Mount Head Research Articles

Using fault detection and classification techniques for machine breakdown reduction of the HGA process caused by the slider loss defect

Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) based on Machine Learning (ML) approach was used to detect and classify mount head fault in the slider attachment process which causes the machine alarm 71 to occur which leads to 2% of machine downtime. This paper has focused on the use of classified pixel surface of mount head with fault difference conditions including Healthy, Fault I, Fault II, and Fault III to detect and diagnose mount head before a vacuum leak. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm was a proposed classification model and has to be evaluated before using in the real processes. Three features of mount head surface pixel, i.e., inner, outer, and overall areas were investigated and used as model training data set. The experiment result indicates that the classification using the ANN model with three features performed with an accuracy of 94.3%. According to the result, it was found that the reliability of the production processes of FDC technique has increased as a result of the reduction of machine downtime by 1.886%.

Will POM-V anthelmintics combat drug resistance?

Ian Wright of Mount Vets and Head of ESCCAP UK & Ireland, discusses whether small animal anthelmintics should be made POM-V to reduce the risk of drug resistance.

Edith Wharton's Lenox

Edith Wharton's Lenox

Swell-Dominated Carbonates On A Mississippian Ramp In the Canadian Rocky Mountain Front Ranges

Abstract The Livingstone Formation and the middle Opal Member of the Mount Head Formation of western Canada are Mississippian carbonate deposits, tens to hundreds of meters thick, that are interpreted to have accumulated in a mid-ramp, wave-dominated, sub-thermocline environment, at water depths up to 100 m or more. The rocks are predominantly pelmatozoan grainstones and packstones that contain abundant physical sedimentary structures. The most common sedimentary structures are planar lamination, swaly and hummocky cross-stratification, and normally graded event beds that are interpreted as having been formed by oscillatory (wave) currents or oscillatory-dominated combined flows. The abundant oscillatory currents are interpreted to have been generated by swell waves and to a lesser extent by local storms. High-angle, planar-tabular cross bedding is also present in rare, discrete beds produced by unidirectional offshore-directed currents. The unidirectional currents that produced the dunes are interpreted to have been generated by coastal set-up that produced downwelling storm currents during the rare storms that occurred along the Mississippian coastline. It is hypothesized that local storms were not common due to the west-coast location and the tropical latitude of the study area. Instead it is postulated that swell waves, approaching from the broad Panthalassa Ocean to the west, were responsible for most sediment remobilization and deposition across the mid and outer ramp. Swell waves are believed to have resuspended sediment to greater depths than short-period, less-organized storm waves. These Mississippian deposits suggest that in situ grain production on the ramp, without need for the offshore transport of sediment from the shoreface, resulted in two major differences from siliciclastic wave-dominated settings: 1) swaly cross-stratification was not restricted to environments shallower than hummocky cross-stratification on the upper shoreface, because sand-size sediment was generated across a large portion of the ramp; and 2) aggradation by means other than sediment supply from shallower water caused preservation of deep-water swell-dominated deposits.

Stabilization of early-formed dolomite: a tale of divergence from two Mississippian dolomites

