Unit Name: Covey Hill Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Late Cambrian (497 - 485.4 ma)
Province/Territory: Ontario; Quebec
Originator: Clark, 1966.
Distribution:
Covey Hill, 20 miles long north of the international border and from 6 miles wide from north to south at its eastern end to 3 miles wide at the southwestern corner of the area, is occupied exclusively by the Covey Hill Formation. In addition, Covey Hill beds occur in five inliers, the best exposed of which is along the banks of Anglais (English) river below the bridge at Saint-Crysostome (Clark, 1966).
Lithology:
It is comprised of conglomeritic beds, massive arkosic sandstones as well as impure quartz-rich sandstones. The conglomerate pebbles are quartz and measure up to 2.5 cm in diameter. The sandstones contain grains of feldspar and dark opaque minerals. The colour ranges from white to reddish brown through to buff or pink; some beds are greenish (Globensky, et al., 1993).
Fossils:
No fossils found.
Relationship:
The Covey Hill Formation underlies the Cairnside formation and both are part of the Potsdam Group (Hersi and Lavoie, 2000).
History:
The Potsdam Group as defined by Clark (1966, 1972a) consisted of the Covey Hill and Châteauguay formations with further subdivisions into members. The Covey Hill Formation of Clark was used by Hofmann (1972), Lewis (1971) and Globensky (1981) (Hersi and Lavoie, 2000).
References:
Clark, T.H., 1966. Châteauguay Area, Québec Department of Natural Resources, Geological Report 122, 63 p.
Globensky, Y., et.al., 1993. Lexique stratigraphique Canadien, vol. V-B, Région des Appalaches, des Basses Terres Saint Laurent et des Iles des Madeleine, Ministère de l'Énergie et des Ressources du Québec, DV 91-23.
Hersi, O. and Lavoie, D., 2000. Lithostratigraphic revision of the Upper Cambrian Cairnside Formation, upper Potsdam Group, southwestern Quebec; Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research (Online) no. 2000-D4, 8 pages.
Hofmann, H.J., 1972. Stratigraphy of the Montreal area; 24th International Geological Congress, Montréal, Quebec; Excursion Guidebook B-03, 34 p.
Lewis, D.W., 1965. Cambrian (Pre-Beekmantown Sedimentation in Southwestern Quebec, with Special Reference to Three Deep Wells near Montreal. Canadian Mining Journal, v.86, no. 10, p.115 [Ph.D. Thesis Abstract, Thesis is available in Redpath Library, McGill University]
Lewis, D.W., 1971. Qualitative petrographic interpretation of Potsdam sandstone (Cambrian), southwestern Quebec; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 8, p. 858-882.
Source: GSC file of geological names; T.E. Bolton and J. Dougherty (compiler)
Contributor: A.A. Coyne; Kimberly NG; Michael Pashulka
Entry Reviewed: No
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 06 Sep 2018