Palynological correlation of middle and upper devonian rocks of Melville Island, Arctic Canada

Abstract

Spore assemblages from 41 measured outcrop sections have been used to correlate, and determine the age of, Middle and Upper Devonian rocks of Melville Island. The Cape De Bray and Weatherall formations are diachronous; the Cape De Bray-Weatherall contact is mid-Eifelian in the eastern part of the island and early Givetian in the west. The Weatherall-Hecla Bay boundary is early Givetian in the east and late Givetian in the west. The Hecla Bay-Beverley Inlet contact is approximately isochronous. The Parry Islands Formation of eastern Melville Island is upper Frasnian to lower upper Famennian with no palynological evidence for a disconformity at its base. Strata close to the Frasnian-Famennian boundary, in the Burnett Point Member of the Parry Islands Formation, do not contain either spores or marine fossils. Eifelian and lower Givetian sediments were redeposited during much of later Devonian time, but most abundantly in the late Givetian and early Frasnian. Marine faunas useful for age determination occur with spores in some sections, particularly in rocks of Eifelian-early Givetian and Famennian age, and in Frasnian strata on western Melville Island.