Book Description

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.