A GIS dataset of geological features for the Etanda Lakes map 
area (95C/16), Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory.


Abstract:  The geological map and database are derived from 
regional mapping in the Etanda Lakes (NTS 95C/16) 1:50 000 scale 
map area, as part of the Geological Survey of Canada's Central 
Foreland NATMAP project.  Geological features represented by 
attributed points, lines, and polygons have been compiled into 
a GIS dataset suitable for stand-alone use, or integration with 
other data sets.  User-defined attributes provide traditional 
geological map information with greater detail and enhancements 
such as explicit orientation data, location and description of 
curated samples, and lithologies at visited outcrops.  
     The Etanda Lakes map area is situated at the southern end of 
the Franklin Mountains encompassing the Liard Range and the 
convergence of the Kotaneelee, La Biche, and Tlogotsho Ranges.  
The geology of the area is characterised by sedimentary strata, 
of Late Devonian to Early Cretaceous age, exposed in a series of 
asymmetrical box or kink folds whose geometry is controlled largely 
by the competence of the Carboniferous Mattson Formation.  
Structure in the area is dominated by the culmination of the Etanda 
Dome where several anticline trends converge.  In the eastern part 
of the map area the Liard Range exposes a series of closely spaced 
box folds locally imbricated by thrust faults of minor displacement.  
The trend of structures in the Liard Range varies from NNW to NNE, 
following the curve of the range.  Lower Cretaceous strata of the 
Kotaneelee syncline occupy the valley shared by Chinkeh Creek and 
Jackfish River.  Stratigraphic features include the westward shale-
out of the Flett and Prophet Formations into the Besa River 
Formation and the sub-Cretaceous unconformity, which cuts out 
Permian strata to the north and east.  The distinctive Chinkeh 
Formation at the base of the Cretaceous succession was mapped on 
both sides of the Kotaneelee Syncline.