Ghost River Formation Explained

Ghost River Formation
Type:	Formation (abandoned)
Age:	Cambrian to Middle Devonian
Namedfor:	Ghost River
Namedby:	C.D. Walcott, 1923
Country:	Canada
Coordinates:	51.7333°N -115.725°W
Thickness:	87m (285feet)

The Ghost River Formation is a now-abandoned name for a geologic formation that encompassed Cambrian to Middle Devonian strata in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Alberta, Canada.^[1] It was established by C.D. Walcott in 1923.^[2] The name was abandoned because of uncertainty about the age of the strata that it encompassed.^[3]

The type section of the Ghost River Formation contained strata that are now subdivided into several Cambrian formations, unconformably overlain by Middle Devonian strata now assigned to the Yahatinda Formation. The latter are contained in a channel eroded into the Cambrian rocks and include a variety of plant fossils and remains of fresh water fish.^[4]

See also

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Alberta

Notes and References

1. Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. .
2. Walcott, C.D. 1923. Nomenclature of some post-Cambrian and Cambrian Cordilleran formations: Cambrian geology and paleontology, Part 4. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, v. 75, p. 1-51.
3. Aitken, J.D. 1963. Ghost River type section. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, v. 11, p. 267-287.
4. McGregor, D.C. 1963. Paleobotanical evidence for the age of basal Devonian strata at Ghost River, Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 11, no. 3, p. 267-287.