La Loche Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Geological formation |
Unit of | Elk Point Group |
Underlies | Contact Rapids Formation, Chinchaga Formation |
Overlies | Canadian Shield |
Thickness | Up to 30 metres (100 ft) [1] |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone, arkose, mudstone |
Other | Conglomerate, breccia |
Location | |
Coordinates | 56°44′04″N109°29′37″W / 56.73444°N 109.49361°W Coordinates: 56°44′04″N109°29′37″W / 56.73444°N 109.49361°W |
Region | |
Country | Canada |
Type section | |
Named for | Lac La Loche, Saskatchewan |
Named by | A. W. Norris, 1963 [2] |
The La Loche Formation is a geologic formation of early Middle Devonian (Eifelian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is present in northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan and was first described by A. W. Norris in 1963, who named it for a Roman Catholic Mission at Lac La Loche. Its type section is located at Contact Rapids on the Clearwater River in Saskatchewan, northwest of Lac La Loche. It is not fossiliferous. [1] [2] [3]
The basal portion of the La Loche Formation consists of pale brown to reddish, fine- to coarse-grained arkosic and conglomeratic sandstones that may include weathered, angular clasts of the underlying Precambrian granitic gneiss. [2] [4] Planar bedding, cross-bedding, and graded bedding are common in the sandstones. Sandy dolomite, shale, and thin beds of anhydrite and gypsum are present in the upper portion. The formation is not fossiliferous. [4]
The La Loche Formation marked the beginning of the deposition of the Elk Point Group at the onset of a marine transgression over the Canadian Shield. The Shield had been exposed to a long period of erosion, and the basal portion of the La Loche is regolithic; [1] [4] that is, it is composed of sand, silt, and gravel derived from the underlying Precambrian rocks that was lying on the Precambrian surface at that time. Bedding textures indicate fluvial to marginal marine depositional environments. [4]
The La Loche Formation is present in northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan. It is up to 6 metres (20 ft) thick in outcrop, and ranges from about 6 metres (20 ft) to 30 metres (100 ft) thick in the subsurface around Fort McMurray, Alberta. It is thickest in low areas on the Precambrian surface and thin to absent over high areas. [2] [4]
The La Loche Formation is the basal unit of the Elk Point Group and rests unconformably on the eroded Canadian Shield. It is gradationally overlain by the Contact Rapids Formation in the Clearwater River area, and by the Chinchaga or the Keg River Formation in the Slave River area north of Lake Athabasca. [1] [2] It may be considered equivalent to the Contact Rapids or Chinchaga Formation in some areas, [1] and may also be referred to as the Basal red beds [5] or the Granite Wash. [4] [6]
The Clearwater River is located in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. It rises in the northern forest region of north-western Saskatchewan and joins the Athabasca River in north-eastern Alberta. It was part of an important trade route during the fur trade era and has been designated as a Canadian Heritage River.
The Muskeg Formation is a geologic formation of Middle Devonian (Givetian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It extends from the plains of northwestern Alberta to northeastern British Columbia, and includes important petroleum and natural gas reservoirs in the Zama lake and Rainbow Lake areas of northwestern Alberta.
The Dunvegan Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Cenomanian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
The Clearwater Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early Cretaceous (Albian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in northeastern Alberta, Canada. It was first defined by R.G. McConnell in 1893 and takes its name from the Clearwater River near Fort McMurray.
The McMurray Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early Cretaceous age of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in northeastern Alberta. It takes the name from Fort McMurray and was first described from outcrops along the banks of the Athabasca River 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of Fort McMurray by F.H. McLearn in 1917. It is a well-studied example of fluvial to estuarine sedimentation, and it is economically important because it hosts most of the vast bitumen resources of the Athabasca Oil Sands region.
The Mannville Group is a stratigraphical unit of Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
The Wabamun Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Devonian (Famennian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from Wabamun Lake and was first described in the Anglo Canadian Wabamun Lake No. 1 well by Imperial Oil in 1950.
The Exshaw Formation is a stratigraphic unit in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the hamlet of Exshaw, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies, and was first described from outcrops on the banks of Jura Creek north of Exshaw by P.S. Warren in 1937. The formation is of Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age as determined by conodont biostratigraphy, and it straddles the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary.
The Horn River Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
The Joli Fou Formation is a allostratigraphicalunit of middle Albian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the Joli Fou Rapids on the Athabasca River, and was first described in an outcrop along the river, 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) downstream from Joli Fou Rapids, by RTD Wickenden in 1949.
The Beaverhill Lake Group is a geologic unit of Middle Devonian to Late Devonian age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southwestern Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia and Alberta. It was named by the geological staff of Imperial Oil in 1950 for Beaverhill Lake, Alberta, based on the core from a well that they had drilled southeast of the lake, near Ryley, Alberta.
The Elk Point Group is a stratigraphic unit of Early to Middle Devonian age in the Western Canada and Williston sedimentary basins. It underlies a large area that extends from the southern boundary of the Northwest Territories in Canada to North Dakota in the United States. It has been subdivided into numerous formations, number of which host major petroleum and natural gas reservoirs.
The Deadwood Formation is a geologic formation of the Williston Basin and Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is present in parts of North and South Dakota and Montana in the United States, and in parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southwestern corner of Manitoba in Canada. It is of Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician age and was named for exposures in Whitewood Creek near Deadwood, South Dakota. It is a significant aquifer in some areas, and its conglomerates yielded significant quantities of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The Cairn Formation is a geologic formation of Late Devonian (Frasnian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It was named for the Cairn River near its junction with the Southesk River in Jasper National Park by D.J. McLaren in 1955.
The Perdrix Formation is a geologic formation of Late Devonian (Frasnian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It named for Roche à Perdrix in Jasper National Park, Alberta, by P.E. Raymond in 1930. It includes fossils of marine animals.
The Yahatinda Formation is a geologic formation of Middle Devonian (Givetian) age in the southwestern part of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the mountains of southwestern Alberta. Its type locality lies the on the eastern face of Wapiti Mountain above Ya-Ha-Tinda Ranch at the eastern edge of Banff National Park. The Yahatinda contains a variety of Devonian fossils.
The Prairie Evaporite Formation, also known as the Prairie Formation, is a geologic formation of Middle Devonian (Givetian) age that consists primarily of halite and other evaporite minerals. It is present beneath the plains of northern and eastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba in Canada, and it extends into northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana in the United States.
The Purcell Supergroup is composed primarily of argillites, carbonate rocks, quartzites, and mafic igneous rocks of late Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic) age. It is present in an area of about 15,000 km2 in southwestern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and it extends into the northwestern United States where it is called the Belt Supergroup. It was named for the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia by R.A. Daly in 1912. Fossil stromatolites and algal structures are common in some of the Purcell Supergroup rocks, and the Sullivan ore body at Kimberley, British Columbia, a world-class deposit of lead, zinc, and silver, lies within the Alderidge Formation in the lower part of the Purcell.
Armit Meadows Ecological Reserve is an ecological reserve located in Porcupine Provincial Forest, Manitoba, Canada. It was established in 2015 under the Manitoba Ecological Reserves Act. It is 2.63 square kilometres (1.02 sq mi) in size.
La Saline Natural Area in the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta, Canada, preserves Saline Lake, a saline oxbow lake adjacent to the Athabasca River north of Fort McMurray. The lake is an important stop for waterfowl and other birds that migrate along the Athabasca River. Large deposits of tufa have accumulated around the salt springs on the lake's southeastern shore.
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