Type Locality:

California Steen River 2-22-117-5W6M, 32 km (20 mi) north of Zama Lake, Alberta, between 1,357 and 1,376 m (4,452 and 4,513 ft). The entire section was cored.

Distribution:

The formation is 19 m (61 ft) thick in the type well. The maximum thickness north of the Peace River Arch is 74.4 m (244 ft). To the north the sandstones form a wedge which thins away from the arch and pinches out in a distance of 130 km (80 mi) in the Nipisi area southeast of the arch the Watt Mountain is up to 29 m (95 ft) thick. The sandstones thin and pinch out to the south and east of the Peace River Arch and east of the West Alberta Ridge. Beyond the pinchout of the sandstones the Watt Mountain consists largely of green shale, limestone breccia, anhydrite and dolomite that is present widely in Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and Southern District of Mackenzie.

Locality Data:

WELL 100022211705W600; CHEVRON ZAMA 2-22-117-5. Thickness(m): Minimum 0, Maximum 74.4, Typical 19. Interval(m): From 1357, To 1376.

Lithology:

The Watt Mountain Formation consists of red and green shales, sandstones, limestone breccia, anhydrite, dolomite and limestone. The sandstones are coarse grained and arkosic near the Peace River Arch and the West Alberta Ridge, and become fine-grained and texturally and mineralogically more mature into the basin.

Relationship:

The Watt Mountain Formation was considered by Law (1955a) to be the uppermost unit of the Elk Point Group. In central to northern Alberta the Watt Mountain overlies the Muskeg Formation. In most places the contact is sharp and unconformable. In northern Alberta and the southern District of Mackenzie the Watt Mountain sharply over lies the Sulphur Point Formation. The Watt Mountain is conformably overlain by the Fort Vermilion Member of the Slave Point Formation. Crawford (1972) postulated a partial correlation between lower parts of the Slave Point Formation and uppermost green shales of the Watt Mountain Formation near the Peace River Arch. The Watt Mountain is stratigraphically equivalent to the First Red Beds in Saskatchewan.

Other Citations:

Belyea, 1971; Crawford, 1972; Kramers and Lerbekmo, 1967; Law, 1955; Rottenfusser and Oliver, 1977.

References:

Crawford, F.D., 1972. Facies analysis and depositional environments of the Middle Devonian Fort Vermilion and Slave Point Formations of northern Alberta; University of Calgary, Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, 99 p.

Law, James, 1955a. Geology of northwestern Alberta and adjacent areas; American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Bulletin of the AAPG, vol. 39, no. 10 (October), pp. 1927-1975.