Unit Name: Esbataottine Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: late Chazyan - Rocklandian (462.4 - 458 ma)
Age Justification: The formation is richly fossiliferous. Fossils include trilobites, brachiopods ostracodes, bryozoans and conodonts.
Province/Territory: Northwest Territories
Originator: Ludvigsen, 1975.
Type Locality:
Esbataottine Mountain, Sunblood Range, District of Mackenzie, 61°43'30"N, 125°56'W.
Distribution:
Southern Mackenzie Mountains (Whittaker Range, Manetoe Range, Sunblood Range, Thundercloud Range). Thickness vary from 180 to 200 m (590-656 ft) in the Sunblood and Whittaker ranges to 80 m (262 ft) in the Thundercloud Range.
Lithology:
Medium to dark grey, microcrystalline to finely crystalline, thin- to medium-bedded, commonly argillaceous and silty limestones that weather banded grey and buff. The formation is generally recessive.
Relationship:
Lower boundary with Sunblood Formation is sharp but conformable. Upper boundary with Whittaker Formation is sharp to gradational. Laterally equivalent to the upper Sunblood Formation.
Other Citations:
Chatterton and Ludvigsen, 1976; Copeland, 1974, 1978; Ludvigsen, 1975, 1978; Tipnis et al., 1978.
References:
Chatterton, B.D.E. and Ludvigsen, R., 1976. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from the South Nahanni River area, District of Mackenzie, Canada; Palaeontographica (Abteilung A), vol. 154 (1-3), pp. 1-106.
Copeland, M.J., 1974. Middle Ordovician ostracoda from southwestern District of Mackenzie; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 244, 55 p.
Copeland, M.J., 1978. Early Paleozoic ostracode assemblages, northwestern Canada; pp. 93-111: in Stelck, C.R. and Chatterton, B.D.E. (eds.) Western and Arctic Canadian Biostratigraphy, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper no. 18, 602 p.
Ludvigsen, R., 1975. Ordovician formations and faunas, southern Mackenzie Mountains; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences = Journal Canadien des Sciences de la Terre, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 663-697.
Ludvigsen, R., 1978. Middle Ordovician trilobite biofacies, southern Mackenzie Mountains; p. 1-38: in Stelck, C.R. and Chatterton, B.D.E. (eds.), Western and Arctic Canadian Biostratigraphy, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, no. 18, 602 p.
Tipnis, R.S., Chatterton, B.D.E., and Ludvigsen, R., 1978. Ordovician conodont biostratigraphy of the southern District of Mackenzie, Canada; pp. 39-91: in Stelck, C.R. and Chatterton, B.D.E. (eds.), Western and Arctic Canadian Biostratigraphy, Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper no. 18, 602 p.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 2, Yukon Territory and District of Mackenzie; L.V. Hills, E.V. Sangster and L.B. Suneby (editor)
Contributor: R. Ludvigsen; L.V. Hills
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 11 Mar 2011