Abstract Several large hydrocarbon accumulations in Alberta, Canada are hosted in dolomitized successions of stacked, thin sabkha-capped cycles of Visean age. Porosity is micro-intercrystalline and occurs in dolomitized restricted subtidal and intertidal muds that have their fine primary fabric preserved. Two such fields are here considered, that illustrate divergent and contrasting modes of dolomite stabilization despite initial similarities in facies and textures. The dolomite in the upper Debolt Formation of the Dunvegan Field (NW Alberta) forms planar-e or microsucrosic fabrics with crystals in the 1–20 μm range. The dolomite is non-ferroan, Ca-rich (average of 58 mol% CaCO 3 ), and poorly ordered. Its stable isotopic signatures range from −0.12 to +3.4‰ VPDB for δ 18 O (mean=+1.3‰) and +0.9 to +4.3‰ VPDB for δ 13 C (mean=+2.6‰). The average radiogenic 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio for this dolomite is 0.7077. Both sets of values are consistent with dolomite precipitation from Mississippian marine or modified marine (evaporated) seawater. These parameters are strongly reminiscent of Holocene protodolomites and hence suggestive of a sabkha dolomitization process (shallow seepage reflux or evaporitive pumping). This dolomite with its high associated porosity (average of 15%, and up to 38%), relatively unaltered mineralogical and chemical signatures, both preserved despite 4 km of burial depth, suggests a very unique set of relatively non-reactive physico-chemical conditions during burial (likely a closed system). In contrast, the dolomite from the Mount Head Formation of the Shell Waterton Field (SW Alberta) has undergone measurable neomorphic alteration in several stages in deeper burial environments (open system). Such alteration has affected its crystal size (range δ 18 O ranges between −1.5 in the least altered dolomite and −13.2‰ VPDB; δ 13 C ranges from +3.9 to −1.5‰ VPDB; and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ranges from 0.7078 to 0.7090). The dolomite has retained a degree of non-stoichiometry with an average Ca content of ∼55 mol% CaCO 3 . The Mount Head dolomites clearly indicate ongoing reactivity between the rocks and basinal fluids during burial, and are in this respect representative of the norm for dolostones in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

Implied basement-tectonic control on deposition of Lower Carboniferous carbonate ramp, southern Cordillera, Canada

cambrian (Kanasevich et al., 1969) and preThe Mount Head embayment is a regional downwarp along the west coast of Lower Middle Devonian (Norris and Price, 1966; Carboniferous western Canada that developed by differential subsidence, which we recog- Benvenuto and Price, 1979). nize from lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic patterns. Palinspastic restoration of the Mount Head embayment illustrates that subsidence domains are geometrically coincident with previously identified tectonic elements of the autochthonous basement. Thus, it ap- METHODS pears that basement-tectonic elements controlled sediment accommodation and accumu- Geologic observations were recorded on lation within the Mount Head embayment. The overall shape of this embayment is probably palinspastically restored maps and cross setinherited from the arcuate shape of the Late Proterozoic cratonic rift margin. Within the tions and to basement-tectonic Mount Head embayment, several northeast-southwest-trending Archean and Proterozoic domains defined on aeromagnetic and gravbasement-tectonic elements intersect the autochthonous cratonic margin at high angles. ity maps (Brandley, 1993). The palinspastic Carboniferous piano-key-like structural reactivation of these tectonic elements produced base map is modified from Gibson,s (1985) oriented trends of differential subsidence that partitioned the Mount Head embayment into map of displacement vectors for Jurassic two subbasins (Crowsnest and Kananaskis depocenters) separated by a more positive area rocks. The magnitudes of the vectors were (Highwood high). Moreover, our data imply that Precambrian basement structure noted by others under the Plains and Rocky Mountain fold and thrust belt continued across the altered to reflect displacements at the MisRocky Mountain trench to the west, and that tectonic control on sedimentation noted by sissippian level documented by Bally et al. others for Precambrian and pre-Middle Devonian rocks extends clearly into overlying (1966), Price (1981), and Price and Fermor Carboniferous deposits. (1985), university theses, and Geological Survey of Canada maps and sections across

Tectonic heredity and tectonic wedging along an oblique hanging wall ramp: The southern termination of the Misty thrust sheet, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains

