Mount Wilson Formation Explained

Mount Wilson Formation
Type:	Formation
Age:	Late Ordovician ~
Prilithology:	Quartz sandstone
Namedfor:	Mount Wilson
Namedby:	C.D. Walcott, 1923^[1]
Region:
Country:	Canada
Coordinates:	52°N -116.75°W
Underlies:	Beaverfoot Formation
Overlies:	Owen Creek Formation or Glenogle Formation
Thickness:	Up to about 450 m (1476 feet)^[2]

The Mount Wilson Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Ordovician age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. It consists of quartz sandstone, and was named for the Mount Wilson in Banff National Park by C.D. Walcott in 1923.^[3]

Lithology and thickness

The Mount Wilson Formation consists of light grey to white, thin- to thick-bedded quartz sandstone that is well-cemented by clear quartz. It reaches a thickness of about 450 m (1476 feet) south of Golden, British Columbia.

Distribution and relationship to other units

The Mount Wilson Formation is present in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. It rests conformably on the Owen Creek Formation in the eastern main ranges and on the Glenogle Formation in the western main ranges, and is overlain by the Beaverfoot Formation.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Walcott, C.D. 1923. Nomenclature of some post-Cambrian and Cambrian Cordillrean formations: Cambrian geology and paleontology, Part 4. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 67, no. 8, p. 457-476.
2. Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba, p. 830. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. .
3. Norford, B.S. 1969. Ordovician and Silurian stratigraphy of the southern Rocky Mountains. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 176.
4. Web site: Alberta Geological Survey . Alberta Table of Formations, May 2019 . Alberta Energy Regulator . 24 March 2020.