Unit Name: Katherine Group
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Group
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Early Neoproterozoic - Middle Neoproterozoic (1000 - 635 ma)
Age Justification: (?)Ingeria and Baicalia and similar but unbranched stomatolites are present in the upper part of the group.
Province/Territory: Northwest Territories; Yukon Territory
Originator: Hume and Link, 1945; formally defined by Long and Turner, 2012
Type Locality:
Katherine Creek (64 deg 55'N, 127 deg 40'W), or Mt. Katherine in the Upper Carcajou River area, northeastern Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories.
Distribution:
The base of the group was neither seen nor defined in the type area. Nauss described the upper 137 m (450 ft) as exposed in the crest of Macdougal anticline in Mac-dougal (Dodo) Canyon. Stelck ascribed a total of 67 m (220 ft) to a questionably correlatable unit near Rouge Mountain, some 40 km (25 mi) south. It ranges from 735 m (2400 ft), Cranswick River, to 2,139 m (7,000 ft), Keele River near Mt. Eduni, to 2,400+ m (8,000+ ft) in the Carcajou River area. Extends from south of Coates Lake to just east of Bonnet Plume River, Mackenzie Mountains.
Lithology:
Quartzites or sandstones interbedded pink, buff, rusty or white and black platy bituminous shales, with some chocolate coloured and green shales. Sandstones characterized by large and small scale cross-stratification, current lineations and ripple cross-lamination. At the type locality the upper 23 m (75 ft) of the group contains petroliferous and sandy limestones.
Relationship:
In the type area it conformably overlies the Tsezotene Fm (Aitken, 1977a; Aitken and Cook, 1974a) and is conformably overlain by map-unit H5 (formerly lower part of the Macdougal Gp). Mapping has demonstrated that the Katherine Gp is equivalent to and contiguous with the Tigonankweine Fm (Aitken and Cook, 1974a; Young, 1977) and the latter formation is discarded.
History:
Link, 1921, in an unpublished report of the Northwest Company, a subsidiary of Imperial Oil Ltd., on the geology of the northeastern Mackenzie Mountains. The name was used by Nauss (1944). Stewart (1944) used the term "Mt. Katherine Series". The first major publication was by Hume and Link (1945). The term "Katherine Group" was used instead of "Mt. Katherine Series" in this and subsequent publications.
Other Citations:
Originally established informally by Hume and Link (1945); formalised by Long and Turner (2012).
References:
Aitken, J.D. and Cook, D.G., 1974a. Carcajou Canyon map-area, District of Mackenzie Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 74-13, 28 p.
Aitken, J.D., 1977a. New data on correlation of the Little Dal Formation and a revision of Proterozoic map unit 'H5', in, Report of Activities, Part A, Blackadar, R.G., Griffin, P.J., Dumych, H., and Irish, E.J.W. (Eds. and Compilers); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 77-1A, pp. 131-135.
Hume, G.S. and Link, T.A., 1945. Canol geological investigations in the Mackenzie River area, Northwest Territories and Yukon (Report and Three Maps); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 45-16, 87 p. + Preliminary Map 45-16A, Lower Mackenzie River Area, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Sheet 1, Scale: 1 inch to 8 miles; Preliminary Map 45-16B, Lower Mackenzie River Area, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Sheet 2, Scale: 1 inch to 8 miles; and Preliminary Map 45-16C, Lower Mackenzie River Area, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Sheet 3, Scale: 1 inch to 8 miles.
Link, T.A., 1921. Unpublished geological report on the Fort Norman area: Imperial Oil Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, 81 p.
Long, D.G.F. and Turner, E.C., 2012. Formal definition of the Neoproterozoic Mackenzie Mountains Supergroup (NWT), and formal stratigraphic nomenclature for terrigenous clastic units of the Katherine Group. Geological Survey of Canada Open File 7113.
Nauss, A.W., 1944. The Upper Carcajou - Imperial River area, N.W.T.; Geological Survey of Canada, Canol Project Assignments No. 10 and 18A, unpublished manuscript, Open Files.
Stewart, J.S., 1944. Petroleum possibilities in Mackenzie River valley, Northwest Territories: Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. 47, pp. 152-171 .
Young, G.M., 1977. Stratigraphic correlation of upper Proterozoic rocks of northwestern Canada; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences , v. 14, no. 8 (August 1977), pp. 1771-1787.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 2, Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie; L.V. Hills, E.V. Sangster and L.B. Suneby (editor)
Contributor: J.D. Aitken; M.S. Stanton; L.V. Hills
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 23 May 2013