Rundle Group

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Rundle Group
Stratigraphic range: Middle to Late Mississippian
MountRundle.jpg
The massive limestone beds form outcrops at the top of Mount Rundle
Type Geological formation
Sub-units Debolt, Shunda, Pekisko, Mount Head, Livingstone, Turner Valley, Prophet
Underlies Fernie Formation, Belloy Formation
Overlies Banff Formation
Thicknessup to 741 metres (2,430 ft) [1]
Lithology
Primary Limestone
Other Chert
Location
Coordinates 51°07′49″N115°28′40″W / 51.13020°N 115.47765°W / 51.13020; -115.47765 (Rundle Group)
RegionFlag of Alberta.svg  Alberta, Flag of British Columbia.svg  British Columbia
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Type section
Named for Mount Rundle
Named byR.J.W. Douglas, 1953

The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

Contents

It takes the name from Mount Rundle (itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the northern side of the mountain in Banff National Park by R.J.W. Douglas in 1953. [2]

Lithology

The Rundle Group consists of massive limestone interbedded with dark argillaceous limestone. Chert nodules are observed in the shaley beds, and crinoids and brachiopods are observed in the clean massive beds. [1] Dolimitization is observed in the Elkton Member of the Turner Valley Formation.

Distribution

The Rundle Group reaches a maximum thickness of 741 feet (230 m) at Tunnel Mountain. It thins out toward east and north and is completely eroded or absent in east central and only the lower part occurs in southern Alberta. [1]

Relationship to other units

The Rundle Group is disconformably overlain by the Rocky Mountain Formation in the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies and by the Fernie Formation in the foothills and by Cretaceous beds in the prairies. It conformably overlies the Banff Formation. [1]

The Rundle Group can be correlated with the Mission Canyon Formation in southern Saskatchewan, northeastern Montana and North Dakota.

Subdivisions

The Rundle Group comprises the Mount Head Formation and Livingstone Formation in the Rocky Mountains; by the Turner Valley Formation, Shunda Formation and Pekisko Formation in the foothills and plains. It is equivalent to the Debolt Formation and Prophet Formation in north-eastern British Columbia and west-northern Alberta. [1] Debolt, Shunda and Pekisko Formations are staked in the Fort Nelson area.

Canadian Rockies

Sub-unit Age LithologyMax.
Thickness
Reference
Mount Head Formation Visean Wileman Member - silty dolomite
Baril Member - ooid grainstone, dolomite
Salter Member - dolomite, boundstone and wackestone, ooid grainstone, anhydrite chert
Loomis Member - massive grainstone
Marston Member - microcrystalline dolomite, boundstone, breccia, ooid limestone, shale, marlstone
Opal Member - grainstone, subordinate marlstone, chert packstone and wackestone, shale, marlstone, breccia
Carnarvon Member - wackestone to packstone, shale interbeds
7.6 m (20 ft)
39 m (130 ft)
67 m (220 ft)
101 m (330 ft)
68 m (220 ft)
161 m (530 ft)
90 m (300 ft)
[3]
Livingstone Formation Tournaisian to Visean crinoidal limestone, massive limestone, thin argillaceous limestone beds, dolomite452 m (1,480 ft) [4]

Foothills and plains

Sub-unit Age LithologyMax.
Thickness
Reference
Turner Valley Formation Visean crinoidal limestone and crystalline dolomite; two porous intervals are separated by a middle tight unit; diagenetically dolomitized in west southern Alberta; Lower porous zone is defined as Elkton Member 110 m (360 ft) [5]
Shunda Formation Tournaisian to Visean argillaceous limestone and dolomite, siltstone, sandstone, shale, breccia, anhydrite 122 m (400 ft) [6]
Pekisko Formation Tournaisian Upper Pekisko - lithographic limestone
Lower Pekisko - massive crinoidal limestone
134 m (440 ft) [7]

Deep basin

Sub-unit Age LithologyMax.
Thickness
Reference
Debolt Formation Meramecian Upper Debolt - crystalline dolomite, anhydrite, micritic limestone
Lower Debolt - cherty bioclastic (crinoidal) limestone, argillaceous in the north
366 m (1,200 ft) [8]
Prophet Formation middle Tournaisian to late Visean chert, skeletal to ooid limestone, shale, marlstone, dolomite760 m (2,490 ft) [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Rundle</span> Mountain in Banff National Park, Canada

