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Date Permissions Signed

5-24-2018

Date of Award

Summer 2002

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geology

First Advisor

Housen, Bernard Arthur

Second Advisor

Burmester, Russell F.

Third Advisor

Suczek, Christopher A., 1942-2014

Abstract

The Kyuquot Group is a series of marine clastic deposits of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age located on the NW portion of Vancouver Island. These sediments have been folded, but not metamorphosed, and so provide an attractive target for paleomagnetic study. Results from these rocks fill a significant (50 m.y.) time gap in our knowledge of the paleomagnetic paleolatitude record of Wrangellia. Paleomagnetic results from the underlying Bonanza Volcanics (Symons, 1984) show no significant relative latitudinal displacement of Wrangellia with respect to North America. This, along with geological correlations between other similar-aged clastic sediment units, has led several workers (Brandon et al., 1988, McClelland et al., 1992) to propose that the Kyuquot Group represents a clastic overlap tying Wrangellia to the North American margin. Younger sedimentary rocks from Vancouver Island (the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group) have shallow inclinations, indicative of 2500 km of translation (Enkin et al., 2001).

A total of 324 samples from the Jurassic Kapoose Formation and the Cretaceous One Tree Formation were collected. Thermal cleaning of 111 specimens from the Berriasian to Lower Valanginian One Tree Formation revealed two remanence components; one a low- unblocking temperature overprint, the other a high-unblocking temperature component displayed in 77 specimens. The high Tub components pass both an inclination only test and a combined great circle and line-fit fold test after correction for a suspected small block rotation. The fold test results in a 100% bedding corrected direction of Dec. 214.4°, Inc. 85.6°, ± 3.3°, and k = 25.2. Results from the Lower Callovian to Upper Tithonian Kapoose Formation are more scattered. 132 specimens were measured, 66 specimens have a recognizable high Tub component. The high Tub component fails both an inclination only fold test and a combined great circle and line-fit fold test.

The Lower Cretaceous One Tree Formation mean inclination corresponds to a paleolatitude of 81.3° ±6.5°, which is 28° (3100km) north of the expected paleolatitude, assuming North American paleogeography. This high paleolatitude, combined with the low latitude results for the Late Cretaceous, is inconsistent with paleolatitudes predicted by models for Wrangellia (WV-1 and WV-2, Debiche et al., 1987). The high paleolatitude is consistent with the postulated revised plate model of Engebretson et al. (1995).

Type

Text

Keywords

Paleomagnetism, Kyuquot Group, Marine clastic deposits

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/a446-ja94

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1047605223

Subject – LCSH

Geology, Structural--British Columbia--Vancouver Island; Paleomagnetism--British Columbia--Vancouver Island; Geology, Stratigraphic--Cretaceous; Geology--Stratigraphic--Jurassic

Geographic Coverage

Vancouver Island (B.C.)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

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