Skoki Formation
Geologic formation in Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Skoki Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early to Middle Ordovician age that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia.[3] It was named for Skoki Mountain near Lake Louise in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1928.[2] The Skoki Formation is fossiliferous and includes remains of brachiopods and other marine invertebrates, as well as conodonts and oncolites.[1]
| Skoki Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Middle Ordovician ~ | |
| Type | Formation |
| Underlies | Owen Creek Formation |
| Overlies | Outram Formation or Tipperary Quartzite |
| Thickness | Up to 186 metres (610 ft)[1] |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | dolomite |
| Other | Limestone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 51°32′00″N 116°03′39″W |
| Region | Canadian Rockies |
| Country | Canada |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Skoki Mountain |
| Named by | Charles Doolittle Walcott[2] |
Lithology and deposition
The Skoki Formation formed as a shallow marine shelf along the western shoreline of the North American Craton during Early to Middle Ordovician time.[3][4] Most of the original limestone was subsequently altered to dolomite. Many beds include quartz sand and silt, and some include layers of brown argillite.[1]
Distribution and stratigraphic relationships
The Skoki is present in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia. It reaches a thickness of up to 186 metres (610 ft) in the southern Rockies and about 500 metres (1800 ft) in the northern Rockies.[1] It conformably overlies the Outram Formation or the Tipperary Quartzite, depending on the location, and underlies the Owen Creek Formation.[5][1]
Paleontology
The Skoki Formation contains several genera of brachiopods, as well as gastropods, conodonts, cephalopods, trilobites, echinoderms, stromatolites, corals, and oncolites.[1]