| Gething Formation Stratigraphic range: Barremian-early Albian |
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|---|---|
Gething Formation exposed in the Peace River Canyon |
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| Type | Geological formation |
| Unit of | Bullhead Group |
| Underlies | Fort St. John Group, Bluesky Formation |
| Overlies | Cadomin Formation |
| Thickness | up to 550 metres (1,800 ft)[1] |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Conglomerate, sandstone |
| Other | Coal, siltstone, shale |
| Location | |
| Named for | Gething Creek, Gething Mountain |
| Named by | McLearn, F.H., 1923 |
| Region | Canadian Rockies foothills, western Alberta, north-eastern British Columbia |
| Country | Canada |
Gething Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Lower Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
It was first described in the Peace River Canyon by F.H. McLearn in 1923[2]. The canyon was partly inundated in 1968 by the Williston Lake after the construction of the W. A. C. Bennett Dam. The Formation is named for Gething Creek, a right tributary of the Peace River east of Hudson's Hope and the nearby Gething Mountain.
Contents |
The formation is composed of conglomerate, conglomeratic sandstone, sandstone, coal and marine siltstone and shale.
Dinosaur tracks can be found in the formation.[1]
The Gething Formation is found in the Peace River and Smoky River areas of western Alberta. In the Peace River Country, it reaches a thickness of 550 meters (1,800 ft), while in the Smoky River area it is 75 meters (246 ft) thick. It is also present in the Canadian Rockies foothills, where it can reach 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) near Carbon Creek.
The Gething Formation overlies the Cadomin Formation and is disconformably overlain by Fort St. John Group or the Bluesky Formation. It can be correlated with the Gladstone Formation in the southern foothills, and is equivalent with the tar sand bearing McMurray Formation mined in the Athabasca Oil Sands.