Upper Triassic carbonate, volcanic and clastic rocks deposited in the Whitehorse Trough, a Mesozoic forearc basin, are well-exposed at Hill 4308. The deposition of these rocks occurred in three distinct stages: 1) sedimentation of lime sands and clastics on the flank of a volcanic high, 2) development of reefal carbonates and associated limestones, and 3) renewal of clastic deposition with both erosion and continued growth of patch reefs. The reefal carbonates are similar in structure and composition to reefal carbonates at Lime Peak about 6 km to the south, but the stratigraphic section at Lime Peak differs from that at Hill 4308, the former representing more continuous deposition of carbonate on an underlying clastic foundation. Differences between Hilll 4308 and Lime Peak may reflect local variation in relative sea level and in the distribution and intensity of clastic sedimentation experienced by nearby localities in tectonically active areas.

Field study has shown that the Upper Triassic carbonates at Lime Peak are a series of framework reefs which have shed debris into a surrounding basin. The reefs are up to 150 m thick and are dominated by spongiomorphs, tabulozoans and sponges. They bear little resemblance to those previously described in the Triassic of North America.

The area around Tillei and McPherson lakes includes extensive exposure of a relatively thick, late Neoproterozoic limestone. The limestone is lithologically similar to the Espee Formation of the Ingenika Group, but is in geological continuity with the Hyland Group. The Hyland and Ingenika groups are age-equivalent sequences that were in close proximity before they were separated by Cenozoic dextral displacement on the Tintina fault. The area may therefore contain evidence for stratigraphic linkages between the two groups. The limestone is interpreted to have been deposited in a high-standing region outboard of the Hyland Group type-area. Further work is required to determine the extent to which late Neoproterozoic paleobathymetry aligns with Paleozoic platform/basin margins.

The Mississippian volcanic rocks and associated mineralization in the Pelly Mountains were studied by J. Morin during 1979 and 1980. Alkaline and calc-alkaline Mississippian volcanic rocks lie above Paleozoic platform strata of carbonate, volcanic and minor fine-grained clastic rocks. The volcanic belt can be divided into four facies designated by lithology. A model is proposed here that relates cauldron facies geology to the associated mineralization.

The Kluane Ranges, located in southwest Yukon, are underlain by Late Paleozoic to Late Triassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks assigned to Wrangellia. Bedrock mapping completed within the White River area indicates Wrangellian rocks underwent several phases of deformation between Late Triassic and Miocene time. Middle Triassic marine, fine-grained sedimentary rocks are preserved in grabens where they are overlain by basal conglomerates and breccias of the Nikolai formation. The grabens are related to uplift associated with the deposition of Nikolai formation flood basalts and intrusion of ultramafic bodies. Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous compression resulted in structural stacking of older rocks and northeast- and southwest-verging overturned folds. Latest (?) Cretaceous to Miocene dextral strike-slip along the Denali fault system led to the formation of steeply dipping faults, extensional and compressional basins and refolding of older regional scale folds. Reactivation of Jura-Cretaceous faults also occurred at this time. An enigmatic pre-Middle Triassic deformation event is believed to be preserved locally in rocks of the Hasen Creek Formation.

Carbonate is an important component of gold-bearing quartz veins in the Klondike district, and also makes up an under-recognized proportion of the Klondike schist host rocks. The predominantly metavolcanic Klondike schist contains carbonate as disseminated porphyroblasts and as coarse quartz-carbonate segregations, and contains rare layers of marble. Chemical staining and LA-ICP-MS analyses reveal that, irrespective of paragenesis, carbonate is dominated by Mg-Fe-Mn calcite. Laser spectroscopic analyses of C and O isotopes reveal that marble is a 13C-enriched isotopic reservoir compared to carbonate in micaceous schist. Carbonate in gold-stage veins has a similar isotopic signature to carbonate in metamorphic segregations and porphyroblasts in the host rocks. We tentatively interpret these results to indicate that the CO2 component of vein carbonate has been remobilized from local sources during brittle deformation. The results of this study may bear on interpreting the scale of rock-fluid interaction during orogenic gold mineralization in the area.

