ABSTRACT The unit previously mapped as the lower Upper Devonian Okse Bay Formation in the Yelverton Pass area of northern Ellesmere Island, considered indicative of syn-orogenic foreland (Devonian clastic wedge) basin deposition along the apex of the Ellesmerian Orogen, is in fact Early Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) in age and belongs to the Borup Fiord Formation of the successor Sverdrup Basin. The principal lines of evidence in favor of the original Okse Bay formational assignment were: (1) the presence of late Middle (Givetian) or early Late (Frasnian) Devonian palynomorphs; (2) a set of lithofacies presumably different from that of the Borup Fiord Formation; and (3) an angular unconformity between the so-called Okse Bay strata and overlying Pennsylvanian carbonates of the Nansen Formation. Here we demonstrate that the Devonian palynomorphs were eroded from the Devonian clastic wedge, transported for some distance, and deposited into the Sverdrup Basin in the Early Carboniferous. We also show that the units mapped as Okse Bay and Borup Fiord formations share the same clastic lithofacies assemblages, albeit in different proportions. We report the presence of Early Carboniferous palynomorphs in the uppermost part of a section assigned to the Okse Bay Formation, and show that detrital zircons contained in the middle part of the Okse Bay Formation yield dates as young as 358 Ma, thus demonstrating that the rocks that contain them are considerably younger than the assumed youngest age (Frasnian) based on palynology. We conclude that the Okse Bay Formation is the same unit as the Borup Fiord Formation and should be remapped as such. Both units are part of the same unconformity-bounded syn-rift Serpukhovian sequence that was rotated and differentially eroded prior to the widespread Pennsylvanian transgression. The Serpukhovian sequence comprises three lithofacies assemblages: meandering stream clastic, braided stream/alluvial fan clastic, and shallow marine carbonate. These lithofacies assemblages were deposited as part of a differentially subsiding rift system likely bounded to the south by one or more master listric faults and associated footwall uplift, and to the north by hanging wall ramp uplift. The Serpukhovian sequence comprises three fourth-order sequences, each interpreted as corresponding to a rift pulse. Relatively coarse terrigenous sediments derived from the erosion of the Franklinian basement (Laurentia margin) and the Devonian clastic wedge entered the rift basin at a high angle through broad alluvial fans and braided river systems. These streams fed into a NE-flowing basin-axial meandering system, which met a shallow sea to the northeast. An additional source of sediments is Crockerland to the north, including syn- to post-Ellesmerian intrusions that shed detrital zircons of latest Devonian age once sufficient unroofing of these had occurred during the Serpukhovian.

Abstract Carbonate deposition dominated the Franklinian miogeocline from Late Cambrian until earliest Middle Devonian. Following a transgression in early Eifelian (within the costatus-costatus conodont Zone), quartzose clastics replaced carbonates as the dominant sediment type and, from that time until Early Carboniferous, clastic sedimentation was widespread across the Franklinian miogeocline. During this interval an enormous clastic wedge prograded southwestward, heralding the advance of Ellesmerian deformation. Middle-Upper Devonian clastic sediments are widely preserved and are most widespread in the western Arctic, where they occur over much of Bathurst, Melville, Prince Patrick and Banks islands (Fig. 10.1). In the eastern Arctic the deposits occur mainly in a broad synclinorium which stretches from central Ellesmere Island to eastern Grinnell Peninsula. Isolated occurrences are present on northern Ellesmere Island in the Yelverton Pass region and in Tertiary grabens on Cornwallis Island (Fig. 10.1, Fig. 4 [in pocket]). Forty-two wells have penetrated the strata and numerous surface sections are described in the literature (Fig. 10.1, Fig. 1 [in pocket]). The maximum preserved thickness of the clastic wedge is about 4000 m, although thermal maturation levels of strata within and directly below the wedge suggest that original thicknesses may have been nearly twice this figure in some areas. Regional mapping studies carried out by the Geological Survey of Canada in the 1950s and 1960s established a general stratigraphic framework for these clastic sediments (McLaren, 1963; Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1962; Tozer and Thorsteinsson, 1964; Kerr, 1974). Embry and Klovan (1976) reviewed all previous work up to 1975 and presented

Abstract The 400 km long transect through Ellesmere Island is located perpendicular to the North American continental margin between the Arctic Ocean in the NNW and the Greenland–Canadian Shield in the SSE. It provides an insight into the structural architecture and tectonic history of the upper parts of the continental crust. The northernmost segment of the transect is dominated by the composite Pearya Terrane, which amalgamated with the Laurentian margin during the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous Ellesmerian Orogeny. The Neoproterozoic to Devonian Franklinian Basin is exposed south of the terrane boundary and most probably overlies the crystalline basement of the Greenland–Canadian Shield. The structures along the transect in this area are dominated by kilometre-scale Ellesmerian folding of the Franklinian Basin deposits above a deep-seated detachment, which is suggested to be located at the boundary between the basement of the Canadian Shield and the overlying >8 km thick Franklinian Basin. Following the development of the Late Mississippian–Palaeogene Sverdrup Basin, the complex Eurekan deformation reactivated Ellesmerian thrust faults and probably parts of the associated deep-seated detachment. In addition, large Eurekan strike-slip faults affected and displaced pre-Eocene deposits and tectonic structures, particularly in the northern part of the transect. Supplementary material: The complete transect (Segment 1 to 5) through Ellesmere Island between the Arctic Ocean in the NNW and Kane Basin in the SSE is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3783608

ABSTRACT The Tanquary High is a positive tectonic feature that was identified on the southern margin of the far northeastern portion of Sverdrup Basin. A sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Triassic succession of northern Ellesmere Island, involving 27 measured sections and one well section, has allowed the geometry and evolution of the high in the Triassic to be elucidated. The Triassic succession occurs within five second-order sequences, and each sequence boundary reflects the occurrence of a tectonic episode that included basin margin uplift and basinward movement of the shoreline. The Tanquary High was uplifted during these tectonic episodes, which occurred in the latest Permian, latest Early Triassic, latest Middle Triassic, latest Carnian, and latest Norian. Each sequence is truncated toward the crest of the high where Rhaetian strata now overlie Cambrian strata. Isopach and facies data for each sequence reveal that, at the times of maximum uplift of the Tanquary High, the subaerially exposed part of the high extended 100–150 km down its northwest-trending axis and up to 150–200 km down each flank. Rapid subsidence completed each tectonic episode and initiated the development of a new sequence. The Tanquary High was completely drowned at these times. It is hypothesized that the tectonic episodes were generated by changes in horizontal stress fields driven by plate tectonic reorganizations. The facies and isopach maps of the latest Triassic to early Early Jurassic (Rhaetian-Sinemurian) second-order sequence demonstrate that the Tanquary High ceased to exist following the first order, latest Norian sequence boundary. A complete reversal of source areas and the initiation of the Amerasia rift basin coincided with the demise of the Tanquary High.