Joli Fou Research Articles

Foraminiferal zonation of the Viking interval in the Hasler Shale (Albian), northeastern British Columbia

A dominantly arenaceous foraminiferal fauna of over 33 genera and 65 species was recovered from silty shales in the mid-portion of the Hasler Formation in the upper Albian part of the Fort St. John Group. The assemblages lie stratigraphically below occurrences of Neogastroplites and below the Miliammina manitobensis Zone. The foraminifera come from above the occurrence of Haplophragmoides gigas gigas, although assignment of the beds is to the upper part of the H. gigas Zone.The upper part of the Haplophragmoides gigas Zone may be divided into several subzones above the H. gigas gigas Sub-zone in ascending order, viz., H. gigas ssp A Subzone, Reophax tundraensis Subzone, Trochammina depressa Subzone, Trochammina umiatensis Subzone, and Reophax troyeri Subzone.The assemblages have close affinities with the faunas of both the overlying and underlying shales, and are an expression of a late shallowing–deepening cycle within the Skull Creek – Joli Fou seaway. They were penecontemporaneous with Viking Sandstone deposition in Alberta. The assemblages are interpreted as mid-neritic to shallow neritic from slightly acidic waters. Only 4 of 150 samples collected carried calcareous components. Diagnostic megafauna are lacking.The microfaunas include the following genera: Bathysiphon, Hyperammina, Kechenotiske, Thuramminoides, Psammosphaera, Saccammina, Reophax, Scherochorella, Hippocrepina, Glomospira, Glomospirella, Ammodiscus, Miliammina, Psamminopelta, Haplophragmoides, Trochamminoides, Ammomarginulina, Ammobaculites, Haplophragmium, Ammobaculoides, Trochammina, Textulariopsis, Pseudobolivina, Verneuilinoides, Verneuilina, Uvigerinammina, Gaudryina, Gravellina, Eggerella, Lenticulina, Marginulina, Lagena, Nodosaria.

Foraminifera of a Joli Fou Shale equivalent in the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Hasler Formation, northeastern British Columbia

The discovery of the arenaceous foraminifer Haplophragmoides gigas Cushman in the Hudson Hope area of northeastern British Columbia indicates that the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Joli Fou Sea flooded around the north side of the Peace River Arch, making an embayment that penetrated as far west as the Rocky Mountain Foothills. The microfauna of 25 genera and 46 species of arenaceous foraminifers is illustrated carrying Bathysiphon spp., Hippocrepina sp., Hyperammina spp., Lituotuba? sp., Psammosphaera spp., Reophax spp., Ammodiscus spp., Glomospira sp., Miliammina spp., Psamminopelta spp., Trochamminoides sp., Haplophragmoides spp., Ammomarginulina sp., Ammobaculites spp., Haplophragmium spp., Trochammina spp., Textulariopsis sp., Pseudobolivina spp., Plectorecurvoides sp., Verneuilina sp., Gaudryina sp., Uvigerinammina sp., Gravellina sp., and Eggerella sp.The suite occurs in the lower part of the Hasler Shale of the Fort St. John Group about 10–20 m above beds carrying a microfauna of the Ammobaculites wenonahae Subzone (= Stelckiceras liardense ammonite Zone) present in the basal portion of the Hasler Shale. The Haplophragmoides gigas Zone sensu stricto is overlain by a sequence of silty beds (Viking equivalent?), which in turn is succeeded by the Miliammina manitobensis Zone microfauna. The H. gigas assemblage has both boreal and southern aspects, suggesting a mixing of the waters from north and south as the first expression of the Colorado Sea in earliest late Albian time. The assemblage is a deep neritic one and lacks any calcareous component. Diagnostic megafauna are lacking.

Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of Upper Mannville in Parts of East-Central Alberta: ABSTRACT

Thick (15 to 35 m) sandstones occur in the upper Mannville (Colony, McLaren, and Waseca Members, collectively about 45 m thick) over a substantial area (T35 to 65, R1 to 20W4) of east-central Alberta. The sandstones can occur in belts flanked by zones dominated by siltstones and shales. The upper Mannville is a continental sequence in this area and the sandstones have previously been interpreted as (1) deposits of a network of vertically aggrading, laterally stable channels, and (2) valley-fill deposits. Investigation of a densely drilled area in the Wainwright field (T45, R6W4) shows that the absence of two 2-m shales that separate three correlatable sandstones, 9 m, 4 m, and 5 m thick, results in a 20-m sandstone in one location. This suggests that the thick sandstones may be the result of the amalgamation of several sandstone sequences. Trace-fossil evidence and lateral continuity of the uppermost End_Page 642------------------------------ (^sime 10 m) lithologic units of the upper Mannville in the Wainwright area indicate that these beds were deposited in a marine depositional environment. The same interval in a nearby well (11-21-47-2W4) has been confirmed as marine (contains dinoflagellates) and also contains dicotyledonous tricolpate pollen grains. The presence of this type of pollen grain means that, at least locally, the disconformity that is supposed to occur at the base of the overlying Joli Fou Formation occurs instead within the sandstones at the top of the Mannville, as suggested by Stelck. End_of_Article - Last_Page 643------------

