Type Locality:

Anglo Canadian et al., Devonian Test Well in the Turner Valley field, in Lsd. 2, Sec. 5, Twp. 19, Rge. 3W5M, Alberta, between 2,248 and 2,358 m (7,370 and 7,730 ft).

Distribution:

As restricted by Penner the Turner Valley Formation is 110 m (360 ft) thick in the Turner Valley field. It is present in the Foothills belt of western Alberta and thins eastward by erosional truncation. The zero edge occurs just east of Calgary and passes southeastward toward the southern border of Alberta (Penner, 1958b). The formation cannot be recognized to the west as the underlying Shunda changes facies in the mountains, and the Livingstone Formation then represents the Turner Valley-Shunda Pekisko sequence.

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Minimum 0, Maximum 110. Interval(m): From 2248, To 2358.

Lithology:

The Turner Valley consists of medium- to coarse-crystalline crinoidal limestone and medium-crystalline dolomite in the Upper Porous and Lower Porous intervals, separated by the intervening Middle Dense unit of finely crystalline, nonporous carbonate. The entire Turner Valley Formation is dolomitized over much of southwestern Alberta.

Relationship:

The Turner Valley rests on the Shunda Formation and is overlain by the Mount Head Formation in the most westerly areas; both contacts are conformable. In southern to west-central Alberta, where the Mount Head is removed by erosion Jurassic or Cretaceous strata rest unconformably on the eroded Turner Valley surface. The Turner Valley is correlated with the upper Mission Canyon of Montana and the lower Debolt of the Peace River area.

History:

Douglas (1953b) introduced the term Turner Valley Member to include the following units in the Turner Valley surface section: in ascending order the Banner Silt, Black Lime, Lower Porous, Crystalline Zone, Middle Hard or Dense and Upper Porous. The Carboniferous Committee of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists (Moore, 1958; Penner, 1958b) restricted the Turner Valley to only the upper part of Douglas' section, namely, the two porous units and the intervening Middle Dense and raised the Turner Valley to formation status. The lower beds (Banner Silt and Black Lime) of Douglas are now included in the Shunda Formation in the subsurface of southwestern Alberta, and the Lower Porous and Crystalline zones are termed the Elkton Member (Penner, 1958b).

Other Citations:

Douglas, 1953, Douglas and Harker, 1958; Gallup, 1951; Macauley et al., 1964; Moore, 1958; Penner, 1957, 1959.

References:

Douglas, R.J.W., 1953b. Carboniferous stratigraphy in the southern Foothills of Alberta; Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., 3rd Ann. Field Conf. Guidebook, p. 66-88.

Moore, P.F., 1958. Late Paleozoic stratigraphy in the Rocky Mountains and foothills of Alberta - a critical historical review; in, Jurassic and Carbonifenous of western Canada; Goodman, A.J. (Ed.). Amer. Assoc. Petrol Geol., p. 145-176.

Penner, D.G., 1958b. Mississippian stratigraphy of the southern Alberta Plains, in, Jurassic and Carboniferous of western Canada, A symposium, most papers of which were presented at the western Canada regional meeting, Jasper, Alberta, September 15 and 16, 1955, Goodman, A.J. (Ed.); The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), pp 260-286.