Chapel Island Formation
Sedimentary formation in Newfoundland, Canada
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The Chapel Island Formation is a sedimentary formation from the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. It is a succession of siliciclastic deposits, over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) thick, that were deposited during the latest Ediacaran and earliest Cambrian.
| Chapel Island Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: | |
Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary section at Fortune Head, Newfoundland, in the Chapel Island Formation. The darker units constituting the bottom 2–3 m of the outcrop correspond to Unit 1; the GSSP lies a couple of meters into Unit 2. | |
| Type | Formation |
| Unit of | Young's Cove Group[2] |
| Underlies | Random Fm[3] |
| Overlies | Rencontre Fm[3] |
| Thickness | Hundreds of metres[3] |
| Location | |
| Region | Newfoundland |
| Country | Canada |
 Outcrop distribution in southeast Newfoundland | |
Stratigraphy
The formation's sequence stratigraphy is detailed in a journal article by Myrow and Hiscott.[4] The formation starts in an intertidal zone, then, as the Cambrian progresses, becomes deeper water (outer shelf) as a general trend.
The Chapel Island Formation lies on top of the Rencontre Formation and below the Random Formation.[1] It is 900 metres (3,000 ft) thick in Fortune Bay as a fault-bounded basin, consisting of grey-green siltstones and sandstones, with minor limestone beds near its top. Small shelly fossils have been recovered – primitive taxa only. The setting is nearshore or open shelf.[3]
Subdivisions
The formation is divided into six members, numbered 1 to 5, with Member 2 split into 2A and 2B. The Proterozoic–Cambrian boundary occurs 20.66 metres (67.8 ft) above the base of the formation, 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) into Member 2A.[1]
The lowest occurrence of Treptichnus pedum in the succession is 16.25 metres (53.3 ft) above the base of the unit.[1]