Sedimentary Layer Properties of Graded-Shelf Deposits, Colorado Group (Cretaceous), Saskatchewan: ABSTRACT

Middle Albian to Santonian detrital sediments were deposited in a shallow sea east of the Rocky Mountain geosyncline. Two transgressive phases of dominant mud deposition were separated by a major regressive phase, represented by a north-eastward-thinning wedge incorporating conglomerate and sandstone. The transgressive Joli Fou Formation is represented on the east by the Spinney Hill Sandstone, comprising cosets of planar sandy foresets and subordinate mudstone intercalations (proximal fluviomarine deposits). These grade westward into a succession of vertically repeated, sandy, fining-upward sequences (distal fluviomarine deposits) overlain by and passing laterally into mudstone. The fining-upward sequences comprise, in ascending order, planar sandy foresets, bioturbated sandstone, alternating sandstone and mudstone, and mudstone. The sequence probably reflects lateral migration of the tidal channels of an estuarine delta. The regressive Viking Formation gave rise to deposits in which size fractionation through increase in the proportion of admixed mud northeastward is accompanied by progressive change in assemblages of sedimentary structures. A thick sequence of planar sandy foresets and subordinate mudstone intercalations (nearshore deposits) is replaced by clinobeds composed of coarsening-upward sequences (proximal shelf deposits), which northeastward grade to bioturbated, muddy sandstone (distal shelf deposits) and mudstone (shelf muds). The Flatten Lake sand displaying southwestward diminution of grain size along the erosional edge of the Colorado succession is referable to the regressive phase. The pre-Cenomanian (Big River Formation) of the late transgressive phase is predominantly mudstone, replaced northeastward by fine-grained, horizontally laminated and micro-crosslaminated sandstone and bioturbated sandstone, with abundant discontinuous mudstone intercalations (St. Walburg Sandstone). These beds are succeeded by a thick mudstone incorporating northeastward-thinning units rich in bioclastic debris: a basal unit rich in fish remains (fish-scale marker) and 2 main calcareous units containing coccolith aggregates and pelecypod debris (Greenhorn and Niobrara equivalents). The bioclastic debris commonly is in thin, graded layers passing upward into mudstone. Lateral size fractionation within the units occurs by progressive decrease in proportion of sand and silt and concomit nt increase in mud content. The principal agents of sediment transportation recognized are tidal currents occasionally augmented by storm-surge waves giving rise to both laterally migrating channels and large-scale sand ridges. Mass movement of sand downslope apparently was confined to local salt-solution sinks. End_of_Article - Last_Page 961------------

Sequence Elements in Stratigraphic Analysis of Lower Colorado (Cretaceous) Strata, West-Central Saskatchewan: ABSTRACT

Sedimentary rocks referable to the Lower Colorado subgroup are fairly well defined in the subsurface as that predominantly argillaceous sequence delimited by the base of the Speckled Shale Formation (Turonian) and the top of the Mannville-Blairmore succession (middle Albian). The sequence exhibits pronounced lateral variation and locally discernible diachronism of sandstone bodies; both the lowermost Joli Fou Formation and the uppermost Big River Formation display a northerly increase in sand content, whereas the lenticular sandstone bodies of the Viking Formation, which separates them over most of the study area, become progressively finer grained on the north, so that the formation may no longer be differentiated. The Lower Colorado succession may be described in terms of repetition of 5 principal sequence elements, each characterized by the predominance of particular gross lithologies and associated internal sedimentary structures: (1) a mudstone element, including structureless mudstones and mudstones containing lenses and intermittent layers of siltstone; (2) a siltstone element, in which lenticular and wavy-layered siltstones and fine-grained sandstones alternate with structureless mudstones; (3) a silty sandstone element, consisting of sandstones with varying proportions of silt-grade material and thin, discontinuous mudstone interlayers, displaying disruption of flaser layering, due to burrowing activities of organisms, as well as loading and injection phenomena; (4) a sandstone element, hich may exhibit dune-scale, inclined laminae, horizontal laminae, ripple cross-laminae, and trough cross-laminae; and (5) a conglomeratic element, with pebbly sandstones, conglomerates, and pebbly mudstones. Subordinate lithologies, such as coquinoidal limestones, sideritic oolites, concentrations of iron sulfides, and accumulations of phosphatic bodies, also are present. The use of sequence elements in stratigraphic analysis provides a systematic approach to description of End_Page 541------------------------------ lithologic variation, an aid to local correlation of sequences, and a basis for environmental interpretation. Type (3) elements are of particular economic importance as the main reservoir rock of the hydrocarbon-bearing Viking Formation. End_of_Article - Last_Page 542------------

