Type Locality:

No single type section covers the modern status of Fairholme as a group name. Beach originally specified the type area as the southern end of the Fairholme Range, just north of the Bow River between the Kananaskis and the Exshaw railway stations, Alberta. Through the years this has generally been accepted as the "Loder Lime Kiln" section of Beach (1943), Fox (1951), Belyea and McLaren (1956) and Taylor (1957), although this section includes only the carbonate formations of the modern Fairholme Group. Approximate coordinates are 51 deg 05'N, 115 deg 07'W.

Distribution:

Various formations of the Fairholme Group are present in the Rocky Mountains, from Kakwa Lake in northeastern British Columbia to the Flathead region of southern Alberta, in the subsurface south of Twp. 30 and east of a line between Vermilion and Drumheller. The Fairholme Group, where fully developed ranges from 300 to 730 m (980 to 2,400 ft) in thickness.

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Minimum 300, Maximum 730.

Lithology:

The Fairholme Group may be divided into three gross lithologic units: 1) basal carbonate platform (Flume Formation), composed of biostromal limestones and dolomites; 2) carbonate buildup, composed of biostromal and biohermal dolomites (Cairn Formation), overlain by skeletal and peloid lime sands (Southesk Formation); and 3) "clastic" basin fill (Maligne, Perdrix and Mount Hawk formations) consisting of argillaceous lime mudstones, wackestones and calcareous shales laterally equivalent to the buildup unit. Detailed lithologic descriptions are given under the formation names in this Lexicon. In the Flathead area the Fairholme Group consists of a basal carbonate succession consisting of the Hollebeke and Borsato formations, which are overlain by laterally equivalent buildup and basin fill units represented by the Southesk and Mount Hawk formations respectively.

Relationship:

The Fairholme Group overlies the Beaverhill Lake Group Formation (or Souris River Formation) in the southern Alberta Plains and the ?Middle Devonian Yahatinda Formation (Aitken, 1966), or pre-Devonian subcrop in the mountain Fairholme equivalent carbonates and limy shales overlie the Early and ?Middle Devonian Harrogate Formation of the Lussier Syncline of southeastern British Columbia. It is overlain by the Crowfoot Formation in the plains and the Sassenach or Alexo Formation in the mountains. Rarely, over buildups the Sassenach-Alexo interval is absent and the Fairholme is overlain by the Palliser Formation. The Fairholme Group is the equivalent of the Woodbend and lower Winterburn groups of the central Alberta subsurface. Paleontologic evidence (e.g., McLaren, 1955, Maurin and Raasch, 1972) suggests that part of the Flume Formation of the mountains may be in part laterally equivalent to the Beaverhill Lake Group. The Fairholme Group is equivalent to the Birdbear, Duperow and part of the Souris River formations of the Williston Basin. The Starbird Formation of the eastern Purcell Mountains is equivalent to the lower part of the Fairholme Group.

History:

The name was derived from the Fairholme Range, which includes the type locality. Beach applied the term Fairholme Formation to a thick carbonate succession capped by arenaceous beds. de Wit and McLaren (1950) removed the silty beds from the Fairholme Formation, naming them the Alexo Formation. McLaren (1955) raised the Fairholme to group status and designated the upper and lower members at the type locality the Southesk and Cairn formations respectively. McLaren also brought the laterally equivalent basin "clastic facies" - (the Perdrix and Mount Hawk formations - as well as the Flume Formation) under the Fairholme Group umbrella. Finally, the Maligne Formation erected by Taylor (1957) was included within the Fairholme Group.

References:

Aitken, J.D., 1966. Middle Cambrian to Middle Ordovician cyclic sedimentation, southern Rocky Mountains of Alberta; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 14, no. 4 (December), pp. 405-441.

Beach, H.H., 1943. Moose Mountain and Morley map-areas, Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 236, 74 p.

Belyea, H.R. and McLaren, D.J., 1956. Devonian sediments of the Bow Valley and adjacent areas: Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, Sixth Annual Field Conference Guide Book, pp. 66-91.

Fox, F.G. 1951. Devonian Stratigraphy of Rocky Mountains and Foothills between Crowsnest Pass and Athabaska River, Alberta, Canada. Bulletin, American Association of Petroleum Geology, volume 35, pages 822-843.

Maurin, A.F. and Raasch, G.O., 1972. Notes et Memoires - Compagnie Francaise des Petroles Early-Frasnian stratigraphy, Kakwa-Cecilia Lakes, British Columbia, Canada; Notes et Memoires - Compagnie Francaise des Petroles, 1972, Vol. 10, 80 p.

McLaren, D.J., 1955. Devonian formations in the Alberta Rocky Mountains between Bow and Athabasca rivers; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 35.

Taylor, P. W., 1957. Revision of Devonian nomenclature in the Rocky Mountains; Journal of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 183-193.

de Wit, Reinout and McLaren, Digby Johns, 1950. Devonian sections in the Rocky Mountains between Crowsnest Pass and Jasper, Alberta; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 50-23, 66 p.