<p>The Long Rapids Formation in the Moose River Basin of northern Ontario is Upper Devonian in age and can be correlated with similar shale deposits in the Michigan, Appalachian, and Illinois Basins . The southern Ontario equivalent to the Long Rapids Formation is the Kettle Point Formation. </p> <p> The Long Rapids Formation is a marine black shale deposited predominantly under depleted oxygen conditions. Large amounts of marine organic matter from the water column and from terrestrial sources accumulated in reducing bottom waters with little recycling to produce brown to black, organic-rich sediments . The depositional basin was stratified, and anoxic bottom waters and oxic surface waters were separated by a pycnocline. The position of the pycnocline (or the absence of it) dictated the type of sediment deposited, and the relative depth of the pycnocline to the sediment-water interface was more important than the absolute depth of the water column. The Moose River Basin in Late Devonian times was located on the Laurasian Continent in an area experiencing tropical conditions and was affected by a period of transgression following the Acadian Orogeny. The black shales in the Long Rapids Formation represent a period of transgression of the large epicontinental Catskill Sea, whereas the green-grey mudstones and carbonates represent periods of minor eustatic changes. </p> <p> Dark-coloured facies with abundant bioturbation are overlain by lighter-coloured facies. Bioturbation is variable in the less abundant green-grey mudstone and carbonate facies, and were also low in organic matter. The ichnofauna suite Chondrites-Planolites-Zoophycos-Alcyonidiopsis-(?Teichichnus) represents an oxygen-minimum ichnofacies found predominantly in dark shale facies. As more oxygen was introduced to the sediment-water interface, more permanent burrow structures were constructed such as Teichichnus, Terebellina, ?Cylindrichnus, Skolithos, and Ichnogenus "A" in the green-grey mudstones and carbonates. As well, body fossils were more commonly found in those facies. The Leiorhynchus brachiopod fauna in the dark-coloured shales probably represents a sparse epifauna living in poorly oxygenated or temporarily oxic conditions in a basinal or open-shelf environment. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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The Upper Devonian Catskill Formation represents marginal marine and alluvial sediments which prograded into the Appalachian Basin during the Acadian Orogeny. Distributive fluvial systems (DFS) are prevalent in modern actively aggrading basins in all tectonic and climatic regimes and may be common in the rock record. In this study, I reinterpret the Catskill Formation as a prograding distributive fluvial system (DFS) on the basis of up-section variability in paleosols, channel sandstone textural trends, and alluvial architecture. At least three distinct pedotypes representative of prevailing soil forming conditions are identified during deposition of the Irish Valley, Sherman Creek, and Duncannon Members of the Catskill Formation. Increased paleosol drainage is inferred from an up-section transition from hydromorphic aqualfs within the Irish Valley Member to non-calcareous, uderts within the Duncannon Member. Qualitative field observations of channel sandstone morphology show an increase in channel size up-section. Channels occur as small isolated bodies at the base of the section, transitioning to relatively larger, amalgamated channels, and finally, large isolated channel bodies up-section. Sandstones are litharenites and coarsen-upward throughout the Catskill Formation overall. This coarsening upward trend results from increasing paleo-flow competency in larger channels up-section. These results are consistent with deposition of the Catskill Formation by DFS processes and demonstrate the utility of paleopedological analysis in interpreting alluvial depositional processes. Identifying DFS in the rock record has implications for paleosol-based paleoclimatic studies, as paleosols forming on prograding DFS have increased paleosol drainage up-section, which could potentially be misinterpreted as a shift from prevailing humid to arid paleoclimatic conditions. Recognition of DFS in the rock record also has implications for basin analysis and exploration of fluvial aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs, as the stratigraphic architecture of DFS are fundamentally different from tributary systems at the basin scale. / Geology