Southesk Formation

The Southesk Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Devonian (late Frasnian) age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Rocky Mountains and foothills of Alberta and southeastern British Columbia. It was named for the Southesk River in Jasper National Park by D.J. McLaren in 1955.[2]

Southesk Formation Stratigraphic range: late Frasnian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Formation
Unit of	Fairholme Group
Sub-units	Ronde Member Arcs Member Grotto Member Peechee Member
Underlies	Sassenach Formation, Alexo Formation, Palliser Formation, or Crowfoot Formation
Overlies	Cairn Formation, or Borsato Formation
Thickness	Up to about 300 m (1000 feet)[1]
Lithology
Primary	Dolomite
Other	Limestone
Location
Coordinates	52°38′00″N 116°58′00″W
Region	Alberta  British Columbia
Country	Canada
Type section
Named for	Southesk River
Named by	D.J. McLaren, 1955.[2]

The formation consists primarily of dolomite[1] and it preserves fossils of marine animals such as stromatoporoids and rugose corals.[2]

Lithology and thickness

The Southesk Formation was deposited in reefal environments.[3] It is commonly between 150 and 260 m (490 and 850 feet) thick, and reaches a maximum of about 300 m (1000 feet) in the Flathead area of southeastern British Columbia.[1] It has been subdivided into four members, shown in descending order below.[1]

Member	Lithology	Max. Thickness	Fossils	Reference
Ronde Member	limestone & silty limestone; present only in limited areas	55 m (180 ft)	not fossiliferous	Glass, p. 1006[1]
Arcs Member	light grey, medium-bedded, medium-crystalline dolomite	74 m (240 ft)	minor branching stromatoporoids, foraminifera, & algae	Glass, p. 62[1]
Grotto Member	thick- to thin-bedded, dark brown to grey, variably argillaceous dolomite	67 m (220 ft)	branching stromatoporoids; tabulate corals	Glass, p. 533[1]
Peechee Member	massive, light grey, medium- to coarse-crystalline dolomite; minor limestone & anhydrite	300 m (980 ft)	bulbous & branching stromatoporoids; tabulate corals	Glass, p. 915[1]

Distribution and relationship to other units

The Southesk Formation is discontinuously present in the Canadian Rockies from Jasper National Park to the Flathead area of southeastern British Columbia. It is also present in the subsurface beneath the adjacent plains to the east. It conformably overlies the Cairn Formation or, in the Crows Nest Pass area, the Borsato Formation. At its margins it may interfinger with the Perdrix and Mount Hawk Formations. In the mountains it is unconformably overlain by the Sassenach, the Alexo or, rarely, the Palliser Formation. It is overlain by the Crowfoot Formation in the plains.[1][4]

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Alberta

References

1. Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba, p. 1094. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. ISBN 0-920230-23-7.
2. Devonian formations in the Alberta Rocky Mountains between Bow and Athabasca rivers. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 35.
3. Weissenberger, J.A.W. and McIlreath, I.A. 1989. Southesk Cairn reef complex, Upper Devonian (Frasnian), Alberta. In: Reefs: Canada and adjacent areas, H.H.J. Geldsetzer, N.P. James and G.E. Tobbutt (eds.), Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 13, p. 535-542.
4. Alberta Geological Survey. "Alberta Table of Formations, May 2019" (PDF). Alberta Energy Regulator. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

• Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.