Cypress Hills Formation

Cypress Hills Formation
Stratigraphic range: Oligocene
Type Geological formation
Underlies erosional surface
Overlies Ravenscrag Formation
Thickness up to 80 metres (260 ft)[1]
Lithology
Primary Gravel, sand
Other Conglomerate, marl
Location
Coordinates 49°35′38″N 108°47′45″W / 49.59399°N 108.79573°W / 49.59399; -108.79573 (Cypress Hills Formation)Coordinates: 49°35′38″N 108°47′45″W / 49.59399°N 108.79573°W / 49.59399; -108.79573 (Cypress Hills Formation)
Region WCSB
Country  Canada
Type section
Named for Cypress Hills
Named by Williams and Dyer, 1930

The Cypress Hills Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Oligocene age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

It takes the name from the Cypress Hills, and was first described in outcrops on the slopes of the Cypress Hills by M.Y. Williams and W.S. Dyer in 1930.[2] Type localities are found at Anxiety Butte in south-western Saskatchewan, as well as hill slopes in south-eastern Alberta.

Lithology

The Cypress Hills Formation is composed of loose quartzitic gravel and sand, occasionally conglomerate and marl. [1]

Distribution

The Cypress Hills Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 80 metres (260 ft) in the sub-surface in Saskatchewan, and is typically 40 metres (130 ft) thick.[1] It occurs in the elevated Cypress hills, as well as in several plateau remnants in south-eastern Saskatchewan, south of the Frenchman River.

Relationship to other units

The Cypress Hills Formation forms the present day erosional surface, or may be covered by Laurentian Drift and loess. It conformably overlays the Ravenscrag Formation.[1]

It is equivalent to the Swift Current Creek Formation in southern Saskatchewan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Cypress Hills Formation". Retrieved 2010-01-30.
  2. Williams, M.Y. and Dyer, W.S., 1930. Geology of southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 163.
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