Skoki Formation

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Skoki Formation
Stratigraphic range: Middle Ordovician ~485–470  Ma
Type Formation
Underlies Owen Creek Formation
Overlies Outram Formation or Tipperary Quartzite
ThicknessUp to 186 metres (610 ft) [1]
Lithology
Primary dolomite
Other Limestone
Location
Coordinates 51°32′00″N116°03′39″W / 51.53333°N 116.06083°W / 51.53333; -116.06083 (Skoki Formation)
Region Canadian Rockies
Country Canada
Type section
Named for Skoki Mountain
Named by Charles Doolittle Walcott [2]

The Skoki Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early to Middle Ordovician age that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. [3] It was named for Skoki Mountain near Lake Louise in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1928. [2] The Skoki Formation is fossiliferous and includes remains of brachiopods and other marine invertebrates, as well as conodonts and oncolites. [1]

Contents

Lithology and deposition

The Skoki Formation formed as a shallow marine shelf along the western shoreline of the North American Craton during Early to Middle Ordovician time. [3] [4] Most of the original limestone was subsequently altered to dolomite. Many beds include quartz sand and silt, and some include layers of brown argillite. [1]

Distribution and stratigraphic relationships

The Skoki is present in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. It reaches a thickness of up to 186 metres (610 ft) in the southern Rockies and about 500 metres (1800 ft) in the northern Rockies. [1] It conformably overlies the Outram Formation or the Tipperary Quartzite, depending on the location, and underlies the Owen Creek Formation. [5] [1]

Paleontology

The Skoki Formation contains several genera of brachiopods, as well as gastropods, conodonts, cephalopods, trilobites, echinoderms, stromatolites, corals, and oncolites. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. ISBN   0-920230-23-7.
  2. 1 2 Walcott, C.D. 1928. Pre-Devonian Paleozoic formations of the Cordilleran Provinces of Canada; Part 5. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 75, no. 5, p. 175-368.
  3. 1 2 Slind, O.L., Andrews, G.D., Murray, D.L., Norford, B.S., Paterson, D.F., Salas, C.J., and Tawadros, E.E., Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Geological Survey (1994). "The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (Mossop, G.D. and Shetsen, I., compilers), Chapter 8: Middle Cambrian and Early Ordovician Strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin" . Retrieved 2018-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Aitken, J.D. 1966. Middle Cambrian to Middle Ordovician cyclic sedimentation, southern Rocky Mountains of Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 14, no. 6, p. 405-441.
  5. ↑ Alberta Geological Survey, 2013. "Alberta Table of Formations; Alberta Energy Regulator" . Retrieved 1 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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