Wapiti Formation

Wapiti Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian–Maastrichtian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone
Other	conglomerate, coal
Location
Region	Alberta
Country	Canada
Type section
Named for	Lower part of Wapiti River
Named by	G.M. Dawson, 1881. [1]

The Wapiti Formation is a geological formation of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in northwestern Alberta, and northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Its deposition spanned the time interval from the upper Campanian through to the lower Maastrichtian, between approximately 80 and 68 Ma. ^{[2] [3]} It was named by G.M. Dawson in 1881, ^[1] presumably for exposures along the lower part of the Wapiti River and downstream along the Smoky River in Alberta. ^[4]

Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the Cretaceous portion of the formation. ^{[5] [6]} The Wapiti Formation does not produce many fossils due to its limited surface exposure and accessibility, although two Pachyrhinosaurus bone beds have been productive. ^[7] Plant fossils and trace fossils have been unearthed here too. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Lithology

The Wapiti Formation consists of interbedded sandstones, siltstones, shales and mudstones, with thin conglomerates, coal seams and bentonite beds. The sandstones are typically thick, pale grey, crossbedded and bentonitic. The middle part contains less sandstones, more mudstones, and fewer and thinner coals. The upper part contains thicker lenticular sandstones and more coals. ^[4]

Depositional environment

The Wapiti Formation was deposited in inland fluvial and floodplain environments, with local areas of lacustrine sediments. ^[11] The sandstones were deposited mainly in fluvial channel environments, with siltstones, carbonaceous shales and coals accumulating in overbank settings.

Thickness and Distribution

The Wapiti Formation rests conformably on the marine shales of the Smoky Group. It is more than 1,300 m (4,300 ft) thick in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies in the west, ^[11] and it thins eastward to its erosional edge. ^[12] It is correlative with the entire sequence of the Belly River Group, Bearpaw Formation, Edmonton Group and Scollard Formation in south-central Alberta. ^[11] In most areas it is unconformably overlain by glacial and post-glacial sediments of Quaternary age, or exposed at surface. In a few upland areas it is unconformably overlain by Paleogene gravel deposits. ^[4]

Vertebrate paleofauna

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Indeterminate ankylosaurids, albertosaurines, pachycephalosaurids, ornithomimids, and saurolophines are known from Alberta. ^{[13] [14]} Corythosaurus is also known from the formation. ^[15]

Dinosaurs of the Wapiti Formation
Genus	Species	Location	Member	Material	Notes	Images
cf. Albertosaurus [16]	Indeterminate	British Columbia		Teeth
cf. Gorgosaurus [17]	Indeterminate	Alberta		Teeth
Bellatoripes	B. fredlundi	Alberta	Unit 4	Three trackways and an isolated print.	Footprints of large tyrannosaurids.
cf. Haenamichnus [18]	cf. H. isp.	Alberta	Unit 4	An isolated track.	Footprint of large azhdarchid pterosaur.
Boreonykus [19]	B. certekorum	Alberta	Unit 3			Boreonykus certekorum
Troodon [20]	Indeterminate	Alberta	Units 3 and 4 [21]	Teeth; probable troodontid footprints are also known [21]
Edmontosaurus [22]	Edmontosaurus regalis	Alberta	Unit 4			Edmontosaurus regalis
Hadrosauridae nov. tax. [16]	sp. nov.	British Columbia			A new taxon of hadrosaurid.
Pachyrhinosaurus [14]	P. lakustai	Alberta				Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai
Richardoestesia [13]	R. gilmorei	Alberta
Saurornitholestes [13]	S. sp.	Alberta

