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The Bylot Supergroup, northern Baffin Island, contains >1500 m of platform, shelf, and slope carbonates deposited between ~ 1270 and ~ 723 Ma. Limited chronostratigraphic data have led to the broad correlation of the Bylot Supergroup with predominantly Neoproterozoic successions in northern and western Laurentia; yet, detailed correlation has been impossible given biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic limitations. Carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy represents a potential dataset to constrain such interregional correlations. Carbon isotopic data from the Bylot Supergroup and broadly coeval successions from Somerset Island and northwest Greenland reveal distinct stratigraphic trends in δ13C, with intervals of moderate 13C enrichment (+3.5 ± 1‰) punctuated by excursions to slightly negative values (-1.0 ± 1‰). Although the scale of the observed variation is muted relative to Neoproterozoic standards, the dissimilarity of values to those recorded in northwestern Laurentia suggests that these strata delineate a discrete depositional interval. Comparison of isotopic values with published data indicates that δ13C values between approximately -1.0 and +4.0‰ are characteristic of the interval between ~ 1300 and ~ 800 Ma. This pattern is distinct from that of younger Neoproterozoic successions, which typically record values >+5‰, and older Mesoproterozoic successions, which record values near 0‰, and suggests that these moderately positive values may be useful for broad time correlation. Compilation of new and published data permits the tentative reconstruction of a global Mesoproterozoic carbon isotopic curve.

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Distribution of facies in the lower half of the Bylot Supergroup suggests overall westward deepening of the Mesoproterozoic Borden Basin. In marked contrast, the upper half of the succession records a reversal in the overall bathymetric trend, such that the eastern portion underwent relative deepening as the west experienced relative shallowing. Strata deposited during this reversal belong to the Victor Bay Formation, a ramp composed predominantly of limestone. Karsting of carbonate strata and development of an angular unconformity in the west contrast with back-stepping and drowning of the ramp in the east, followed by mantling by deep-water limestone, carbonaceous carbonate, and turbidites. Increased accommodation space during this time, via both tectonic subsidence and eustatic sea-level rise, led to a profusion of stromatolite pinnacle reefs and large biostromes. The reversal of basin polarity is best reconciled with development of a distal foreland basin superimposed on the Borden aulacogen. Crustal rethickening and uplift occurred along reactivated basement faults during an eastward-directed compressional event and could be related to thrusting of similar age and vergence in the Coppermine River Group of northwestern Canada.