Unit Name: Lodgepole Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Kinderhookian (359.2 - 348 ma)
Province/Territory: Manitoba; Saskatchewan; Montana; North Dakota; South Dakota
Originator: Collier, A.J. and Cathcart, S.H., 1922.
Type Locality:
Named after Lodgepole Creek, in Little Chief Canyon, 4 km (2.5 mi) south of the Lodgepole Subagency, Ft. Belknap Indian Reservation, Little Rocky Mountains, Montana.
Distribution:
Occurs in central and the east half of Montana, southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and North and South Dakota. The type section is 174 m (571 ft) thick. Thicknesses vary from 90 to 245 m (295 to 804 ft).
Lithology:
Thinly bedded throughout, the lower portion consisting of light to dark grey lime mudstones with thin black shale partings, as well as numerous chert beds. In the subsurface east of the type section this interval commonly consists of alternating laminae of bitumen-rich and bitumen-deficient lime mudstone. The upper portion generally is fossiliferous and in outcrop is red or purplish red.
Relationship:
The Lodgepole Formation is equivalent to all of the Banff of the plains, and is equivalent to and proposed as the name for the lower member or the Banff in the foothills. In most areas in Canada it is underlain by either the Bakken or the Exshaw formation.
Other Citations:
Collier and Cathcart, 1922; Hadley et al., 1953; Knechtel, 1959; Moore, 1958; Nordquist, 1953; Penner, 1958; Smith, 1977; Wilson, 1969.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: D.M. Kent
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 20 Mar 2007