Deep-Water Stratigraphic Evolution of The Nanaimo Group, Hornby and Denman Islands, British Columbia
Abstract
Deep-water slope strata of the Late Cretaceous Nanaimo Group at Hornby and
Denman islands, British Columbia, Canada record evidence for a breadth of submarine
channel processes. Detailed observations at the scale of facies and stratigraphic
architecture provide criteria for recognition and interpretation of long-lived slope channel
systems, emphasizing a disparate relationship between stratigraphic and geomorphic
surfaces. The composite submarine channel system deposit documented is 19.5 km wide
and 1500 m thick, which formed and filled over ~15 Ma. Facies scale analyses highlight
conglomeratic channel fill juxtaposed against thin-bedded out-of-channel deposits.
Evidence that the channel system was maintained through a variety of processes over a
protracted period includes identification of stratigraphic products that record
degradational terraces, cyclic steps, mass transport deposition, nested erosion surfaces,
and fine- and coarse-grained channel fill deposits. The thesis establishes the Nanaimo
Group as an ideal unit to investigate the record of deep-water sediment transfer through
slope channels.
Description
Keywords
Geology
Citation
Bain, H. (2016). Deep-Water Stratigraphic Evolution of The Nanaimo Group, Hornby and Denman Islands, British Columbia (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25535