Type Locality:

The type section is in Anglo Canadian Wabamun Lake No. 1 well, in 5-10-51-4W5M, Alberta, between 1,748.0 and 1,919.3 m (5,735 and 6,297 ft).

Distribution:

The thickness varies from zero to 240 m (787 ft). From the wedge-edge in east-central Alberta, where it is truncated at the post-Paleozoic erosional surface the Wabamun increases in thickness westward towards the foothills. It is present throughout the Alberta Plains subsurface. The term has been used interchangeably with the Palliser Formation in foothills fields as far south as Waterton.

Locality Data:

WELL 100051005104W500; WABAMUN NO.1. Thickness(m): Minimum 0, Maximum 240. Interval(m): From 1748, To 1919.3.

Lithology:

The group consists of dolomitic limestones and calcareous dolomites, with the limestones predominating in the upper part of the formation and dolomites in the middle and lower parts. Appreciable interbedded anhydrite occurs, which forms a prominent zone near the base of the formation in some areas (Leduc field). In the Stettler area and southeastward halite maybe interbedded with these anhydrites. In a trend from Olds south to Okotoks interbedded anhydrite and dolomite occur in both the upper and lower portion of the group, with the variably porous Crossfield Member dolomites occurring in between. In northwestern Alberta the Wabamun is wholly limestone. Brecciation, secondary anhydrite and calcite veining are common. At the upper contact with the Exshaw the limestone may be highly pyritic.

Relationship:

In the Stettler area of Alberta the Wabamun was divided by Wonfor and Andrichuk (1956) into the Big Valley and Stettler formations. The Wabamun Group rests on dolomitic and anhydritic siltstones of the Graminia Formation of the Winterburn Group. In the western and southern parts of the area, where erosion has not removed the Mississippian beds the Wabamun is disconformably overlain by bituminous shales of the Exshaw Format on, elsewhere it is overlain by sandstones and shales of the Lower Cretaceous Blairmore or Mannville Group. The Wabamun is correlative with the middle part of the Three Forks Formation of Montana, with the Palliser Formation of the Rocky Mountains, and with the Kotcho and Tetcho formations of the northeastern British Columbia, which lose their identity westward into shales of the Besa River Formation.

History:

The Wabamun was originally described as the "D-1 zone" (and included the upper part of the "anhydrite zone" in the Leduc field from the Imperial Leduc No. 3 well, in 10-26-50-26W4M (Layer et al., 1949). Later the unit was named the Wabamun Formation (Imperial Oil Staff, 1950) and raised to group status (Wonfor and Andrichuk, 1956).

Other Citations:

Andrichuk, 1960; Belyea, 1964; Imperial Oil Staff, 1950; Layer et al., 1949; Link, 1949; Macqueen and Sandberg, 1970; Mound, 1967; Wonfor and Andrichuk, 1956.

References:

Imperial Oil Limited, Geological Staff, Western Division, 1950. Devonian nomenclature in Edmonton area, Alberta, Canada. Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., v. 34, p. 1807-1825.

Layer, D.B. and Members of Staff, Imperial Oil Ltd., 1949. Leduc oil field, Alberta, a Devonian coral reef discovery. Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol Geol., v. 33, p. 572-602.

Wonfor, J.S. and Andrichuk, J.M., 1956. The Wabamun Group in the Stettler area; J. Alberta Petrol. Geol., vol .4, pp. 99-111.