Type Locality:

Type section (61°17'N, 124°14'W) on the south side of First Canyon on the South Nahanni River in the Virginia Falls map-area (95F), District of Mackenzie.

Distribution:

It is an approximately tabular unit that is 142 m (466 ft) thick at the type section. It thins northward to 41 m (139 ft) in the Camsell Range and disappears northwest beyond the Camsell Range. It is present as far west as the Thundercloud Range in the Glacier Lake map-area (95L). It occurs also in the subsurface of the southwest part of the Mackenzie Plain.

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Typical 142.

Lithology:

Light grey weathering, mottled white and dark grey, thick- to massive-bedded coarsely crystalline dolomite. May be interbedded with dark brownish-grey to grey dolomite or with medium grey limestone. In some places this dolomite cements a breccia formed of darker dolomite fragments and tends to have some cavernous porosity partly infilled with quartz and calcite.

Relationship:

The Manetoe Formation has been regarded to conformably overlie the Arnica Formation and be conformably overlain by either the Headless Formation, Landry Formation or Hume Formation (Douglas and Norris, 1960b, 1961, 1963; Gabrielse et al., 1973; Law, 1971). Many workers have regarded the Manetoe Formation dolomite as a recrystallized reef facies correlative with the Funeral Formation shales (Law, 1971; Noble and Ferguson, 1971). These views will require modification following the recognition that the Manetoe Formation may occur interbedded with the Arnica, Landry, Headless or Nahanni formations (Morrow, 1977; Morrow and Cook, pers. comm., 1979) and that the Manetoe may be a diagenetic facies superimposed on a pre-existing rock sequence in a manner similar to the Presqu'ile Formation. Eastward it is equivalent in part to the Bear Rock Formation. It may be laterally equivalent to parts of the Chinchaga Formation.

Other Citations:

Chatterton, 1978; Gabrielse, 1967b; Gabrielse et al., 1965; Perry and Lenz, 1978.

References:

Chatterton, B.D.E., 1978. Aspects of late Early and Middle Devonian conodont biostratigraphy of western and northwestern Canada; in, Western and Arctic Canadian biostratigraphy, Stelck, C.R. and Chatterton, B.D.E. (Eds.); Geological Association of Canada, P.S. Warren biostratigraphy symposium Western and Arctic Canadian biostratigraphy, Edmonton, AB, (May 19, 1976) (Conference), Special Paper 18, pp. 161-231.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1960b. Virginia Falls and Sibbeston Lake map-areas, Northwest Territories (95F and 95G); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 60-19, 26 p.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1961. Camsell Bend and Root River map-areas, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 61-13, 36 p.

Douglas, R.J.W. and Norris, D.K., 1963. Dahadinni River and Wrigley map-areas, District of Mackenzie, Northwest Territories; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 62-33, 34 p.

Gabrielse, H., 1967b. Watson Lake, Yukon Territory; Geological Survey of Canada, Preliminary Map 19-1966, Scale: 1 Inch to Four Miles (1:253 440).

Gabrielse, H., Blusson, S.L., and Roddick, J.A., 1973. Geology of the Flat River, Glacier Lake and Wrigley Lake map-areas, District of Mackenzie and Yukon Territory; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 366 (Parts I and II), 421 p.

Gabrielse, H., Roddick, J.A., and Blusson, S. L., 1965. Flat River, Glacier Lake and Wrigley Lake, District of Mackenzie and Yukon Territory, 95E, 95L and 95M (Report and Maps 35-1964, 36-1964, and 37-1964); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 64-52, 30 p. + Preliminary Map 35-1964, Geology, Flat River, Yukon Territory - District of Mackenzie, Scale 1:253 440 or 1 inch to 4 miles, Preliminary Map 36-1964, Geology, Glacier Lake, District of Mackenzie, Scale 1:253 440 or 1 inch to 4 miles, and Preliminary Map 37-1964, Geology, Wrigley Lake, District of Mackenzie, Scale 1:253 440 or 1 inch to 4 miles.

Law, James, 1971. Regional Devonian geology and oil and gas possibilities, upper Mackenzie River area; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG), Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 19, no. 2 (June), pp. 437-484.

Morrow, D.W., 1977. The Prairie Creek Embayment and associated slope, shelf, and basin deposits; in, Report of Activities, Part A, Blackadar, R.G., Griffin, P.J., Dumych, H., and Irish, E.J.W. (Eds. and Compilers); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 77-1A, pp. 361-370.

Noble, J.P.A. and Ferguson, R.D., 1971. Facies and faunal relations at edge of early mid-Devonian carbonate shelf, south Nahanni River area, N.W.T.; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG), Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 19, no. 3 (September), pp. 570-588.

Perry, D.G. and Lenz, A.C., 1978. Emsian paleogeography and shelly fauna biostratigraphy of Arctic Canada; in, Western and Arctic Canadian biostratigraphy, Stelck, C.R. and Chatterton, B.D.E. (Eds.); Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 18, pp. 133-160.