The Misty Range is a homoclinal, southwest-dipping panel of Paleozoic carbonate rocks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains southwest of Calgary that has been juxtaposed against underlying Mesozoic siliciclastic rocks along the northeast-verging Misty thrust fault. At the south end of the Misty Range, a steep, oblique ramp marks an abrupt southward change along the hanging wall of the Misty thrust, from a detachment zone in the Upper Devonian Palliser Formation to another detachment zone in the Jurassic Fernie Group. This 2-km-high ramp is expressed, in the hanging wall rocks, as a large, oblique, southeast-plunging fold. A west-verging back-thrust that rises from a detachment zone in the Mississippian Mount Head Formation extends across the hanging wall ramp fold and is truncated by the Misty thrust. The Misty thrust evidently propagated southward as an oblique tectonic wedge into this detachment zone, forming a “triangle zone” structure with the back-thrust as the roof thrust. As displacement on the Misty thrust increased, and the hanging wall ramp of the Misty thrust moved into the triangle zone, the back-thrust was progressively back-folded and became convex. Subsequently, the lower part of the back-thrust was partly overridden by the Misty thrust and became overturned, before becoming detached and incorporated in the Misty thrust sheet. The configuration and evolution of the tectonic wedge and the oblique hanging wall ramp provide a natural prototype for the interpretation of ramps that mark the lateral terminations of oil and gas reservoir structures in the Foothills belt, but which are concealed by overlying deformed Mesozoic rocks.

Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Deposition on a Wave-Swept Carbonate Ramp: Lower Carboniferous Mount Head Formation, Southwestern Alberta, Canada

Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Deposition on a Wave-Swept Carbonate Ramp: Lower Carboniferous Mount Head Formation, Southwestern Alberta, Canada

Sequence Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy of a Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Ramp: Lower Carboniferous Mount Head Formation, Southwest Alberta, Canada

Sequence Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy of a Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Ramp: Lower Carboniferous Mount Head Formation, Southwest Alberta, Canada

Loomisella petryki, gen. nov., sp. nov., une algue udotéacée du Carbonifère, Formation de Mount Head, Alberta

The Loomis Member (Mount Head Formation) yields an abundant microflora of Viséan marine calcareous algae. A new udoteacean alga is recognized on the basis of the morphology of the tripartite lateral tubes. Tertiary fusiform filaments are disposed as hemispheric tufts and are attached by thin peduncles.

Sedimentology and diagenesis of Upper Mississippian to Lower Permian strata, Talbot Lake area, Jasper National Park, Alberta

In the Talbot Lake area, the Upper Mississippian carbonate sequence comprises, in ascending order, the Turner Valley and Mount Head formations. The Mount Head Formation is informally divided into lower and upper members. The rocks of the Upper Mississippian originated by sedimentation associated with successive shallowing-upward sequences. On the basis of the fossils, lithologies, textural characters, and sedimentary structures, the Turner Valley Formation apparently resulted from sedimentation on open marine shoals and in a lagoon, the lower member of the Mount Head Formation from sedimentation in shallow subtidal to lower supratidal environments, and the upper member of the Mount Head Formation from deposition in upper intertidal to supratidal environments.The paraconformity between the lower and upper members of the Mount Head Formation records a short erosional break. A disconformity between the Upper Mississippian carbonates and the Upper Permian Ishbel Group displays paleotopographic relief and paleokarstic features developed during exposure in post-Mississippian times. The disconformity is overlain by a condensed sequence of Pennsylvanian to Permian strata.Major diagenetic modifications of the Upper Mississippian strata include dolomitization, silica replacement and cementation, carbonate cementation, and dedolomitization. A diagenetic realm comprising sea water, fresh water, and hypersaline brine was probably responsible for some of the complex diagenesis in these rocks.

Stratigraphic position of Carboniferous Macgowanella and Sinopora? pascuali, Canadian Cordillera

Microfossils associated with Carboniferous Macgowanella and Sinopora? pascuali allow more precise age determinations than previously determined. Macgowanella, a possible bryozoan holdfast, is represented by two species, M. tenuiradiata (Warren) and M. stellata (Warren), both from the Viséan (Upper Mississippian, Meramecian) Mount Head Formation of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains. Microfossils indicate a correlation with upper Viséan Zone 14, equivalent to the lower upper Meramecian Marston/lower Opal members of the Mount Head Formation.The syringoporid coral Sinopora? pascuali is from near Kamloops, British Columbia. Microfossils support the Early Pennsylvanian date earlier assigned, correlating it with Zones 20 or 21, Bashkirian = Morrowan to basal Atokan.

