Sedimentology of an early Cambrian tide-dominated embayment: Quyuk formation, Victoria Island, Arctic Canada

AbstractThis paper describes a cluster of large communal structures in the Oxford Bay region of southeastern Victoria Island in Nunavut, Arctic Canada. The structures consist of linear stone outlines of up to 24 meters in length, and resemble the relatively well-documented Late Dorset longhouses which have been found across much of the Eastern Arctic. However, radiocarbon dates indicate that the Oxford Bay structures were built and used from roughly 200 to 600-700 cal AD, placing them in the Middle Dorset period. Elsewhere, Middle Dorset communal structures are rare, making the Oxford Bay phenomenon unique. The sites are interpreted as resulting from population aggregations associated with the fall caribou hunt, and may represent direct predecessors of the more widespread Late Dorset longhouses.

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New occurrences of Oldhamia and other trace fossils in the Cambrian of the Yukon and Ellesmere Island, arctic Canada

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e94-070 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 31 (5) ◽

pp. 767-782 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

H. J. Hofmann ◽

M. P. Cecile ◽

L. S. Lane

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

Western Europe ◽

Trace Fossils ◽

Trace Fossil ◽

Ellesmere Island ◽

Early Cambrian ◽

Arctic Canada ◽

North Central ◽

Middle Cambrian ◽

New Occurrences

Trace fossil assemblages from green and maroon argillites at 34 localities in the British Mountains and Barn Mountains of northernmost Yukon, and 3 localities in the Grant Land Formation of northern Ellesmere Island contain abundant Planolites spp., Oldhamia curvata, Oldhamia flabellata, and Oldhamia radiata, and rare Oldhamia antiqua, Oldhamia? wattsi (n.comb.), Bergaueria hemispherica, Cochlichnus sp., Didymaulichnus? sp., Helminthoidichnites sp., Monomorphichnus sp., Protopaleodictyon sp., and Tuberculichnus? sp. Additionally, 11 new sites in the Selwyn Mountains of north-central Yukon have yielded an ichnofauna including Helminthorhaphe sp., O. curvata, O. flabellata, O. radiata, Plagiogmus? sp., Planolites spp., and unidentified small hemispherical traces. All these assemblages are interpreted as Early Cambrian to early Middle Cambrian, based on comparison with Oldhamia-bearing ichnofaunas of similar age in North America, Argentina, and western Europe, and on archaeocyathids and olenellids in overlying units.

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