STRUCTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LINEAMENTS VISIBLE ON AERIAL PHOTOS OF THE ATHABASCA OIL SANDS AREA NEAR FORT MACKAY, ALBERTA.

Patterns made by lineaments mapped on aerial photos of the Fort MacKay area, Alberta, suggest that many of the lineaments are structural in origin. Most are probably the surface expression of joints in bedrock showing as vegetational and topographic alignments at the surface. The lineaments predominantly trend north-south and northwest-southeast, parallel to some field-measured joint sets in the McMurray and Waterways Formations. It is believed that the lineaments give a fairly accurate indication of joint-set orientations within the McMurray Formation.