Examination of the structural geology of Bylot Island, off Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, and assessemnt of the presence of mineral resources in the area of a proposed National Park.

This paper addresses previous interpretations of the origin of planar laminae and breccia networks found in carbonate rocks of the Society Cliffs Formation, which hosts numerous base metal showings and the Nanisivik zinc-lead deposit on northern Baffin Island. Field observations concerning the sedimentology of the Society Cliffs basinal laminite and the types of breccia found in laminite are presented and a new interpretation of the origin of these rocks is offered. Implications of the findings for oceanic chemistry & base metal mineralization are briefly discussed.

The Milne Inlet Graben on northern Baffin Island contains unmetamorphosed sedimentary & volcanic rocks. The middle part of the Graben includes the Society Cliffs Formation, which hosts numerous base metal showings and the Nanisivik lead-zinc deposit. Known mineralization in the Graben is predominantly limited to distinct lithofacies & stratigraphic levels of that formation. Understanding the formation's composition, origin, and lateral facies relations may be critical to determining constraints on mineralization. Existing stratigraphic nomenclature for the Formation, based on a type section in the north-west part of the Graben, does not adequately characterize the lateral variations in facies from the north-west to south-east and does not account for the Formation's evolution over time. This paper critically reviews previous research on the Formation, which has focussed on the south-east part of the Graben, and fills in the gaps in knowledge about the Formation's sedimentology & stratigraphy. It describes the distribution & lateral relations of the various lithofacies and interprets the characteristics of the basins in which they were originally deposited.