are connected to downdip lowstand deltas, or even sandy lowstand shorelines. In addition, the valley-fill lithofacies differ significantly from the marine strata into which they are incised; they are sandier, and the sand fraction is coarser. The valley fills, therefore, are not composed only of reworked material eroded from valley walls, but represent sediment delivered from more proximal sources, presumably by rivers. Our examples demonstrate that the presence of deep incised valleys, even if they are filled with coarse material, cannot by itself be used to predict sand delivery to the paleo-shoreline or more basinward regions. We recognize two primary conditions for valley fills that lack associated sandy lowstand deposits: the lowest point of relative sea level was above the continental shelf edge (for passive-margin settings), and sediment delivery during early rising sea level was limited. For the examples cited we interpret that filling of incised valleys occurs during relative sea-level rise when only limited amounts of sediment can be delivered beyond incised-valley mouths.

New structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic data from the Clearwater complex, north-central Idaho, define the origin and exhumation history of the complex. The complex is divisible into an external zone bound by normal faults and strike-slip faults of the Lewis and Clark Line, and an internal zone of Paleoproterozoic basement exposed in two shear zone–bounded culminations. U-Pb sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) dating of metamorphic zircon overgrowths from the external zone yield zircon growth at ca. 70–72 Ma and 80–82 Ma, during peak metamorphism and before tectonic exhumation of the external zone. U-Pb SHRIMP dating of metamorphic zircon rims from the internal zone record growth at ca. 64 and between 59 and 55 Ma. The older ages record pre-extension metamorphism. The younger rim ages were derived from fractured zircons in the Jug Rock shear zone, and they document the beginning of exhumation of the internal zone along deep-seated shear zones that transported the basement rocks to the west. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages record quenching of the external zone starting ca. 54 Ma and the internal zone between 53 and 47 Ma by movement along the bounding faults and internal shear zones. After ca. 47 Ma, extension was accommodated via a west-dipping detachment that was active until after ca. 41 Ma. The Clearwater complex is interpreted as an Eocene metamorphic core complex that formed in an extensional relay zone between faults of the Lewis and Clark Line.

Abstract High–precision U–Pb TIMS, SHRIMP, and LA–ICPMS dating of magmatic and detrital zircons from the core of the Clearwater complex, northern Idaho, U.S.A., provide new ages and new tectonic interpretations for potential Precambrian basement rocks in this part of the Cordillera. The Boehls Butte anorthosite, which is exposed in lens–like masses within the core of the Clearwater complex, crystallized at 1787 ± 2 Ma. Amphibolites, which are intercalated with the anorthosite, crystallized during distinctly different magmatic episodes around 1587 Ma, 1467 Ma, and 1453 Ma. These dates better define the age of Precambrian basement in this region and document a new exposure of 1580 Ma igneous rocks along the western edge of the North American craton. Surrounding the anorthosite are metasedimentary rocks (Boehls Butte Formation) that have been interpreted as predating the anorthosite and the Mesoproterozoic BeltPurcell Supergroup. Detrital zircons from these metasedimentary rocks yield age populations that are predominantly Paleoproterozoic with some Archean grains. The youngest concordant 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages are between 1597 and 1761 Ma, well after crystallization of the anorthosite. On this basis, we conclude that most of the rocks once assigned to the Boehls Butte Formation are better correlated with the lower part of the Belt–Purcell Supergroup. The only part of the Boehls Butte Formation that remains potential basement is the Al–Mg– rich schist that borders the masses of anorthosite. We propose that the anorthosite and bordering Al–Mg schists are displaced tectonic slivers that were juxtaposed against the metasedimentary rocks by shear zones that predate peak metamorphism. This zone of shear may be related to the basal decollement for the Rocky Mountain fold–and–thrust belt.

The varved sediments of Elk Lake, Clearwater County, Minnesota, contain a 10,000 year record of climatic and limnologic events. Sediment traps deployed in the lake’s water column from 1979 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1984 collected samples that permitted us to identify materials, to see the timing of sedimentation events, and to deduce processes that form the microlaminae within varves. Fall and spring microlaminae consist mainly of sequential accumulations of biogenic silica and resuspended calcific and siliceous materials. Precipitates of iron, manganese, and organic detritus dominate the thin winter microlaminae. Calcific microlaminae are deposited in summer. Concentrated iron and manganese precipitates form when the onset of seasonal circulation (especially in autumn) oxygenates the lower water column, but precipitation of these metals also continues throughout periods of seasonal stratification, when these dissolved elements migrate upward and are converted to particles that rain back to the bottom. Mineraloids dominate the sediment; minerals compose only a minor part and include quartz, calcite, rhodochrosite, and rockbridgeite (iron phosphate). The bulk of the bottom accumulation occurs during the longer, calmer summer and winter periods, but important contributions are also made during spring and autumn overturn events. Sediment resuspended from the shallows accumulates together with newly formed endogenic sediment, and can even briefly dominate the seston in autumn and spring. Vigor and duration of seasonal circulations in the upper water column dictate the amount of resuspended sediment contributed annually to a varve. When abrupt warming within days after ice-out stratifies the lake, sedimentation in that year is diminished by resultant suppression of plankton blooms and lack of vernal resuspension that would normally move sediment from the littoral areas into the deep parts of Elk Lake. Thin sections of varves confirm that resuspension during autumn and spring is a varve-forming process that has probably varied in importance as a function of climate and changing morphometry due to infilling. Through an entire year, sediment traps catch a greater proportion of material from spring and autumn overturns than accumulates on the bottom. Lake morphometry is the most important factor governing sediment resuspension and associated annual accumulation rates in traps.

Abstract Examination of the trace fossil assemblages associated with the Albian Wabiskaw Member and the Clearwater Formation in the Marten Hill gas field in north-central Alberta, has proven valuable in reconstructing the depositional environment responsible for it's deposition. The diverse and well preserved suite of trace fossils record the initial marine transgression of the Boreal Sea.