The Eocene Skukum volcanic complex, 60 km south-southwest of Whitehorse, is elliptical in plan, covers an area of about 140 km², and unconformably overlies Cretaceous granitic rocks and Precambrian metasedimentary rocks. The complex is fault-bounded and in places has been intruded by felsic dykes and stocks. A major north-trending fault divides the area into two parts: a western part which includes a lower interlayered sedimentary-volcanic sequence and an upper unit, approximately 500 m thick, characterized by andesite lava flows, pyroclastic flows and sedimentary units; and an eastern part which comprises about 800 m of altered felsic pyroclastic flows and brecciated, flow layered and spherulitic felsic lava flows. Study of the interlayered sedimentary-volcanic formation provides a control on the paleotopography of the Skukum area, and the depositional environment and provenance of the formation..

The Whitehorse Trough, south-central Yukon, originated as a Mesozoic fore-arc basin separating the allochthonous Stikine Terrane to the west from the North American craton. Late Triassic erosion of a volcanic arc supplied detritus to the basin. Subsequent cessation of volcanism, unroofing and deep erosion of the arc into the Middle Jurassic resulted in a progressive increase in granodioritic sediment. Late Triassic-Jurassic Laberge conglomerate within the Whitehorse Trough are coarse, polymictic and typically massive. Inverse or normal grading, planar stratification and cross-bedding are less common. Conglomerates are debris flow, sheet-flood and bar deposits of braided alluvial fan-deltas. These conglomerates usually overlie and grade basinward into feldspathic graywacke or arkosic sandstone. Crystal tuffs grade laterally into sandstone and occur as interbeds as well. Sandstones commonly display trough cross-bedding or planar stratification. Hummocky cross-stratification rarely occurs in sandstones interbedded with bioturbated silty mudstone. Other facies include graded sandstone-mudstone with Bouma BC(E) sequences; float-stone/micritic limestone and rare calcarenite/rudite. Sandstone-conglomerate facies transitions indicate a vertical progression from shallow marine and shoreface sedimentary strata of Late Triassic age to coarse alluvial fan conglomerates of Jurassic age, reflecting progradation of fan-delta systems with progressive infilling of the basin. The Stikine Terrane accreted to North America in the Late Jurassic with basin shallowing and closure reflected by changes in the sedimentary sequences.

Detailed mapping of bedrock in the northern Wellesley basin adjacent to the Donjek River revealed a coherent sequence of cumulus-textured gabbros, sheeted dykes, and a large massif of spinel harzburgite. The coarse-textured harzburgite tectonite covers an area of ~75 km2, and is generally well preserved, making it one of the largest and most exceptional mantle tectonite bodies yet recognized in Yukon. Together with regional aeromagnetic data the new fi eld observations are interpreted as part of a large ophiolite complex with a strike length extending ~100 km throughout the Wellesley basin. No age data are available, but correlation with identical ultramafi c bodies to the northwest in Alaska suggests that the ophiolite in Wellesley basin may represent a klippe of Slide Mountain Terrane overlying rocks of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane.

Mainly schitose clastic strata of the northern Selwyn basin underlie Lansing map area. These strata form rounded mountains, although jagged ridgelines occur in the thermal metamorphic aureoles surrounding six Cretaceous granitic plutons. Major faults occupy some broad northwest-trending valleys: two of these extend eastward as the Hess and Macmillan faults (Abbott and Turner, 1990) in the Macmillan Pass area; another appears to contine westward as the Robert Service Thrust Fault. Argentiferous galena veins were intermittently mined from the east edge of the map area from 1976 to 1985; whereas the stratiform base metal and disseminated gold potential of these rocks have been investigated during the 1990s.