Type Locality:

The type section is the interval 570 to 1,055 m (1,871 to 3,460 ft) in the Richfield Oil Corp. et al. Grandview Hills No. 1 well (67 deg 06'12"N, 120 deg 52'30"W).

Distribution:

It is 484 m (1,589 ft) thick in the type well and 378 m (1,240 ft) thick in the Elf Horton River G-02 well (69 deg 51'22.5"N, 127 deg 15'56.5"W). It occurs just north of Norman Wells to the vicinity of Amundsen Gulf. Westward from Norman Wells it extends into the Yukon adjacent to the Snake and Peel rivers and northward along the eastern boundary into the vicinity of the Big Fish River, Yukon Territory. A.W. Norris (1968) also recorded it from the Ogilvie Mountains.

Lithology:

The formation can be subdivided into three distinct lithologic units listed in ascending order: 1) Lower limestone member, 1000 to 1055 m (3280 to 3460 ft) in the well, consisting of pale cream, off white and very light buff aphanitic or micrograined, dense limestone with thin, green to bright green or bluish-green, waxy shale partings, and minor pale, light coloured, aphanitic argilla-ceous and silty dolomite with frequent green hues, locally grading into very dolomitic siltstone or even dolomitic mudstone; 2) Dolomite member, occurs between 800 and 1003 m (2623 and 3290 ft) and consists almost entirely of light brown, dark brown and buff dolomites with microcrystalline or chalky calcareous intercrystalline matrix and rare thin light buff aphanitic limestones or dolom-itic limestones; and 3) Pellet limestone member, occurs between 570 and 800 m (1,871 and 2,623 ft), and is composed of light coloured, buff to light brown, dense limestone, but may be light buff to light green with dark brown infrequent. May be argillaceous. Very fine to fine, rarely medium pellets in clusters in sparry calcite, or isolated pellets may be present.

Relationship:

In the Norman Wells area it unconformably overlies the Ronning Gp (formerly formation) and is conformably overlain by the Hume Fm, whereas in the vicinity of the Horton River, it unconformably overlies the Mount Kindle Fm and is overlain conformably by the Hume Fm. It is a facies equivalent of the Bear Rock Fm west. Southward it is equivalent to the Sombre Fm. The Michelle Fm of the northern Ogilvie Mountains if equivalent to any part of the Gossage probably equates to the Lower Limestone Member as originally defined.

History:

MacKenzie (1974) on the basis of lithologic criteria, suggested that the lower limestone member in the CDR Tenlen Lake A73 well (67 deg 52'07"N, 130 deg 43'21"W) should be included in the underlying Delorme Fm equivalent. Aitken et al. (in press) adopted this suggestion and assigned the lower limestone unit to their informal Unit SD. They equate the Dolomite and Pellet limestone members to the Arnica and Landry formations respectively. Furthermore, they use Gossage in the subsurface and use Arnica and Landry formations for surface outcrops to emphasize the distribution of these strata.

Other Citations:

Aitken et al., in press; Braun, 1978; Lenz, 1972; MacKenzie, 1974; A.W. Norris, 1967b, 1968; Perry and Lenz, 1978; Tassonyi, 1969; Uyeno, 1978; Uyeno and Mason, 1975; Yorath et al., 1975.