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing stratigraphic units

References

1. Dawson, G.M. 1881. Report on the exploration from Simpson on the Pacific coast to Edmonton on the Saskatchewan River, embracing a portion of the northern part of Brisish Columbia and the Peace River country. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress 1879-1880, Part B, p. 1-77.
2. Fowler, Denver Warwick (2017-11-22). "Revised geochronology, correlation, and dinosaur stratigraphic ranges of the Santonian-Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) formations of the Western Interior of North America". PLOS ONE. 12 (11): e0188426. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1288426F. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188426 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5699823 . PMID   29166406.
3. Fanti, Federico; Catuneanu, Octavian (April 2009). "Stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta, Canada" . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 46 (4): 263–286. Bibcode:2009CaJES..46..263F. doi:10.1139/E09-020. ISSN   0008-4077.
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.
5. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Late Cretaceous, North America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 574-588. ISBN   0-520-24209-2.
6. Carter, Nicholas (2018-11-06). "Fossil Predators of the Wapiti Formation". Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
7. Ryan, M. J., and A. P. Russell, 2001, Dinosaurs of Alberta (exclusive of Aves), in: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and K. Carpenter, Indiana University Press, pp. 279–297 ISBN   978-0253339072
8. Enriquez, Nathan J.; Campione, Nicolás E.; White, Matt A.; Fanti, Federico; Sissons, Robin L.; Sullivan, Corwin; Vavrek, Matthew J.; Bell, Phil R. (2022-02-02). "The dinosaur tracks of Tyrants Aisle: An Upper Cretaceous ichnofauna from Unit 4 of the Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian), Alberta, Canada". PLOS ONE. 17 (2): e0262824. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1762824E. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262824 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   8809565 . PMID   35108301.
9. Kimitsuki, Ryusuke; Rodriguez, Maria; Sullivan, Corwin; Zonneveld, John-Paul; Sissons, Robin; Bell, Phil R.; Campione, Nicolás E.; Fanti, Federico; Gingras, Murray K. (2024-10-01). "Enigmatic vertebrate swimming trace fossils from the Wapiti Formation, Alberta, Canada, and their implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction" . Ichnos. 31 (4): 275–292. Bibcode:2024Ichno..31..275K. doi:10.1080/10420940.2024.2371971. ISSN   1042-0940.
10. Fanti, Federico; Miyashita, Tetsuto (May 2009). "A high latitude vertebrate fossil assemblage from the Late Cretaceous of west-central Alberta, Canada: evidence for dinosaur nesting and vertebrate latitudinal gradient". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2024-12-01. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
11. Mossop, G.D. and Shetsen, I., (compilers), Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (1994). "The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Chapter 24: Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin". Archived from the original on 2013-07-21. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
12. Prior, G. J., Hathaway, B., Glombick, P.M., Pana, D.I., Banks, C.J., Hay, D.C., Schneider, C.L., Grobe, M., Elgr, R., and Weiss, J.A. (2013). "Bedrock Geology of Alberta. Alberta Geological Survey, Map 600" . Retrieved 2013-08-13.
13. Fanti, Federico; Miyashita, Tetsuto (2009-05-01). "A high latitude vertebrate fossil assemblage from the Late Cretaceous of west-central Alberta, Canada: evidence for dinosaur nesting and vertebrate latitudinal gradient" (PDF). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 275 (1): 37–53. Bibcode:2009PPP...275...37F. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.007. ISSN   0031-0182.^{[ dead link ]}
14. Currie, P.J., Langston, W., and Tanke, D.H. (2008). "A new species of Pachyrhinosaurus (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada." pp. 1-108. In: Currie, P.J., Langston, W., and Tanke, D.H. 2008. A New Horned Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Bone Bed in Alberta. NRC Research Press, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 144 pp. ISBN   978-0-660-19819-4
15. Campione, Nicolás; Bell, Phil R.; Fanti, Federico; Sullivan, Corvin; Vavrek, Matthew J. (2018). "A JUVENILE CORYTHOSAUR (LAMBEOSAURINAE) FROM THE WAPITI FORMATION OF WESTERN ALBERTA, CANADA". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts. 38.
16. Reid, Ian J. (2016). "A review of dinosaurian body fossils from British Columbia, Canada". PeerJ Preprints. doi: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.1369v3 .
17. Bamforth, E.L.; Vavrek, M.; Sullivan, C.; Sissons, R.L.; Sweder, J.; Campione, N.E.; Fanti, F.; Bell, P.R. Deadfall Hills: A New Edmontosaurus sp. Bonebed from Northwest Alberta's Late Cretaceous Wapiti Formation, With Implications for Boreal Hadrosaurid Diversity. Canadian Paleontology Conference Proceedings No. 18.
18. Bell, P.R.; Fanti, F.; Sissons, R. (2013). "A possible pterosaur manus track from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta". Lethaia. 46 (2): 274–279. doi:10.1111/let.12006.
19. Bell, Phil R.; Currie, Philip J. (2016-01-02). "A high-latitude dromaeosaurid, Boreonykus certekorum, gen. et sp. nov. (Theropoda), from the upper Campanian Wapiti Formation, west-central Alberta". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (1): e1034359. Bibcode:2016JVPal..36E4359B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1034359. ISSN   0272-4634. S2CID   131680329.
20. F. Fanti and T. Miyashita. 2009. A high latitude vertebrate fossil assemblage from the Late Cretaceous of west-central Alberta, Canada: evidence for dinosaur nesting and vertebrate latitudinal gradient. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 275(1-4):37-53
21. N. J. Enriquez, N. E. Campione, C. Sullivan, M. Vavrek, R. L. Sissons, M. A. White and P. R. Bell. 2020. Probable deinonychosaur tracks from the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada. Geological Magazine (in press). doi:10.1017/S0016756820001247
22. Bell, Phil R.; Fanti, Federico; Acorn, John; Sissons, Robin S. (January 2013). "Fossil Mayfly Larvae (Ephemeroptera, cf. Heptageniidae) from the Late Cretaceous Wapiti Formation, Alberta, Canada" (PDF). Journal of Paleontology. 87 (1): 147–150. Bibcode:2013JPal...87..147B. doi:10.1666/12-058R.1. ISSN   0022-3360. S2CID   128944375.^{[ dead link ]}