Degree
Master of Science
Program
Geology
Supervisor
Dr. A. Guy Plint
Abstract
A high-resolution allostratigraphic study of the Coniacian Muskiki and Marshybank members of the Wapiabi Formation in southern Alberta revealed a southwest thickening wedge of mudstone-dominated strata that was deposited on a shallow storm-dominated shelf. Well-log correlations and biostratigraphy show that the Muskiki Member forms the bulk of the succession; the Marshybank Member is thin or absent in the subsurface. The lower and middle units of the Muskiki Member display regional subsidence patterns consistent with thrust sheet loading in the Cordillera. The upper unit comprises a linear trough filled by southeastward-accreting clinothems. The northeast boundary of the clinoform package corresponds with an Archean thrust fault that may have undergone extensional reactivation during the Coniacian, forming a local trough. An isopach map of the basal Santonian strata shows thinning coincident with the Vulcan magnetic anomaly, suggesting differential subsidence across the structure.
Recommended Citation
Grifi, Meriem, "Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian) Muskiki and Marshybank Members, Southern Alberta and Northwestern Montana" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 917.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/917