Sedimentation styles and depositional processes in a Middle to Late Jurassic slope environment, Bowser Basin, northwestern British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

The Middle to Upper Jurassic Todagin assemblage in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, was deposited in the Bowser Basin above arc-related rocks of the Stikine terrane. Sedimentary structures indicate that a variety of gravity flow processes were involved in transport and deposition in deep-water slope environments. At Mount Dilworth, laterally continuous and channelized turbidites are interbedded with and overlain by mass-transport deposits in which sedimentary clasts are supported in a mudstone matrix. More than 50% of the succession consists of mass-transport deposits, indicating significant slope instability. A 300 m thick mass-transport complex exposed near the top of the succession is interpreted to result from tectonic activity, which triggered a major change in sediment supply from a local source area. At Todagin Mountain, a channel complex displays three successive channel-fills with associated overbank sedimentation units. Mass-transport deposits are rare, and confined to channel axes. Channels 1 and 2 are characterized by 40–50 m thick, ungraded pebble clast-supported conglomerate while the uppermost Channel 3 contains graded beds and occasional traction structures. The gradual change from erosive and amalgamated channel deposits at the base, to more aggradational channels at the top, is related to elevation of the equilibrium profile. Creation of accommodation favored aggradation on the mud-dominated slope succession and construction of well-developed channel-levee systems. The vertical succession exposed at Todagin Mountain is consistent with normal progradation of the slope under high sedimentation rates. In the Mount Dilworth area, extensional faulting associated with development of the restricted Eskay rift in the early Middle Jurassic produced a dissected basement above which the Todagin assemblage was deposited. These structures were inverted during collision of the Stikine and Cache Creek terranes, and likely played a major role in the stratigraphic evolution of the deep-water architectures.