Palynostratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretaceous strata of the Richardson Mountains (Northwest Territories, Canada)

Abstract

Quantitative palynostratigraphy of Upper Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous strata in the Richardson Mountains (northern Northwest Territories and Yukon, Canada) provides insight into both the paleoenvironmental conditions and the tectono-stratigraphic architecture of the Canadian Arctic. Stratigraphic changes in the relative abundance of pollen and spore taxa in the Husky Formation (Oxfordian – Berriasian) and Mount Goodenough Formation (Barremian) were used to reconstruct the paleoecology and paleoclimate of high latitude ecosystems. Relative abundance of important spore and pollen taxa such as Cupressaceae and Taxaceae pollen and a diverse bryophyte, lycophyte, and filicopsid spore assemblage indicates that the environment was warm and humid in the Late Jurassic, trending toward more temperate and cooler in the Early Cretaceous. Comparison of palynoassemblages from the Richardson Mountains and the Sverdrup Basin (located within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) indicates that Upper Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous strata in the two regions are likely contemporaneous.