Formation Pressure Patterns in Cretaceous Viking Formation, Alberta: ABSTRACT

Regional potentiometric maps of the Lower Cretaceous Viking Formation in central Alberta indicate a low-pressure area or sink centered on the Joffre-Bentley-Gilby trend of oil fields, with formation waters in central Alberta flowing into the trend. According to integrated geologic and pressure studies, the sink actually consists of 6 separate, nearly static, pressure systems controlled by the environmental facies and subsequent structural deformation. The Viking reservoirs are interpreted to be lenticular sandstone bodies deposited as en echelon offshore bars with a NW-SE trend. Postdepositional uplift and subsequent erosion have exposed the Viking sandstones at their lateral extremities; in places, these extremities are covered by a thin veneer of permeable glacial deposits. Five of the 6 pressure systems in the Viking appear to be controlled by the distribution of these bars and by the elevations of outcrops. The sixth system is characterized by pressures 1,200 psi below hydrostatic pressure End_Page 850------------------------------ and by as much as 1,900 psi below the outcrop-controlled systems. This system is interpreted to be a sandstone lens completely enclosed in shale; its pressures were developed by geo-osmosis, as indicated by facies relations, shale analyses, and salinity maps. The osmotic cell in this system consists of the low-salinity Viking sandstone and the deeper, high-salinity, Mannville sandstone and shale; the semipermeable membrane of the system is the intervening Joli Fou shale. Because the Viking sandstone system is isolated from the outcrop by shale and shaly rocks of very low permeability, the osmotic process produced a marked pressure anomaly. End_of_Article - Last_Page 851------------

Chemical Composition of Shales of Mannville Group (Lower Cretaceous) of Central Alberta, Canada

The X-ray fluorescence method was used to analyze 113 shales; seven from the Upper Devonian Calmar Formation, 98 from the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group and 8 from the Lower Cretaceous Joli Fou Formation. The average composition of the shales studied is 64.83% SiO2, 2.66% MgO, 15.72% Al2O3, 2.50% K2O, 2.42% CaO, 5.08% Fe2O3, 97 ppm. Rb, and 210 ppm Sr. The Rb/Sr ratio of .46 is in good agreement with that suggested for shales by earlier workers. The Rb/K varies from about 0.004 for shales formed in a brackish environment, to 0.006 for normal marine shales.

Lower Cretaceous of Southern Alberta and Adjoining Areas

The total stratigraphic interval studied in southern Alberta and northern Montana includes all of the Lower Cretaceous strata between the sub-Cretaceous unconformity and the base of the Fish Scale sandstone, which occurs near the Lower Cretaceous-Upper Cretaceous boundary. Abrupt facies changes in the Lower Cretaceous sediments in western Alberta necessitate a different nomenclature in the Foothills area than in the Plains area. In the southern Alberta Foothills the continental sediments of the Blairmore group can be divided into two distinct lithologic parts. The lower Blairmore consists dominantly of gray shale and gray to buff protoquartzite-type sandstones and contains two members. The Cadomin member at the base of the lower Blairmore is a persistent chert and quartzite pebble conglomerate which can be traced throughout the Alberta Foothills. The Calcareous member, consisting of gray to buff argillaceous limestones, calcareous shale, and buff calcareous quartzose sandstone, occurs at the top of the lower Blairmore. The upper Blairmore sediments show a marked change in color and lithologic character from those below. The sediments are dominantly green, and the sandstones are usually highly feldspathic an chloritic arkosic graywackes and lithic graywackes. The Crowsnest formation overlies the Blairmore group in the southwestern corner of Alberta and is composed of a series of tuffs, agglomerates, breccias, and flows. In the Plains area the Lower Cretaceous is divided into four major lithologic units, in ascending order: Mannville group, Joli Fou formation, Viking formation, and an unnamed unit above the Viking formation and below the base of the Fish Scale sandstone. The Mannville group is dominantly non-marine but contains some marine strata in central Alberta. The lower Mannville usually contains a basal quartzose sandstone member called the Cut Bank and Sunburst sandstones in southern Alberta, and the Ellerslie sandstone in central Alberta. The top of the lower Mannville is placed at the top of the Calcareous member which is correlated lithologically with the Calcareous member in the Blairmore group. The upper Mannville consists of kaolinitic subgraywacke-type sandstones, siltstones, shales, and thin coal beds, and is equivalent to the lower part of the upper Blairmore at the west. In central Alberta a marine Glauconitic sandstone occurs near the base. The Joli Fou formation is a marine dark gray shale body at the base of the Colorado group which loses its lithologic identity in western and southern Alberta. The Viking formation consists of a marine succession of salt-and-pepper protoquartzites interbedded with gray siltstones and shales. In southern Alberta the Viking and Joli Fou formations are not recognizable as two distinct units, and the entire succession is called the Bow Island formation, which is correlated with parts of the upper Blairmore and Crowsnest formations in the Foothills area. An isopach map of the Lower Cretaceous indicates the Alberta Foothills was the site of a marginal basin in Lower Cretaceous time. Petrographic and lithofacies studies suggest the Lower Cretaceous End_Page 590------------------------------ sediments were mainly derived from an orogenic positive area in south-central British Columbia, with minor contributions from a mildly positive area in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The lithologic character of the lower Blairmore suggests a meta-sedimentary source area, whereas the arkosic sediments of the upper Blairmore are indicative of an igneous source. The abrupt decrease in the feldspar content of the sandstones eastward, accompanied by an increase in kaolinitic clay matrix, is attributed to physical and chemical processes, and to dilution of the western derived sediments by clastics from an eastern source.

