Unit Name: Hand Hills Formation
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Formation
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Miocene - Pliocene (23.03 - 1.806 ma)
Province/Territory: Alberta
Originator: Stalker, A.MacS., 1973, p. 11.
Type Locality:
None given in any of the references. Lectostratotype locality: Here suggested as a gravel pit in NE/4 Sec 16, Twp. 30, Rge. 17W4M, which was the thickest exposure seen and described by Craig (Stalker, 1973, p. 16) and which has been the chief source of vertebrate fossils (Storer, undated).
Distribution:
The lectostratotype locality showed 6 m (20 ft) of the upper part of the deposit, and Craig (1956, pp. 31, 32) estimated that the unit there might be 20 m (66 ft) thick. Elsewhere the unit is probably about 2 to 10 m (7 to 33 ft) thick. Large thicknesses of sand, silt, shale, and marl, formerly assigned to this unit, evidently belong in the underlying Paskapoo Formation (Craig, 1956, pp. 31, 32). Found on top of Hand Hills, northeast of Drumheller, in Sec. 32, Twp. 29, Rge. 17W4M, and in Secs, 12, 15, 16, Twp. 30, Rge, 17W4M, Alberta.
Lithology:
Gravel, generally coarse and locally cemented into conglomerate, and sand. The gravel is chiefly quartzites and hard sandstones, with minor cherts, arkoses and pieces of local sandstone and coal. Igneous and metamorphic stones form the Precambrian Shield are lacking. A few scattered bones are present. Generally massive, and in many places the unit has been deformed, probably by permafrost, possibly by glacial drag, with many stones standing on end.
Relationship:
Overlies the Paskapoo Formation; exposed to surface or else overlain by till and Pleistocene gravel and sand. Storer (undated, p. 4) included the overlying till and glacial gravel containing Shield stones within the formation. The vertebrate fauna indicates a late Barstovian (latest Miocene) age, although an earliest Pliocene age cannot be ruled out (Storer, undated, p. 20), which agrees with the estimate of Warren (1939, p. 348) based on the altitude of the hills.
History:
Tyrell (1887, p. 76E) first described this unit but did not name it. Allan and Sanderson (1945, p. 100) merely referred to it as "Oligocene (?) Formation"; later Craig (1956, p. 31), in a detailed description used the term "late Tertiary formation"; Russell (1957, p. 18; 1958) used the informal term Hand Hills conglomerate, whereas Harington (1978, p. 43) capitalized "Conglomerate" (see also Storer, 1972). Stalker (1973, p. 11) used the formal name Hand Hills Formation, as did Storer (undated, p. 2). Due to the mixture of materials contained in this unit, this latter name is probably the most satisfactory term.
Other Citations:
Allan and Sanderson, 1945; Craig, 1956; Harington, 1978; Russell, 1957, 1958; Stalker, 1973; Storer, undated, 1972; Tyrell, 1887; Warren, 1939.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: A. MacS. Stalker
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 20 May 2004