Geometry and Mechanical Development of Heart Mountain Thrust Stack, Exshaw, Alberta: ABSTRACT

Heart Mountain is located near Exshaw, Alberta, and forms a peculiar localized thrust stack along the otherwise relatively linear Exshaw thrust trace in the Canadian front ranges. Data from stratigraphic and structural mapping on a scale of 1:5,000 were used in the construction of balanced cross sections, longitudinal sections, and stratigraphic separation diagrams to reveal the true three-dimensional geometry of the mountain. The structure (the heart) is composed of a gently south-plunging canoe-shaped body of rock. Near its southern termination, however, the heart plunges steeply northward. Several previously unrecognized features of the Heart Mountain structure were discovered during mapping. The heart is a faulted syncline with its east limb thrust up relative to its west limb. The heart's collar is composed of the Loomis Member of the Mississippian Mount Head Formation, not the Mississippian Livingstone Formation as previously mapped. The panel of Livingstone rocks west of the heart is stratigraphically up to the east. Based on both stratigraphic and structural considerations, the thrust stack formed in an east-to-west sequential development from rock panels of relatively local origin. Mechanical considerations of the mountain's east-to-west sequential development require the location of the Exshaw thrust to be along the eastern margin of the structure. The Heart Mountain thrust stack, therefore, formed in the hanging wall of the Exshaw thrust. Hydrocarbons have been found in structural traps similar to Heart Mountain. Understanding the geometry and order of mechanical development of these traps is essential to profitable exploration ventures. End_of_Article - Last_Page 947------------

Program Gas Well Build-Up Testsa Field Case Illustration Of Solution Through The Use Of Combined Techniques

Abstract This paper illustrates with a four-well example several problems that can be encountered ill the analysis of pressure buildup data. The subject wells being analyzed are in the Ghost River (Salter) Field in southern Alberta, Canada. They are completed in either single or dual zone low permeability Mississippian carbonate sour gas reservoirs, and in all cases have been given acid fracture stimulations. Of the seven tests analyzed, only one test had complete bottomhole pressure data available. Of the remainder, two had partial bottomhole recorded pressure data and four had only surface-recorded pressure data. Other important points to the evaluation are:—hydrates were encountered throughout much of the testing; as a result, production test flow rates varied considerably in some cases—commingling of production from two zones occurred in some of the tests—changing wellbore temperature effects are evident—only minor amounts of reservoir liquids were produced during testing. Through the combined use of pseudo-pressures, superposition radial flow plots, square root plots, type curves, wellbore storage theory and other techniques, solutions are obtained and interpretations made. FIGURE 1. Field and well location map, Ghost River (Salter). (Available in full paper) Introduction The Ghost River Field (also named the Salter Field by the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board) lies in the Alberta Foothills approximately 40 miles west northwest of the city of Calgary, as shown in Figure 1. The field is defined by four gas wells (in Lsd's 4–1–27–8, 4–36–26–8, 6–25–26–8, and 15–24–26–8 W5M), one suspended well, and two dry holes. Three of the subject gas wells (4–36, 6–25, and 15–24) were completed in two zones, being the Mount Head and Turner Valley Sections of the Mississippian Formation. The remaining gas well (4–1) was completed in only the Mount Head Section. A typical well completion is illustrated in Figure 2. Net pays vary from 25 feet in the Mount Head at 4–1 to a total of 243 feet in the two zones at 6–25. Average porosity in each zone is approximately 4%. Wellbore and reservoir parameters for the Ghost Field are listed in Table 1. All wells were acid stimulation fractured. Following the fracturing, production tests with varying rates and test procedures were run. On the discovery well, 4–36–26–8 W5, each zone was completed, fractured and AOF tested separately. However, downhole hydrate formation hampered the individual zone AOF tests. Finally, a commingled Mount Head and Turner Valley test was run in order to get a rate high enough to overcome the hydrate problems. As a result of the difficulties experienced with 4–36, the test procedures on subsequent wells were modified. The Mount Head and Turner Valley zones were commingled from the start, less clean-up flow was used, and more emphasis was placed on obtaining build-up data. Typical early and later flow test procedures are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, respectively. TABLE 1, Ghost River Field — reservoir data (Available in full paper) A study was undertaken to analyze these tests, with the major objective being to determine values of the reservoir permeability.

