Distribution:

The Manetoe dolostone is widely distributed in the southern Mackenzie and Frankline mountains. In Nahanni Range, the dolostone is mappable as a stratiform unit between the Arnica and Headless formations. In this area, it interfingers with the Landry Formation and varies in thickness between 6.1 and 115.2 m (20 and 378 ft.). In most sections, the upper and lower boundaries of the Manetoe are difficult to select because of interbedding. In the subsurface east of the Nahanni and Camsell ranges, the Manetoe dolostone is a diagenetic facies and forms a discontinuous, more or less stratiform unit. In some wells, the same interbedded relationship exists between the Landry Formation, the Manetoe, and the Arnica Formation as in surface exposures. In the Fort Simpson area, the Manetoe dolostone facies thins eastward to zero, which indicates that the distribution of the white dolostone , indicates that the distribution of thw white dolostone facies is limited to the western part of the Liard Range and the Netla River area indicates that in this area the white dolostone facies has ceased to be a distinctive map unit. In this region, the Arnica Formation contains much white dolomite in the form of veins and patches. The Landry, Headless and Nahanni formations are dolomitized and also include large amounts of very coarse crystalline, white dolomite (Meijer Drees, 1993).

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Minimum 0, Maximum 115.2.

Lithology:

White, very coarse crystalline and porous dolostone (Meijer Drees, 1993).

Relationship:

Overlies, or occurs at thick interbeds in, the upper part of the Arnica Formation or as a replacement of the Landry Formation. At the Manetoe Formation type locality, the Manetoe dolostone is a stratifrom unit situated between the Arnica Formation below and the Headless Formation above. The Manetoe dolostone was also mapped as a stratiform map unit situated between the Headless and Arnica formations in the Nahanni and Camsell ranges (see Douglas and Norris, 1961, 1963, 1974, 1976b and 1977a). In the northern part of Ram Plateau (Virginia Falls map area) the relationship between the Manetoe dolostone and the adjacent rock units suggests the Manetoe dolostone occupies a reef complex (the Ram River reef complex) and is laterally equivalent to the Landry and Funeral formations (Douglas and Norris, 1961; Brady and Wissner, 1961; Noble and Ferguson, 1971). Evidence reported by Morrow (1984a), Morrow and Cook (1987), and observations in the field and in the subsurface by Meijer Drees, indicate that the vuggy, white, very coarse crystalline dolostone facies is locally present int eh Arnica, Headless, and Nahanni formations (Meijer Drees, 1993).

History:

The informal term Manetoe dolostone is used by Meijer Drees (1993). Douglas and Norris (1961) considered this diagenetic facies to be a map unit of formational rank and selected a type section in the First Canyon of the South Nahanni River (Meijer Drees, 1993).

Remark:

Equivalent to Manetoe Formation.

References:

Brady, W.B. and Wissner, U.F.G., 1961. A stratigraphic reconnaissance of the western part of the District of Mackenzie, Northwest Territories, and biostratigraphic correlation of Middle Devonian strata in the Northwest Territories; Technical report no. 28-1-5-5 submitted by Union Oil Co. of California to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1961. Camsell Bend and Root River map-areas, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 61-13, 36 p.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1963. Dahadinni River and Wrigley map-areas, District of Mackenzie, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 62-33, 34 p.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1974. Wrigley, District of Mackenzie: Geological Survey of Canada, Map no. 1373A (1:250,000).

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1976b. Geology - Virginia Falls, District of Mackenzie. Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1378A

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1977a. Geology - Sibbeston Lake, District of Mackenzie: Geological Survey of Canada, Map no. 1377A (1:250,000).

Meijer Drees, N.C., 1993. The Devonian succession in the subsurface of the Great Slave and Great Bear plains, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 393, 231 pages.

Morrow, D.W. and Cook, D.G., 1987. The Prairie Creek embayment and lower Paleozoic strata of the southern Mackenzie Mountains; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 412, 195 p.

Morrow, D.W., 1984a. The Manetoe facies - a gas-bearing late diagenetic dolomite of the Northwest Territories, Canada; in Carbonates in Subsurface and Outcrop, 1984 C.S.P.G. Core Conference, p. 55, 56; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, Alberta.

Noble, J.P.A. and Ferguson, R.D., 1971. Facies and faunal relations at edge of early mid-Devonian carbonate shelf, south Nahanni River area, N.W.T.; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG), Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 19, no. 3 (September), pp. 570-588.