Type Locality:

A series of small south-facing scarps in the area due north of Arctic Bay settlement, north Baffin Island.

Distribution:

The formation thickens eastward from 160 m near Arctic Bay to about 830 m in the Milne Inlet area. The lower member is thickest near the head of Strathcona Sound (370 m) and thins both 11 to the west (27 m at Arctic Bay) and to the east (130 m in the Milne Inlet area). The largest algal bioherm observed northeast of Milne Inlet, near Curry Island is about 300 m high and 1,500 m long (Jackson et al., 1975). Outcrops of the formation on Bylot Island are estimated to be 250 m thick (Jackson and Davidson, 1975). The formation is exposed mainly on Borden Peninsula.

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Minimum 160, Maximum 830.

Lithology:

The lower part: dark grey to black shale, siltstone and argillaceous carbonates (mudstones) with the carbonate interbeds becoming more frequent near the top. The upper part is dominated by grey, thin-bedded carbonate mudstones that are commonly reworked into flat-pebble conglomerates. Dark grey, fine clastics persist into the upper part of the unit as occasional interbeds. Large algal bioherms made up of tightly stacked, small hemispheroids occur near or at the top of the formation.

Relationship:

The Victor Bay Formation rests conformably (possible disconformity) on the Society Cliffs Formation; abrupt facies changes and contrasting diagenetic and algal characteristics suggest that a hiatus separates the two formations. To the west, the Victor Bay Formation is overlain by terrigenous clastics of the Strathcona Sound Formation, the two formations sepa-rated in places by a slight angular unconformity and in places by a boulder conglomerate. In both cases, a period of uplift and erosion is represented. To the east, in the Milne Inlet area, the Victor Bay Formation is conformably (possible disconformity) overlain by the Athole Point Formation; the contact there is one of abrupt facies change and local karst development in algal bioherms of the underlying Victor Bay Formation.

References:

Blackadar, R.G., 1970. Precambrian geology northwestern Baffin Island, District of Franklin: Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 191, 89 p.

Jackson, G.D. and Davidson, A., 1975. Bylot Island Map-area, District of Franklin; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 74-29, 12 p.

Jackson, G.D., Davidson, A., and Morgan, W.C., 1975. "Geology of the Pond Inlet map-area, Baffin Island, District of Franklin"; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 74-25, 33 p. + "A" Series Map 1396A, "Geology, Pond Inlet and Nova Zembla Island, District of Franklin", Scale: 1:250 000.