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Lithostratigraphy of Devonian basinal mudrocks in frontier areas of northwestern Canada augmented with ED-XRF technique

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A Correction to this article was published on 19 June 2020

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Abstract

Rock materials from three Arctic wells drilled through Middle-Upper Devonian basinal mudrocks between 1969 and 1973 were surveyed with the energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence tool (ED-XRF) Bruker Tracer IV-SD™. The logs of major oxides acquired from cuttings of two wells on Banks Island show that lithological signals can be seen through sample contamination, and therefore are capable of significantly increasing litho-chemostratigraphic resolution of old borehole logs. Survey of major and trace elements on a cored section through visually monotonous black shales of the Kugaluk N-02 well in northern mainland N.W.T. reveals new details, which allows for the correlation of this reference section with a better-studied succession in the central Northwest Territories, as well as the interpretation of anoxic horizons which correlate globally as the “Devonian anoxic events”. Despite shortcomings in accuracy, ED-XRF proves to be a rapid non-destructive technique to gain new information from old exploration wells in remote frontier areas.

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  • 19 June 2020

    The original article can be found online.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a contribution to the Geomapping for Energy and Minerals Program (Western Arctic Project), the LMS contribution number 20180326. This paper has received due degree of prudence in its stratigraphic part thanks to the criticism of Dr. Ashton Embry who reviewed the early version. Further improvements in the structure, style, and content were very significant owing to the peer reviews by Dr. Karsten Piepjohn and an anonymous reviewer. Colleagues of GSC-Ottawa Igor Bilot and Jeanne Percival are cordially thanked for analysing mineral composition of sulphate crusts from the core slabs of Kugaluk N-02. Stratigraphic results of this study contribute to the IGCP-652 Project “Reading geologic time in Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Canada, LMS, NRCan, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Pavel Kabanov, Richard Vandenberg & Keith Dewing

  2. Geological Survey of Canada, LMS, NRCan, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Pierre Pelchat

  3. Bruker Elemental, Kennewick, WA, USA

    Michelle Cameron

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  1. Pavel Kabanov
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  2. Richard Vandenberg
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Correspondence to Pavel Kabanov.

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Kabanov, P., Vandenberg, R., Pelchat, P. et al. Lithostratigraphy of Devonian basinal mudrocks in frontier areas of northwestern Canada augmented with ED-XRF technique. Arktos 6, 39–52 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41063-020-00074-z

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