Unit Name: Lougheed Island Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Early Jurassic (199.6 - 175.6 ma)
Age Justification: Biostratigraphy: Sinemurian, on the basis of ammonites and palynomorphs collected from the formation (Rahmani and Tan, 1978; Tan, 1979).
Province/Territory: Arctic Offshore; Northwest Territories; Nunavut; Yukon Territory
Originator: Embry, 1983a
Type Locality:
The type section is in the Sun Skybattle Bay C-15 well, where the formation is 45 m thick.
Distribution:
The Lougheed Island Formation occurs over the entire western Sverdrup Basin, except along the extreme southwest margin where it is overstepped by the Jameson Bay Formation. The Lougheed Island is thin (5 m) along its eastern margin, but thickens westward towards Ellef Ringnes Island before thinning towards the western basin margin.
Locality Data:
WELL 300C157720105000; SKYBATTLE BAY C-15. Thickness(m): Maximum 140. Interval(m): From 1998, To 2043.
Lithology:
Shale and siltstone, with interbedded very fine-grained sandstone towards the top of the unit (Embry, 1983a).
Relationship:
Within the western Sverdrup Basin, Embry (1983a) noted that the Heiberg Formation was divisible into five definable units which he formally described, elevating the Heiberg Formation to group status in the western portion of the basin. The five units include the Skybattle, Grosvenor Island, Maclean Strait, Lougheed Island and King Christian formations.
On the basin margins, the formation unconformably overlies various units of Triassic to Early Jurassic age. A basal conglomerate or oolitic ironstone unit commonly occurs above the unconformity. Elsewhere, the Lougheed Island conformably overlies the Maclean Strait Formation, and conformably overlain by the King Christian Formation.
History:
The Lougheed Island Formation, as established by Embry (1983), is synonymous with the following units from previous publications:
- The lower portion of type Borden Island Formation (Rahmani and Tan, 1978).
- The lower portion of the cyclic sandstone-siltstone unit, Borden Island Formation (Reinson, 1975)
- The lower portion of unit B, Borden Island Formation (Douglas, 1977, Douglas and Oliver, 1979)
- The lower Savik unit (Henao-Londono, 1977)
- Middle portion of the Heiberg Formation (upper member) - Borden Island Formation (undivided) (Balkwill et al., 1982.)
The Lougheed Island Formation is named after Lougheed Island on which the C-15 well was drilled.
References:
Douglas, T.R., and Oliver, T.A., 1979, Environments of deposition of the Borden Island Gas Zone in the subsurface of the Sabine Peninsula area, Melville Island, Arctic Archipelago; Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, v. 27, p. 189-217.
Douglas, T.R., 1977. Environments of deposition of the Borden Island gas zone in the subsurface of the Sabine Peninsula area, Melville Island, Arctic Archipelago: Unpublished M.Sc. Thesis, University of Calgary, 181 p.
Embry, A.F. 1983a. The Heiberg Group, western Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Islands; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 83-1B, pp. 381-389.
Rahmani, R.A. and Tan, J.T., 1978. The type section of the Lower Jurassic Borden Island Formation, Borden Island, Arctic Archipelago, Canada, 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. 538-540.
Reinson, G.E., 1975. "Lithofacies analysis of cores from the Borden Island Formation Drake Point, Melville Island", in, Report of Activities, Part B; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 75-1B, pp. 297-301.
Tan, J.T., 1979. Late Triassic-Jurassic dinoflagellate biostratigraphy, western arctic Canada; unpublished PhD. thesis, Department of Geology, University of Calgary.
Source: GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, CALGARY
Contributor: G.E. McCune
Entry Reviewed: No
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 14 Dec 2009