Unit Name: Mowitch Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Roadian - Wordian (270.6 - 265.8 ma)
Age Justification: Contains Neospirifer, Lingula, shell, fish and bone fragments east of the headwaters to the south fork of Sulphur River.
Province/Territory: Alberta; British Columbia

Originator: McGugan, A. and Rapson, J.E., 1963b, p. 56.

Type Locality:
In a divide between Mowitch and Deer Creek headwaters, Jasper area, Alberta (Sec. 60, McGugan and Rapson, 1961a; Sec. 114, McGugan et al., 1964) (53 deg 22'N, 118 deg 32'W).

Distribution:
30 m (98 ft) at the type sections Thickness variable over area of occurrence, from 76 m (249 ft) at Winnifred Pass (Sec. 125, McGugan et al., 1964) to 6 m (20 ft) east of Blue Creek (Sec. 118, McGugan et al., 1964). Absent in the foothills subsurface. Recognized from the Athabasca Valley east of Jasper as equivalent to upper member of the Greenock Formation (obsolete), north to the Wapiti-Belcourt area (Sec. 136-146, McGugan et al., 1964).

Lithology:
Brown weathering sandstone, fine- to coarse-grained, thick- to thin-bedded, often calcareous, with grains of glauconite, phosphate and wind-blown gypsum. Contains silicified carbonate patches and bedded lenticular chert. Pebble beds and coarse sandstones contain fish remains. At some localities difficult to separate from underlying Ranger Canyon Formation. Top bed usually black sandstone with phosphate nodules.

History:
McGugan and Rapson (1961a) recognized a sandstone unit in the Jasper area which was named rock unit 2 and correlated it with the upper member of the Greenock Formation (Brown, 1952). Unit 2 was named the Mowitch Formation by McGugan and Rapson (1963b) when the Ishbel Formation was raised to group status.

Other Citations:
Brown, 1952; Henderson, 1989; Henderson et al., in press; McGugan and Rapson, 1961a, 1963b; McGugan et al., 1964; Norris, 1965; Sutherland, 1958.

Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: C.M. Henderson; A. McGugan
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 27 May 2004