Cretaceous Chemosynthetic Carbonate Mounds in the Canadian Arctic

Abstract

Four carbonate mounds of Cretaceous age, interpreted as chemosynthetic cold-seep communities, outcrop in the Canadian Arctic. These ecosystems formed at intermediate depth (<400 m) on the sea floor of the Sverdrup Basin and adjacent Eglinton Graben. The communities were fed by methane, and perhaps higher hydrocarbons, that seeped from unknown subsurface sources along synsedimentary fault systems associated with a half-graben on Prince Patrick Island, and a salt diapir on Ellef Ringnes Island