Internal architecture of an ancient deep-water, passive margin, basin-floor fan system, Upper Kaza Group, Windermere Supergroup, Castle Creek, British Columbia

Following the break-up of Rodinia and the initiation of the Pacific Ocean (∼725 Ma), Windermere Supergroup (WSG) sedimentation took place along the newly formed passive margin of western Canada (Laurentia).{09}Unconfined, sand-rich basin-floor submarine fan deposits have been identified in the Upper Kaza Group of the WSG and are well exposed at Castle Creek, British Columbia. Regional time slices through the Upper Kaza Group are interpreted to indicate a distal basin-floor setting for the Castle Creek study area with correlative strata becoming more proximal to the continental slope in a southeast direction. Detailed sedimentology and stratigraphy have identified three stratigraphic regions in the Castle Creek study area that imply a prograding basin-floor fan lobe depositional setting with evidence of lateral shifts (axis to off-axis) in sedimentation.; Stable isotope geochemistry revealed depleted delta13C-values of Upper Kaza Group carbonate-cemented cross-stratified sandstone. The delta 13C-values are interpreted as originating from anaerobic oxidation of pore water methane generated in the sediment and therefore, evidence for methane generation in the Neoproterozoic.*; *This dissertation is a compound document (contains both a paper copy and a CD as part of the dissertation). The CD requires the following system requirements: Adobe Acrobat.