Evidence for an Albian Hudson Arm connection between the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America and the Labrador Sea

Numerous researchers have alluded to the existence of a Cretaceous Hudson A rm connection between the Labrador Sea and the Western Interior Seaway of N orth America. However, the evidence for this marine connection has been cir cumstantial. In this paper we present sedimentary geochemical data that ind icate a marine influence in the Albian Mattagami Formation of the Moose Riv er basin, James Bay Low-lands, Ontario. The facies associations between din oflagellate-bearing laminated mudstones, fluvial sandstones, and early pyri te mineralization are interpreted to indicate deposition in the central bas in of an estuary. We use the facies association between the estuarine hh an d coeval kaolinitic paleosols in the Moose River basin, and in similar depo sits in Quebec and Labrador, to reconstruct a southern shoreline of the Alb ian Hudson Arm to the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, We suggest that d evelopment of the Hudson Arm connection between the Labrador Sea and the Cr etaceous Western Interior Seaway may be related to a regional extensional r egime associated with rifting between Labrador and Greenland, and the passa ge of eastern North America over Cretaceous hotspots.