Pictou Group | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Late Carboniferous-Permian | |
Type | Geological group |
Sub-units | Balfron, Tatamagouche & Cape John Formations |
Underlies | - |
Overlies | Cumberland & Windsor Groups |
Thickness | up to 3,000 metres (9,840 ft) [1] |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Other | Mudstone, siltstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 45°34′06″N63°01′12″W / 45.56827°N 63.01994°W |
Region | Cumberland Basin |
Country | Canada |
Type section | |
Named for | Pictou County, Nova Scotia |
Named by | W.A. Bell |
Year defined | 1926 |
The Pictou Group is a stratigraphical unit of Late Carboniferous to Permian age in the Cumberland Basin of Atlantic Canada.
It takes the name from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and was first described in outcrop along the West Branch River John by W.A. Bell in 1926. [2]
The Pictou Group is composed of red beds sandstone, mostly subarkose and sublitharenite. Siltstone is also present, also rarely conglomerate and coal. Fossil remains include bivalves, ostracods, fish, amphibians and reptile fragments, as well as rare plant fragments. [1]
The Pictou Group is present throughout the Maritimes Basin, thickness vary from 1,650 metres (5,410 ft) in Pictou County to 3,000 metres (9,840 ft) in Prince Edward Island. [1]
The Pictou Group contains the Balfron, the Tatamagouche, and the Cape John Formations.
The Formation is mostly exposed in outcrops or covered with glacial till. It unconformably overlays the Carboniferous Cumberland Group or the Mississippian Windsor Group. [1]
It is equivalent to the Morien Group of Cape Breton Island and Stellarton Group on central Nova Scotia. The Pictou Group is also a synonym to the Prince Edward Island Group (include the Miminegash, Egmont Bay, Kildare Capes, Hillsborough River and Orby Head formations.
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.
The Northumberland Strait is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western shores.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park is a Canadian national park on northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. The park was the first national park in the Atlantic provinces of Canada and covers an area of 948 square kilometres (366 sq mi). It is one of 42 in Canada's system of national parks.
A Northumberland Strait iceboat is a rowing boat, typically 5 metres in length, 2 metres in beam, with runners fastened to the hull for dragging over sea ice.
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Cumberland Basin is an inlet and northeasternmost part of the Bay of Fundy, located on the border between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is the eastern branch of Chignecto Bay, which in turn is the western arm of the upper Bay of Fundy.
Walter Andrew Bell was a Canadian geologist. He worked for the Geological Survey of Canada for over 40 years and authored or co-authored 70 publications. Most of them concerning Carboniferous stratigraphy, paleobotany and paleontology of Atlantic Canada. He also contributed significantly to central and western Canadian Mesozoic and Cenozoic paleobotany. His work provided support for the theory of continental drift.
The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is called Enmigtaqamu'g in the Mi'kmaw language.
The Cobequid Mountains, also sometimes referred to as the Cobequid Hills, is a Canadian mountain range located in Nova Scotia in the mainland portion of the province.
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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.
Cape John is an unincorporated area in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County. It is situated on a cape, bordered by the Northumberland Strait to the north and John Bay, the estuary of the River John, to the south.
An inlier is an area of older rocks surrounded by younger rocks. Inliers are typically formed by the erosion of overlying younger rocks to reveal a limited exposure of the older underlying rocks. Faulting or folding may also contribute to the observed outcrop pattern. A classic example from Great Britain is that of the inlier of folded Ordovician and Silurian rocks at Horton in Ribblesdale in North Yorkshire which are surrounded by the younger flat-lying Carboniferous Limestone. The location has long been visited by geology students and experts. Another example from South Wales is the Usk Inlier in Monmouthshire where Silurian age rocks are upfolded amidst Old Red Sandstone rocks of Devonian age.
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse (CRC) was a minor extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period. The event occurred at the end of the Moscovian and continued into the early Kasimovian stages of the Pennsylvanian.
The Blomidon Formation is a unit of Upper Triassic (Norian–Rhaetian) sedimentary rocks, which outcrops in Nova Scotia. At outcrop they reach a maximum thickness of 365 metres (1,198 ft), but up to 1,168 metres (3,832 ft) has been proven from well data and a thickness of up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) has been inferred from seismic reflection data. It overlies the mainly Carnian Wolfville Formation and underlies the North Mountain Basalt. The type section is exposed between Cape Blomidon and Paddy Island.
Blue Beach is a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) stretch of cliff-bordered coastline at Avonport, Nova Scotia near the mouth of the along the Avon River in the southern bight of Minas Basin, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is best known as a globally significant fossil location for Lagerstätte of the Tournaisian Stage period.
The Joggins Formation is a geologic formation in Nova Scotia. It preserves fossils dating back to the Westphalian stage or Moscovian stage of the Upper Carboniferous period or Pennsylvanian period, including Hylonomus, the earliest known reptile. In addition to fossils, the Joggins Formation was a valuable source of coal from the 17th century until the mid-20th century.
The East River of Pictou is a Canadian river located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
The Middle River of Pictou is a Canadian river located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.