Unit Name: Borup Fiord Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Late Mississippian (328.3 - 318.1 ma)
Age Justification: Only one collection of fossils is known: a collection from the type section contains some 4000 specimens of foraminifera. The assemblage, studied by Mamet, is characterized by Asteroarchaediscus baschkiricus and "Biseriella" parua. Evidence points to a Namurian age.
Province/Territory: Nunavut
Originator: Thorsteinsson, 1974.
Type Locality:
Between Otto Fiord and Hare Fiord, 32 km east of Van Hauen Pass, Ellesmere Island (81° 12'N, 83° 55'W).
Distribution:
Found in outcrop over large areas of northern Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands; very variable in thickness. The type section is 165 m thick. The maximum known thickness is near the head of Hare Fiord where 393 m has been measured. On Kleybolte Peninsula it is 378 m thick and the section near the Svartevaeg Cliffs is 122 m thick. The thinnest known exposure is near Emma Fiord and is 100 m thick.
Locality Data:
Thickness(m): Minimum 100, Maximum 393.
Lithology:
Generally red, quartzose sandstone and conglomerate with minor siltstone, shale, dolo-mite and limestone; well bedded and locally variable. The type section consists of 84 m of red chert, quartzite and quartz pebble conglomerate overlain by 73 m of red fine- to medium-grained partly conglomeratic sandstone. There is also an 8 m bed of bioclastic limestone and grey shale within the section. Near Hare Fiord, the Borup Fiord Formation consists of dusky red to green sandstone alternating with chert and quartzite conglomerates and siltstone. This area also has a minor limestone bed within the section. A greyish to red conglomeratic sandstone and pebble conglomerate is found between two greyish red dolomite beds near Fire Bay on Emma Fiord.
Relationship:
Disconformably underlain by the Emma Fiord Formation at Svartevaeg and on Kleybolte Peninsula. In other places it is unconformably underlain by various lower Paleozoic rocks. It is overlain by Otto Fiord Formation or by the Nansen Formation.
Other Citations:
Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1970.
References:
Thorsteinsson, R. and Tozer, E.T., 1970. Geology of the Arctic Archipelago, Chapter X, pp. 458-590; in Douglas, R. J. W. (ed.), Geology and Economic Minerals of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, Economic Geology Report, no. 1, 5th ed., 838 p.
Thorsteinsson, R., 1974. Carboniferous and Permian stratigraphy of Axel Heiberg Island and western Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 224, 115 p.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 1, Arctic Archigelage (District of Franklin); R.L. Christie, A.F. Embry, G.A. Van Dyck (editor)
Contributor: Ed Fogg
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 20 Jul 2009