Energy, Mines, and Resources

Grant Lowey

Project Geologist

Grant is an applied sedimentologist currently working in the Bonnet Plume basin in northeastern Yukon. The Bonnet Plume basin is a physiographic and structural depression near the eastern margin of the Frontal Belt of the Cordilleran Orogen. It formed in early Late Cretaceous time by down-dropping Paleozoic strata along regional faults, and contains up to 7,500 m of clastic and carbonate sediments ranging from Precambrian to Tertiary in age. Based on regional geology and descriptions of sediment type and thickness, the National Energy Board (2001) concluded that the Bonnet Plume basin has gas potential, but insignificant oil potential. However, the National Energy Board report was not based on any samples collected from within the Bonnet Plume basin. Hence, the purpose of the present study is to collect rock samples from units within the basin in order to determine the petroleum source rock potential of this area
In addition, Grant has recently completed a study of the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Jurassic Laberge Group in the Whitehorse Trough, the aim of which is to better assess the petroleum potential of this frontier basin. Grant's other research interests include documenting the origin and evolution of the Klondike goldfields, determining the process sedimentology of a torrent system in the Kusawa Lake area, characterizing the sedimentology of dinosaur trackways in the Ross River area, determining the amount of offset along the Denali fault system, basin analysis of deep-marine clastic rocks in Kluane National Park, and popularizing Yukon geology.
Grant has lived in the Yukon since 1967, and worked in mineral exploration, oil and gas exploration and academia before joining the Yukon Government in 1997. He obtained a B.Sc. from the University of Alaska (Fairbanks, Alaska), an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta), and certificates in groundwater hydrology and groundwater management from Write State University (Dayton, Ohio).

Selected Publications

Lowey, G.W. 2002. Sedimentary processes of the Kuswawa Lake torrent system, Yukon, Canada, as
revealed by the September 16, 1982 flood event. Sedimentary Geology (Sedimentary Geology, v. 151, p.293-321.
Lowey, G.W. 2002. White Channel Gravel Alteration Revisited. In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2001, D.S. Emond and L.H. Weston (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 147-162.
Lipovsky, P., Lowey, G.W. and Lebarge, B. 2001. Dawson area placer activity map, portions of NTS sheets 116 B & C and 115 N & O. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Open File 2001-32, 1:250000 scale map.
Lowey, G.W. 2001. The Stewart River placer project, west-central Yukon. In: Yukon Exploration and
Geology 2000, D.S. Emond and L.H. Weston (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 199-206.
Long, D.G.F., Lowey, G.W. and Sweet, A.R. 2001. Age and setting of dinosaur trackways, Ross River
area, Yukon Territory (105F/15). In: Yukon Exploration and Geology 2000, D.S. Emond and L.H. Weston (eds.), Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, p. 181-198.
Lowey, G.W. 2000. Tatshenshini shear zone (new) in southwestern Yukon: comparison with the Coast
Mountains structural zones in southeastern Alaska, and implications regarding the Shakwak suture. Tectonics, v. 19, p. 512-528.
Lowey, G.W. 1998. White Channel Gravel. Exploration and Geological Services Division, Yukon, Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada, Open File 1998-2 (1:100,000 scale map and marginal notes).
Lowey, G.W. 1998. Yukon Dinosaurs. Geology Field Notes No. 2, Yukon Geology Program, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon.
Lowey, G.W. 1998.Yukon Meteorites. Geology Field Notes No. 1, Yukon Geology Program, Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon.
Lowey, G.W. 1998. A new estimate of the amount of displacement on the Denali fault system based on the occurrence of carbonate megaboulders in the Dezadeash Formation (Jura-Cretaceous), Yukon, and the Nutzotin Mountains sequence (Jura-Cretaceous), Alaska. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 46, 379-386.
Lowey, G.W. 1995. Terrane and terrain: the geology and geography of the Whitehorse area. In: Whitehorse and area hikes and bikes, Yukon Conservation Society, p. 110-113.
Lowey, G.W. 1992. Variation in bed thickness in a turbidite succession, Dezadeash Formation (Jura- Cretaceous), Yukon, Canada: evidence of thinning-upward and thickening-upward cycles. Sedimentary Geology, 78, 217-232.