Mount Rundle is a mountain in Canada's Banff National Park overlooking the towns of Banff and Canmore, Alberta. The Cree name was Waskahigan Watchi or house mountain. In 1858 John Palliser renamed the mountain after Reverend Robert Rundle, a Methodist invited by the Hudson's Bay Company to do missionary work in western Canada in the 1840s. He introduced syllabics there—a written language developed for the Cree, as part of his missionary work. He only visited the Stoney-Nakoda of the area around what is now called Mount Rundle in 1844 and 1847.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikanassin Formation</span>

The Nikanassin Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Jurassic (Portlandian) to Early Cretaceous (Barremian) age. It is present along the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Its name was first proposed by D.B. Dowling in 1909 (Coal Fields South of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain, Alberta Page 140 paragraph 4 " to this it is proposed to give the name Nikanassin, from the Cree word meaning outer range" Also it is noted on the map by D.B. Dowling.(Geological Survey of Canada. Incorrect info follows: It was named by B.R. MacKay in 1929 for the Nikanassin Range of the front-central ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Mackay did not designate a type locality for the formation, although he described outcrops near the hamlet of Brûlé, north of the Yellowhead Highway outside of Jasper National Park.

The Debolt Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Meramecian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernie Formation</span>

The Fernie Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Jurassic age. It is present in the western part of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the town of Fernie, British Columbia, and was first defined by W.W. Leach in 1914.

The Belloy Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Permian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banff Formation</span>

The Banff Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

The Alberta Group is a stratigraphical unit of Cenomanian to early Campanian age in the Lewis overthrust in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muskiki Formation</span>

The Muskiki Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Late Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palliser Formation</span>

The Palliser Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Devonian (Famennian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is a thick sequence of limestone and dolomitic limestone that is present in the Canadian Rockies and foothills of western Alberta. Tall cliffs formed of the Palliser Formation can be seen throughout Banff and Jasper National Parks.

The Stoddart Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian to Early Pennsylvanian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

The Besa River Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ishbel Group</span>

The Ishbel Group is a stratigraphic unit of Permian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It is present in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. First defined by A. McGugan in 1963, it is named for Mount Ishbel of the Sawback Range in Banff National Park, and parts of the group were first described in the vicinity of the mountain at Ranger Canyon and Johnston Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral Formation</span>

The Cathedral Formation is a stratigraphic unit in the southern Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia, on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is a thick sequence of carbonate rocks of Middle Cambrian age. It was named for Cathedral Mountain in Yoho National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott, the discoverer of the Burgess shale fossils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunnel Mountain Formation</span>

The Tunnel Mountain Formation is a geologic formation that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of western Alberta. Named after Tunnel Mountain near Banff, it was deposited during the Early Pennsylvanian sub-period of the Carboniferous period.

The Sulphur Mountain Formation is a geologic formation of Early to Middle Triassic age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the foothills and Rocky Mountains of western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. It includes marine fossils from the time shortly after the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

The Mount Whyte Formation is a stratigraphic unit that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the southern Canadian Rockies and the adjacent southwestern Alberta plains. It was deposited during Middle Cambrian time and consists of shale interbedded with other siliciclastic rock types and limestones. It was named for Mount Whyte in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott, the discoverer of the Burgess shale fossils, and it includes several genera of fossil trilobites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray River Group</span>

The Spray River Group is a stratigraphic unit of Triassic age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the foothills and Rocky Mountains of western Alberta. It was originally described as the Spray River Formation by E.M. Kindle in 1924 and was later raised to group status. Its type section is located in the Spray River gorge at the southern end of Sulphur Mountain.

The Kananaskis Formation is a geologic formation that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the southern Canadian Rockies of western Alberta. Named after the Kananaskis Range near Banff, it was deposited during the Late Pennsylvanian sub-period of the Carboniferous period. Some of its strata host fossils of marine invertebrates.

The Spray Lakes Group is a stratigraphic unit that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the southern Canadian Rockies, and it comprises the Pennsylvanian-age strata of that region. It was named after the Spray Lakes near Banff, Alberta, and fossils of marine invertebrates are found in some of its strata.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Rundle Group" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  2. Douglas, R.J.W., 1953b. Carboniferous stratigraphy in the southern Foothills of Alberta; Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., 3rd Ann. Field Conf. Guidebook, p. 66–88.
  3. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Mount Head Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  4. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Livingstone Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  5. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Turner Valley Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  6. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Shunda Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  7. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Pekisko Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  8. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Debolt Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  9. Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Prophet Formation" . Retrieved 2009-02-12.