CONSTRAINTS ON THE TIMING OF THRUSTING DURING THE EUREKAN OROGENY, CANADIAN ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO - AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THERMAL HISTORY ANALYSIS

Thermochronological constraints on the timing of hanging-wall cooling across thrust faults can be interpreted in terms of fault movement und er certain circumstances. Vitrinite reflectance data can be used to id entify those circumstances and, in addition, provide constraints on th e timing of fault movement relative to maximum paleotemperatures in th e strata offset by faulting. Geological constraints and apatite fissio n track data from across the Vesle Fiord Thrust, Ellesmere Island, Can adian Arctic Archipelago, indicate that the initiation of fault moveme nt occurred during the Paleocene, slightly older than predicted by pla te-reconstruction models for compression during the Tertiary Eurekan o rogeny, but in agreement with stratigraphic evidence for the onset of tectonism in the Sverdrup Basin. Vitrinite reflectance and fission tra ck data further indicate that the strata affected by faulting attained their maximum paleotemperatures prior to deformation. The latter conc lusion has important implications for hydrocarbon exploration at shall ow levels in structural traps formed during the Eurekan orogeny.