The Geometry and mechanical development of the Heart Mountain thrust stack, Exshaw, Alberta

Heart Mountain is located near Exshaw, Alberta, and forms a peculiar localized thrust stack along the otherwise relatively linear Exshaw thrust trace in the Canadian front ranges. Data from stratigraphic and structural mapping on a scale of 1:5000 were used in the construction of balanced cross sections, longitudinal sections, and stratigraphic separation diagrams to reveal the true three-dimensional geometry of the mountain. The structure (the heart) is composed of a gently south-plunging canoe-shaped body of rock. Near its southern termination, however, the heart plunges steeply northward. Several previously unrecognized features of the Heart Mountain structure were discovered during mapping. The heart is a faulted syncline with its east limb thrust up relative to its west limb. The heart's collar is composed of the Loomis Member of the Mississippian Mount Head Formation, not the Mississippian Livingstone Formation as previously mapped. The panel of Livingstone rocks west of the heart is stratigraphically up to the east. Based on both stratigraphic and structural considerations, the thrust stack formed in an east-to-west sequential development from rock panels of relatively local origin. Mechanical considerations of the mountain's east-to-west sequential development require the location of the Exshaw thrust to be along the eastern margin of themore » structure. The Heart Mountain thrust stack, therefore, formed in the hanging wall of the Exshaw thrust. Hydrocarbons have been found in structural traps similar to Heart Mountain. Understanding the geometry and order of mechanical development of these traps is essential to profitable exploration ventures.« less

MISSISSIPPIAN SYRINGOPORID CORALS, SOUTHERN CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS

ABSTRACT Analysis of 511 syringoporid coral colonies, collected from 64 Mississippian sections totalling about 140,000 stratigraphic ft (42,672 m) in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, indicates that three genera, five species and four subspecies are present. Parameters considered important in differentiation are wall thickness and tabular pattern for generic, and corallite diameter and spacing (frequency) for specific and subspecific differentiation. Genera recognized are Syringopora, Pleurosiphonella and Oharaia nov. Species of Syringopora are S. harveyi White from the Banff and Pekisko Formations; S. harveyi subsp. A. nov., S. harveyi subsp. B. nov. and S. harveyi subsp. rudyi Nelson from the Shunda Formation; and S. harveyi subsp. dingmanae Nelson and S. bassoi Nelson from the Mount Head Formation. Syringopora from the underlying Turner Valley Formation belong to the S. harveyi group but are too sparsely distributed for analysis. In Canada these species of Syringopora range from Kinderhookian through Meramecian. They are diagnosed by having thin walls and centrally or subcentrally located infundibular tabulae. They contrast with Pleurosiphonella and Oharaia that have overlapping and higher ranges -- from Meramecian through Chesterian -- and are diagnosed by proportionally thicker walls and exocentric infundibular or vesicular tabulae. Pleurosiphonella has very thick walls and vesicular tabulae; Oharaia has proportionally thinner walls and typically infundibular tabulae. Pleurosiphonella, represented only by P. virginica (Butts), is Meramecian and very low Chesterian, extending through the Mount Head and lower Etherington Formations. Oharaia is represented by O. magnussoni (Nelson) and O. drummondi (Nelson). Oharaia magnussoni is Upper Meramecian and Lower Chesterian; that is, upper Mount Head to lower Etherington. Except for one questionable occurrence in the Mount Head, O. drummondi is known from only one locality in the uppermost Etherington Formation, considered Upper Chesterian. Syringoporid corals show promise in intra- and intercontinental correlation. The three subspecies of the Osagean Shunda S. harveyi appear to be present in the approximately coeval Redwall Formation of Arizona. Pleurosiphonella virginica, a common and characteristic Meramecian species, extends from Virginia to the northern Yukon Territory and may be conspecific with P. crustosa Tchudinova from the Ural Mountains and Armenia of the U.S.S.R. Oharaia drummondi has been identified from Wyoming, appearing in the same stratigraphic position as its Canadian counterpart.

