Triassic

Abstract Triassic rocks of the Interior Platform and eastern Cordillera of Canada have long been recognized as an interesting and variable sequence of marine strata occupying an elongate belt that extends from the United States border on the south to 69°N latitude and Beaufort Sea on the north (Fig. 4G.1, 4G.2). Triassic deposits are best developed in Western Canada Basin of British Columbia and Alberta, where they occupy three main physiographic provinces, Rocky Mountains on the west, Rocky Mountain Foothills, and Interior Plains to the east. Triassic rocks also occur in Liard River area of southern Yukon Territory and within northern Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie in the British, Barn, Richardson, Selwyn, Wernecke, and northwestern Ogilvie Mountains. However, because much more published information on Triassic rocks in Western Canada Basin is available, and because of the greater development and economic importance of the system there, most of this report will be directed toward the region south of latitude 60°N. Triassic rocks of the Rocky Mountains, Foothills, and Interior Plains comprise over 1200 m (Fig. 4G.1) of westward-thickening, siliciclastic and carbonate rocks and lesser amounts of evaporites. Contained marine faunas range in age from Griesbachian to Norian. The Triassic rocks of northern Yukon Territory display similar lithofacies but lack evaporites. The strata form a marine wedge deposited along a topographically low, tectonically stable continental shelf and shoreline, a continuation of Permian conditions at the passive western margin of the North American Craton. They form part of what is referred to as