Cretaceous and Some Triassic Beds of Northeastern British Columbia, Canada

Toward the northwest, the upper part of the Dunvegan formation is conglomeratic and the lower part consists of and sandstone. Toward the southeast, the upper part consists mainly of massive sandstones and shales, and the lower 100 feet, composed of shales and sandstones, is transitional to the underlying Sikanni formation. At Steamboat Mountain, the formation is 550 feet thick and, although the overlying beds are absent, this may represent the full thickness. In the lower Sikanni Chief River-upper Fort Nelson River locality, the member of the Sikanni formation is about 1,260 feet thick and the underlying sandy member is 195 feet thick. Neogastroplites cornutus was found in talus from the sandy member. The base of the Acanthoceras zone (and the upper part of the Fish Scale zone) lies 760 feet below the top of the Sikanni formation. Near Steamboat Mountain, the Sikanni member is about 250 feet thick and the underlying sandstone member, consisting of seven strong sandstones with about four weak sandstones above, is approximately 800 feet thick. The Dunvegan and Sikanni formations were followed by air north-northwestward and found to be the equivalent of the Fort Nelson formation. A thick formation, examined in the valleys of Tetsa and Chischa rivers, is regarded as the equivalent of the Buckinghorse formation--excluding the basal passage beds. It was subdivided into an upper (shale) member 1,345 feet thick, a middle (sandstone, siltstone, and shale) member 232 feet thick, and a lower (shale) member 2,040 feet thick. This formation lies on the Triassic Toad formation End_Page 2269------------------------------ but no angular discordance was found at the contact. Inoceramus cadottensis was found in talus from the middle member. The correlation table (Fig. 4) revises the correlation of the Cretaceous beds along the foothills, and easterly to northern Alberta. The lower (sandstone and shale) part of the Scatter formation is correlated with the Gates formation and with the lower part of the Falher member of the Spirit River formation. A lower Gastroplites horizon is used as a basis to correlate the upper (sandstone and shale) part of the Scatter formation with the middle member of the Buckinghorse formation in Chischa River, with part of the Commotion formation in Pine River foothills, and with the Cadotte member of the Peace River formation. An upper Gastroplites horizon is used as a basis to correlate a part of the Lepine formation with a central part of the Hasler formation in East Peace River foothills. Rep esentatives of the Neogastroplites fauna have been reported from the Goodrich formation and Sikanni sandstone member from all localities shown and from the fissile shale of the Liard River north of Nelson Forks locality. Because their position in the Shaftesbury formation is considered to be between the Gastroplites and Neogastroplites horizons, and because of the different composition of the Pelican sandstone compared with that of the Sikanni sandstone member, the Pelican formation (containing Placenticeras?) and the Joli Fou formation are correlated with the Placenticeras liardense zone and the underlying in the Liard River west of Nelson Forks locality. The Sikanni and Dunvegan formations are correlated with the Fort Nelson formation on the basis of field work and air reconnai sance. The first known occurrence in northeastern British Columbia of the fossil Halilucites sp. is reported from Triassic beds.