Type Locality:

Goulburn Peninsula in north-central Bathurst Inlet (Campbell and Cecile, 1981).

Distribution:

Contained within the Kilohigok Basin. The supergroup occurs at Bathurst Inlet where it extends southwestward to Contwoyto Lake and southeastward along Bathurst Fault. Isolated outcrops occur at Rockinghorse Lake west of the main body and on Fishers Island, Kent Peninsula and Victoria Island north of the main body (Campbell and Cecile, 1981; Grotzinger et al., 1987).

Lithology:

The Goulburn Supergroup is an unmetamorphosd succession of sandstones, mudstones, siltstones, and carbonates contained within the Kilohigok Basin. In and around the Axial Zone, the supergroup consists of a 5000+ m thick succession of quartzite, conglomerate, stromatolitic carbonate, carbonate, siltstone and mudstone, overlain by 2000+ m of arkosic and lithic sandstone, siltstone, and minor basalt. On the Western Platform, the Goulburn Supergroup consists of quartzite, subarkose, stromatolitic carbonate, carbonate, siltstone and mudstone. The younger arkosic and litich sandstone, siltstone and basalts of the Axial Zone have either been eroed or were not deposited on the Western Platform. At the western extremity of the Goulburn Supergroup, in the Contwoyto Lake area, the supergroup consists of 350+ m of quartzite, subarkose, stromatolitic carbonate, carbonate, siltstone and mudstone. Again, the arkosic and lithic sandstones are absent (Campbell and Cecile, 1981). The supergroup consists of four groups which are, from the base upwards, the Kimerot Group (Kenyon and Peg formations), Bear Creek Group (Hackett, Rifle, Beechey, Link, Burnside, and Quadyuk formations), Wolverine Group (Peacock Hills and Kuuvik formations), and Bathurst Group (Brown Sound and Amagok formations) (Grotzinger et al., 1987).

Relationship:

The Goulburn Supergroup rests unconformably on Archean gneisses, metasediments, metavolcanics, and plutonic rocks of the Slave Structural Province. It is unconformably overlain by middle Proterozoic polymictic conglomerates, arkose, quartzite and quartzite conglomerates of the Tinney Cove and Ellice formations in the Bathurst Inlet area, as well as to the northeast on Victoria Island and Kent Peninsula (Campbell and Cecile, 1976a; Campbell, 1978, 1979, 1981) (Campbell and Cecile, 1981).

History:

The previous Goulburn Group was elevated to supergroup status by Grotzinger et al. (1987) and the name Goulburn was retained (Grotzinger et al., 1987).

References:

Campbell, F.H.A. and Cecile, M.P., 1976a. Geology of the Kilohigok Basin, Goulburn Group, Bathurst Inlet, District of Mackenzie, Project 740092; in, Report of Activities, Part A, Blackadar, R.G., Griffin, P.J., and Dumych, Helen (Eds. and Compilers); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 76-1A, pp. 369-377.

Campbell, F.H.A. and Cecile, M.P., 1981. Evolution of the Early Proterozoic Kilohigok Basin, Bathust Inlet-Victoria Island, Northwest Territories; in, F.H.A. Campbell, ed., Proterozoic Basins of Canada; Geological Survey of Canada Paper 81-10, p. 103-131.

Campbell, F.H.A., 1978. Geology of the Helikian rocks of the Bathurst Inlet area, Coronation Gulf, Northwest Territories; in, Current Research, Part A, Blackadar, R.G., Griffin, P.J., Dumych, H., and Irish, E.J.W. (Eds. and Compilers); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 78-1A, pp. 97-106.

Campbell, F.H.A., 1979. Stratigraphy and sedimentation in the Helikian Elu Basin and Hiukitak Platform, Bathurst Inlet - Melville Sound, N.W.T.: Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 79-8, 18p.

Campbell, F.H.A., 1981. Stratigraphy and tectono-depositional relatinoships of the Proterozoic rocks of the Hadley Bay area, northern Victoria Island, District of Franklin; in Current Research, Part A, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 81-1A, p. 15-22.

Grotzinger, J.P., McCormick, D.S., and Pelechat, S.M., 1987. Progress report on the stratigraphy, sedimentology and significance of the Kimerot and Bear Creek groups, Kilohigok Basin, District of Mackenzie; in, Current Research, Part A; Geoloical Survey of Canada, Paper 87-1A, p. 219-238.