Unit Name: Dowling Member, Wapiabi Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Member
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Late Cretaceous (99.6 - 65.5 ma)
Age Justification: Characteristic fauna include Inoceramus cordifomis Sowerby and Scaphites (Clioscaphites) cf. S. (C) vermiformis of Santonian age. Microfauna were identified by Wall and Germundson (1963).
Province/Territory: Alberta

Originator: Stott, 1963.

Type Locality:
On Thistle Creek, Alberta Foothills, Sec. 17, Twp. 44, Rge. 20W5M.

Distribution:
Recognized throughout the foothills, but most easily defined where the underlying Marshybank siltstone forms a prominent base. The thickness is fairly uniform in a northwest-southwest direction, but decreases markedly across the foothills. The member is 107 m (351 ft) thick in the type region, but to the east is only 30.5 m (100 ft) thick.

Lithology:
Dark grey to black, rusty weathering, rubbly to blocky mudstone with some thin, platy siltstone. Large reddish brown weathering concretions commonly occur in rows.

Relationship:
The contact at the lower boundary with the Marshybank Member of the Wapiabi is conformable. The upper contact with the Thistle Member is conformable, drawn where the mudstone becomes calcareous upwards and sideritic concretions disappear in an upward direction. The member is recognized within the Puskwaskau Formation of northeastern British Columbia and at the type locality of the Smoky Group on the lower Smoky River in Alberta.

Other Citations:
Stott, 1967b.

References:
Stott, D.F., 1963. The Cretaceous Alberta Group and equivalent rocks, Rocky Mountain Foothills, Alberta. Geol. Surv. Can., Memoir 317.
Stott, D.F., 1967b. The Cretaceous Smoky Group, Rocky Mountain Foothills, Alberta and British Columbia; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 132.
Wall, J.H. and Germundson, R.K., 1963. Microfaunas, megafaunas, and rock-stratigraphic units in the Alberta Group (Cretaceous) of the Rocky Mountain Foothills; Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol., vol. 11, no. 4.

Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: D.F. Stott
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 17 Nov 2009