Foxe Platform and Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element

Abstract The Foxe Platform and Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element is an ovoid-shaped, predominantly marine basin located in the Canadian Arctic. The Paleozoic sedimentary succession (Cambrian to Silurian) unconformably overlies the Precambrian basement and reaches a maximum measured thickness of slightly over 500 metres in the only exploration well drilled in this basin. The Lower Paleozoic Foxe Platform and Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element is surrounded by Precambrian basement and by the Paleozoic Arctic Platform to the north and by the Paleozoic-Mesozoic (?) Hudson Bay Strait Platform and Basin to the south. The Paleozoic succession consists of a Cambrian clastic-dominated interval overlain by Ordovician to lower Silurian predominantly shallow marine carbonate. Other than a single well drilled in the northern part of the basin, no subsurface information is available. Thermally immature Upper Ordovician organic matter rich calcareous black shales have been mapped on the onshore extension of the basin to the southeast. Potential hydrocarbon reservoirs consist of Cambrian porous coarse-grained clastics as well as Upper Ordovician dolostones and reefs.