Spray Lakes Group

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Spray Lakes Group
Stratigraphic range: Pennsylvanian
Type Group
Sub-units Kananaskis Formation
Tunnel Mountain Formation
Underlies Ishbel Group
Overlies Rundle Group
ThicknessMore than 600 metres
(2000 ft) [1]
Lithology
Primary dolomite, limestone
Other Sandstone, quartzite, chert
Location
Coordinates 50°48′24.1″N115°15′47.9″W / 50.806694°N 115.263306°W / 50.806694; -115.263306 (Spray Lakes Group)
RegionFlag of Alberta.svg  Alberta
CountryFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Type section
Named for Spray Lakes, Alberta
Named byA. McGugan and J.E. Rapson, 1963 [2]

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. [3] It was named after the Spray Lakes near Banff, Alberta, [1] and fossils of marine invertebrates are found in some of its strata. [4]

Contents

Stratigraphy and lithology

The Spray Lakes Group comprises the quartzose sandstones of the Tunnel Mountain Formation and its equivalents in the lower part, and the dolomites and limestones of the Kananaskis Formation in the upper part. It is unconformably overlain by the Permian-age strata of the Ishbel Group, and underlain by the Late Mississippian strata of the Rundle Group. [1]

Thickness and distribution

The Spray Lakes Group is present in the southern Canadian Rockies and reaches a maximum thickness of more than 600 metres (2000 feet) in the westernmost front ranges. [1]

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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.

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.

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

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

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

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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. It was named for Skoki Mountain near Lake Louise in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1928. The Skoki Formation is fossiliferous and includes remains of brachiopods and other marine invertebrates, as well as conodonts and oncolites.

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.

The Kootenay Group, originally called the Kootenay Formation, is a geologic unit of latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southern and central Canadian Rockies and foothills. It includes economically important deposits of high-rank bituminous and semi-anthracite coal, as well as plant fossils and dinosaur trackways.

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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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pika Formation</span> Geologic formation in Canada

The Pika Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Middle Cambrian age that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. It was named for Pika Peak near Lake Louise in Banff National Park by C.F. Deiss in 1939. It is fossiliferous and preserves several genera of trilobites. Outcrops of the Pika Formation can be seen in Banff and Jasper National Parks.

The Arctomys Formation is a stratigraphic unit of late Middle Cambrian age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. It was named for Arctomys Peak near Mount Erasmus in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1920. Outcrops of the Arctomys can be seen in Banff and Jasper National Parks.


The Owen Creek Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Middle Ordovician age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. It consists primarily of dolomite and was named for Owen Creek near Mount Wilson in Banff National Park by B.S. Norford in 1969.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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. McGugan, A. and Rapson, J.E. 1963. Permian stratigraphy and nomenclature, western Alberta and adjacent regions. Edmonton Geological Society, 5th Annual Field Trip Guidebook, p. 52-64.
  3. Richards, B.C., Barclay, J.E., Bryan, D., Hartling, A., Henderson, C.M., and Hinds, R.C., 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 14: Carboniferous Strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin" . Retrieved 2018-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. McGugan, A. and Rapson, J.E. 1979. Pennsylvanian and Permian biostratigraphy, micropaleontology, petrography and diagenesis, Kananaskis valley, Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 27, no. 4, p. 405-417.