Mount Cap formation
Geologic formation in Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mount Cap Formation is a geologic formation exposed in the Mackenzie Mountains, northern Canada. It was deposited in a shallow shelf setting in the late Early Cambrian,[1] and contains an array of Burgess Shale-type microfossils that have been recovered by acid maceration.[2]
| Mount Cap Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Cambrian | |
| Type | Formation |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Shale, siltstone |
| Other | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 63°24′23″N 123°12′22″W |
| Region | Northwest Territories |
| Country | Canada |
  Mount Cap formation (Canada) | |
Description
The formation is 100 to 300 metres (330 to 980 ft), and comprises shales, siltstones and sandstones with a high glauconite content.[1] It has been exposed to remarkably little metamorphic activity given its great age; it is dated to the Bonnia–Olenellus Trilobite Zone.[1] This zone lies within the Lower Cambrian Waucoban stage in North America, which is equivalent to the Caerfai in Wales, and thus the Comley of England,[3] and has yet to be formally ratified. Nevertheless, this makes it just younger than the earliest trilobites,[dubious – discuss] and thus the earliest known Burgess Shale-type deposit, though this is disputable when considering the age of Chengjiang County fauna. Its organic-walled fauna, known as the "Little Bear biota", includes both non-mineralized and originally-mineralized taxa, including hyolith and trilobite fragments, anomalocaridid claws, arthropod carapaces and brachiopods.[4]
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