Unit Name: Bad Heart Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Coniacian (89.3 - 85.8 ma)
Age Justification: A very prolific fauna of Scaphites, lnoceramus stantoni and Pinna indicates clean marine environment of deposition and an age of Late Coniacian to Early Santonian.
Province/Territory: Alberta
Originator: McLearn, F.H., 1919.
Type Locality:
Cliffs along the Smoky River from below Puskwaskau River to Little Smoky River, Alberta; Bad Heart Creek (55 deg 28'40"N, 118 deg 12'-117 deg 38'W).
Distribution:
The Bad Heart varies from 1.5 to 8 m (5 to 26 ft) thick in the type area. Found in the Peace River area of northern Alberta.
Lithology:
Medium- to coarse-grained marine sandstone, weathering dark red in most exposures. Individual quartz grains are mostly clear and subangular. Ironstone concretions are common and some interbedded sandy shale is found. Marine fossils are numerous and bands of chert pebbles are present. North of Hines Creek, in the Clear Hills region this formation carries sedimentary oolitic iron deposits of subcommercial level.
Relationship:
The Bad Heart is conformable with both the overlying Puskwaskau and the underlying Kaskapau formations, pinching out toward the east and changing to iron-formation in the Clear Hills. It is approximately equivalent to the base of the First White Specks marker bed of the Colorado Group and may be correlated (Stott, 1967) with the Marshybank Member of the Wapiabi Formation of the central and northern Alberta Foothills. It is correlated with part of the Kotaneelee Formation of the Liard drainage and with part of the Labiche Formation of northeastern Alberta.
Other Citations:
Gleddie, 1949; McLearn, 1919, 1926; Rutherford, 1930.
References:
McLearn, F.H., 1919. "Cretaceous, Lower Smoky River, Alberta"; Geological Survey of Canada, Summary Report 1918, Part C, pp. 1-7.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: C.R. Stelck
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 12 Mar 2009