Unit Name: Heiberg Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Partly superseded
Age Interval: Triassic
Province/Territory: Nunavut
Originator: Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1959b; formally defined by Souther, 1963.
Type Locality:
Southwest end of Buchanan Lake, Axel Heiberg Island.
Distribution:
Maximum measured thickness of 1,605 m of the Heiberg Formation occurs at the type locality; at Bunde Fiord, only 150 m. The Heiberg Formation is present throughout the central and eastern parts of Sverdrup Basin.
Lithology:
Dominant lithology is a grey to yellowish sandstone interbedded with shale and some coal. In the Eureka Sound area, the formation is intruded by gabbroic sills with an aggregate thickness of 150 m at Buchaan Lake. Thin fossiliferous marine beds occur in the lower part of the formation and at the top.
Relationship:
The lower contact is transitional with the Blaa Mountain Formation. It is overlain by the Savik Formation. In part laterally equivalent to the Borden Island Formation of the western Sverdrup Basin.
History:
First Published: Geological Survey of Canada Map 13-1959 (Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1959a,b). Raised to group status in the western Sverdrup Basin (Prince Patrick, Melville,Mackenzie King, Borden, Ellef Ringness and Loughheed Islands) by Embry (1983a).
Other Citations:
Thorsteinsson and Tozer, 1959; Tozer, 1961, 1963a, b, g; Souther, 1963; Balkwill and Roy, 1977; Balkwill , in press.
References:
Embry, A.F. 1983a. The Heiberg Group, western Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Islands; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 83-1B, pp. 381-389.
Souther, J.G., 1963. Geological traverse across Axel Heiberg Island from Buchanan Lake to Strand Fiord; pp. 426-448: in Fortier, Y.O. et al. , Geology of the north-central part of the Arctic Archipelago, N.W.T. (Operation Franklin), Geological Survey of Canada
Thorsteinsson, R. and Tozer, E.T., 1959a. Western Queen Elizabeth Islands, District of Franklin, Northwest Territories: Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 59-1, 7 p.
Thorsteinsson, R. and Tozer, E.T., 1959b. Western Queen Elizabeth Islands, District of Franklin, Northwest Territories: Geological Survey of Canada, Preliminary Map 13-1959.
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: A. Fischer; P.H. Davenport
Entry Reviewed: No
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 14 Dec 2009