Dr. Guy Plint

Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Basin Analysis

Guy Plint

Professor Emeritus
P.Geo.
D.Phil. Oxford, 1981
Office: BGS 1072
Lab: BGS 1077
Phone: 519-661-3179
Fax: 519-661-3198
Email: gplint@uwo.ca

Research Interests

The primary research of my group is focused on the Cretaceous rocks of the Western Canada foreland basin. Fundamentally, we are interested in understanding the processes (tectonism, eustatic change, sediment supply) that controlled deposition, erosion and depositional cyclicity. We have access to all public drilling records (well logs) for the basin, which allows construction of very detailed stratigraphic cross-sections. We employ an allostratigraphic (sequence stratigraphic) approach which permits division of the basin fill into genetic units, related to relative sea-level changes. Mapping of sequence-bounding surfaces allows isopach maps to be constructed, which reveal the complex subsidence history of the basin. This approach also permits mapping of facies belts, and hence regional paleogeography can be reconstructed. The excellent subsurface stratigraphic framework allows correlation to outcrop on the periphery of the basin, allowing sedimentological detail from outcrop to be integrated into the regional picture.

Recent projects have involved both marine and nonmarine units ranging in age from late Albian to early Campanian. Several projects focused on thick mudstone successions which, although superficially monotonous, preserve a very detailed history of tectonic movement of the basin floor. Other studies have revealed evidence for small scale (~10 m) but high frequency (20-100 ky) relative sea level oscillations which are most reasonably explained in terms of glacio-eustasy - despite the popular notion of a mid-Cretaceous ‘greenhouse’ climate. Other studies have examined the relationship between subsidence rate and the character of alluvial environments, including the nature of fluvial systems, and paleosols. Major paleovalley and interfluve systems have been mapped in detail, and drainage patterns can be related to flexural tectonics and to more localised fault movement.

Selected Publications

  • McCrea, R.T., Buckley, L.G.,  Plint, A.G., Lockley, M.B., Matthews, N.A., Noble, T.A., Xing, L., and Krawetz, J.R., 2015, Vertebrate ichnites from the Boulder Creek Formation (Lower Cretaceous: middle to upper Albian) of northeastern British Columbia, with a description of a new avian ichnotaxon, Paxavipes babcockensis ichnogen. et isp. nov.  Cretaceous Research, v. 55, p. 1-18.
  • Ausich, W.I., Stelck, C.R., Plint, A.G., Buckley, R.A. and Angiel, P.J. 2015, Early Cretaceous (early late Albian) echinoderms from northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 52, p. 235-243.
  • Buckley, R.A., Plint, A.G., Henderson, O.A., Krawetz, J.R. and Vannelli, K.M. 2015. Ramp sedimentation across a middle Albian, Arctic embayment: Influence of subsidence, eustasy and sediment supply on stratal architecture and facies distribution, Lower Cretaceous, Western Canada Foreland Basin.  Sedimentology, v. 63, 699-742.
  • Walaszczyk, I., Shank, J.A. and Plint, A.G., 2015, Reply to Discussion on: Inter-regional correlation of disconformities in Upper Cretaceous strata, Western Interior Seaway: Biostratigraphic and sequence-stratigraphic evidence for eustatic change.  Geological Society of America, Bulletin, v. 128, 1053-1055.
  • van Helmond, N.A.G.M., Sluijs, A., Papadomanolaki, N.M., Plint, A.G., Gröcke, D.R., Pearce, M.A., Eldrett, J.S., Trabucho-Alexandre, J., Walaszczyk, I., van de Schootbrugge, B.   and Brinkhuis, H., 2016, Equatorward migration of dinoflagellates during a cold spell within the Late Cretaceous supergreenhouse.  Biogeosciences, 13, 2859-2872.
  • Walaszczyk, I., Plint, A.G. and Kennedy, W.J., 2016, Biostratigraphy and Inoceramus survival across the Cenomanian-Turonian (Cretaceous) boundary in the Ram River section, Alberta, Canada.  Acta Geologia Polonica, 66, 715-728.
  • Plint, A.G., Hooper, E.A., Grifi, M.D., Walaszczyk, I., Landman, N.H., Gröcke, D.R., Trabucho Alexandre, J.P., and Jarvis, I., 2017, Integrated, high-resolution allostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and carbon-isotope correlation of Coniacian strata (Upper Cretaceous), western Alberta and northern Montana. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 414, 9-52.
  • Walaszczyk, I., A.G. Plint and N.H. Landman, 2017, Inoceramid bivalves from the Coniacian and basal Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Western Canada Foreland Basin. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 414, 53-103.
  • Landman, N.H., Plint, A.G. and Walaszczyk, I., 2017, Scaphitid ammonites from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) Western Canada Foreland Basin. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 414, 104-172.
  • Vannelli, K.M., Plint, A.G., Buckley, R.A., Krawetz, J.R. and Cunningham, C.M., 2017, An allostratigraphic and paleogeographic framework for the Joli Fou and Pelican formations and contiguous strata (Late Albian, Early Cretaceous) in central Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 65, 387-423.
  • Plint, A.G., Krawetz, J.R., Buckley, R.A., Vannelli, K.M. and Walaszczyk, I. 2017, Tectonic, eustatic and climatic controls on marginal marine sedimentation across a flexural depocentre:  Paddy Member of Peace River Formation (Late Albian), Western Canada Foreland Basin.  The Depositional Record, In press, doi: 10.1002/dep2.37.