Lower Carboniferous Algal Microflora, Southwestern Alberta

A diverse and relatively prolific Lower Carboniferous algal microflora has been encountered in the Rocky Mountains and Foothills of southwestern Alberta. The algae occur in the Banff, Livingstone, Pekisko, Shunda, Turner Valley, Mount Head, and lower Etherington Formations. They are generally conspicuous throughout the Banff Formation, scarce in the Livingstone Formation, but are rather abundant in the upper parts of the Pekisko and Shunda Formations, and in the Loomis, Opal, Marston, and Carnarvon Members of the Mount Head Formation.The most favorable facies for algae are mixed skeletal and oolitic-skeletal packstones—grain-stones representing shallow, open sea shoals. Lagoonal deposits also yield a very rich microflora. The most unfavorable facies are echinoderm-bryozoan packstones, and sandy, silty mudstones and wackestones found in relatively deeper, offshore lithofacies.Twenty genera and at least 22 species are recognized, of which 6 genera and 9 species are new taxa. The new forms are: Orthriosiphonoides salterensis, n. gen., n. sp., Intextulella agglomerata n. gen., n. sp., Pseudokamaena armstrongi n. gen., n. sp., P. boulderensis n. sp., Stacheoides ? spissa n. sp., S. tenuis n. sp., Epistacheoides nephroformis n. gen., n. sp., Pseudostacheoides loomisi n. gen., n. sp., and Asphaltina cordillerensis n. gen., n. sp.The present study indicates that the associated Foraminifera offer a better detailed zonation of the Lower Carboniferous than the algae, although the latter appear to be more sensitive to facies change and, therefore, may be more useful to reconstruct paleoenvironments. However, five local algal assemblages, based on the succession of genera, seem stratigraphically consistent in Alberta.

Electron microprobe study of magnesium distribution in some Mississippian echinoderm limestones from western Canada

Electron microprobe techniques were used to examine the distribution of Mg, Ca, and Fe in six samples of Mississippian skeletal and oölitic limestones from the Alberta Rocky Mountains. All samples show extremely low values of Fe. The following distributions of Mg (in wt % MgCO3) were observed: in four samples from the Loomis Member (Meramec) of the Mount Head Formation, echinoderm grains show highly variable Mg content averaging 1.11–1.43, whereas sparry calcite cement and the outer rings of oöids show much more uniform values averaging 0.73–0.84. In one sample from the Livingstone Formation (Osage), echinoderm grains show large Mg variation with a mean of 0.95; sparry calcite cement shows more uniform values with a mean of 0.50. A second, highly recrystallized sample from the Livingstone Formation has echinoderm grains which show large Mg variation with a mean of 0.43. The stroma canal structure characteristic of living echinoderms is not generally preserved in the grains. All of the echinoderm grains analyzed contain abundant dolomite crystals 1 to 6 μ in diameter which appear to account for the variable values of Mg distribution, but are not obviously related to the original stroma canal structure. Sparry calcite cements and oöid rings are free of dolomite crystals. The small size of the dolomite crystals, combined with their widespread distribution within and restriction to echinoderm grains, suggests an exsolution origin. Exsolution is suggested to have taken place subsequent to a) loss of most of the Mg from the original magnesium-rich echinoderm calcite, and b) precipitation of pore-filling calcite within the echinoderm grains. The minute dolomite crystals are thus interpreted as representing a late stage exsolution product of small residual amounts of Mg from both the original grains and their pore-filling calcite.

