Palliser Formation

Palliser Formation
Stratigraphic range: Famennian

Type section near Lake Minnewanka
Type Geological formation
Sub-units Moro Member, Costigan Member
Underlies Exshaw Formation
Overlies Alexo Formation
Thickness up to 580 metres (1,900 ft)[1]
Lithology
Primary Limestone
Other Anhydrite, Dolomite
Location
Named for Palliser Range
Named by Beach, 1943
Region  Alberta
Country  Canada

The Palliser Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Famennian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. found in the ranges of the Canadian Rockies and foothills.

It was named for the Palliser Range (in turn taking its name from John Palliser, the leader of the 1850's Palliser Expedition) by H.H. Beach in 1943.[2] The type section was defined in 1994 by Meijer and Johnston in the "Devil's Gap" section south of Mount Costigan of the Palliser Range, north of Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park.[3]

Contents

Lithology

The Palliser Formation is composed of fossiliferous, dark limestone in the upper part and massive dolomitic limestone in the lower part. [1] Anhydrite and dolomite can occur in the foothills.

Distribution

The Palliser Formation is found in the main and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, where it reaches a thickness of 580 metres (1,900 ft), as well as the foothills, where it is up to 240 metres (790 ft) thick. [1]

Relationship to other units

The Palliser Formation is unconformably overlain by the Exshaw Formation and conformably underlain by the Alexo Formation.[1]

It is equivalent to the Wabamun Group in central Alberta, with the middle part of the Three Forks Formation in Saskatchewan and Montana and with the Tetcho Formation and Kotcho Formation in the Fort Nelson area of British Columbia.

Sub-units include, from bottom to top, the Moro Member and the Costigan Member.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Palliser Formation". http://cgkn1.cgkn.net/weblex/weblex_litho_detail_e.pl?. Retrieved 2009-03-01. 
  2. ^ Beach, H.H., 1943. Moose Mountain and Morley map-areas, Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 236, 74 p.
  3. ^ Meijer-Drees, N.C. and Johnston, D.I. 1994. Type Section and conodonts biostratigraphy of the Upper Devonian Palliser Formation, southwestern Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. 42:1. P 55-62.
  4. ^ DeWit, R.W., and McLaren, D.J. 1950. Devonian Sections in the Rocky Mountains between Crowsnest Pass and Jasper, Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 50-23.