Facies interpretation of Middle Carboniferous to Lower Permian Pope succession limestone of Cache Creek Group, Fort St. James, central British Columbia

Abstract

Lithostratigraphy and microfacies of the Bashkirian to Asselian Pope succession limestone of the Cache Creek Group near Fort St. James, central British Columbia, were lithologically grouped into five facies associations A to E. On the basis of fusulines and conodonts, facies associations A to D and the lower part of facies association E are time-equivalent, ranging from the lower Bashkirian to lower Kasimovian, and the upper part of facies association E is dated as upper Gzhelian to Asselian. The Pope succession limestone is interpreted to have been built on a basaltic basement of an oceanic plateau or seamount in an open-ocean realm. The limestone is devoid of terrigenous grains, is associated with basaltic rocks, and laterally grades into deeper-water spicular cherts. Microfacies analysis of facies associations A to E showed that they exhibit characteristic facies of (A) deep-water basinal setting, (B) marginal basin to lower slope, (C) shallow-subtidal bank margin, (D) peritidal algal mound on the bank margin, and (E) shallow-subtidal bank margin to intertidal lagoonal flat,. Moscovian to Asselian rocks of facies associations C, D, and E record an upward increase of low-relief encrusting calci-microbes as rock-builders. This tendency is closely correlated with that in limestone buildups mapped from the Panthalassan Ocean. The abundance of phylloid algal plates and the reefal facies of the Moscovian rocks of facies association D are the same as the reef-building phylloid algae of the Bashkirian to Sakmarian limestone of both the Tethyan and Panthalassan oceans. The Pope succession limestone has many similarities in tectonic, stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and paleontologic aspects to the Akiyoshi buildup, a representative Panthalassan buildup in a Permian subduction-related accretionary complex in Japan. The timing of the increasing importance of the calci-microbes and phylloid algae in the Pope and Akiyoshi buildups is also correlatable.