PRELIMINARY FORAMINIFERAL ZONATION, RUNDLE GROUP AND UPPERMOST BANFF FORMATION (LOWER CARBONIFEROUS), SOUTHWESTERN ALBERTA

ABSTRACT Lower Carboniferous rocks of the uppermost Banff Formation and the Rundle Group of southwestern Alberta contain an abundant foraminiferal microfauna and algal microflora, from which the distribution and relative abundance of 95 taxa have been determined. Foraminifera, which are most common in mixed skeletal and oolitic calcarenites, less common in micritic limestones, and least common in echinoderm-bryozoan limestones, permit recognition of Zones 7 to 16 of a widely applied zonal scheme derived initially from Carboniferous rocks of Europe. Vertical variations in foraminiferal families include an upward decrease in the abundance of endothyrids, tournayellids, and earlandiids, corresponding with an upward appearance and increase in the abundance of cornuspirids, forschiids, tetrataxids, palaeotextulariids, archaediscids, and others, and are similar to familial variations in Lower Carboniferous platform rocks in other parts of the world. The more precise correlations derived from the 95 microfaunal and microfloral taxa are in agreement with correlation of the Rundle Group, Pekisko, Shunda, and Turner Valley formations with the Rundle Group, Livingstone Formation, as recently indicated by lithostratigraphic and macrofaunal studies. Preliminary foraminiferal zonation suggests the following ages: The uppermost Banff Formation is middle Tournaisian, whereas the overlying Pekisko Formation and the lower part of the Livingstone Formation are late middle Tournaisian. Foraminiferal data are as yet too meagre to delineate the precise Kinderhook-Osage boundary, in terms of the American Midcontinent stages. The Shunda Formation, and the middle part of the Livingstone Formation, are of late Tournaisian age. The Shunda - Turner Valley contact closely corresponds to the Tounaisian-Viséan boundary, which is approximately equivalent to the Osage-Meramec boundary of the American Midcontinent Lower Carboniferous. The upper Livingstone Formation (type area only) and the Turner Valley Formation are of early Viséan age. Overlying rocks of the Mount Head Formation (type area) are late early Viséan to middle late Viséan (Meramec). The Mount Head - Etherington contact corresponds to the base of the Aux Vases Sandstone (type Chester) of the Midcontinent. The transitional nature of the Mount Head - Etherington foraminiferal microfauna does not support the presence of a Meramec-Chester hiatus as previously postulated. The Lower Etherington Formation is latest Viséan in age.

FORAMINIFERAL ZONATION OF THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS CONNOR LAKES SECTION, BRITISH COLUMBIA

ABSTRACT An abnormally thick sequence of carbonate rocks near Connor Lakes in southeastern British Columbia includes ten foraminiferal zones of Middle Tournaisian to Early Namurian age. Representatives of both Eurasiatic and American cratonic faunas are present which permit correlation with the original Carboniferous type sections as well as with standard Mississippian sequences. Lithostratigraphic comparisons with the type sections of the Banff, Livingstone, and Formations are possible, although important facies differences exist. The foraminiferal assemblages within these formations at Coccon Lakes show that: The contact is synchronous with the Banff-Livingstone contact in the Highwood Range area. The lower part of the is condensed. The upper part of the is probably younger than the Livingstone of the type area and could be equivalent to the Wileman and Baril Members of the type Formation. The Mount Head of the Connor Lakes section is equivalent to the Salter through Carnarvon Members of the type area. The Etherington is equivalent to the lower and part of the middle units of the Formation at its type section.