Crowsnest Formation
{{Infobox Rockunit
| name = Crowsnest Formation
| image = Crowsnest Fm 0215.JPG
| caption = The west end of the type section of the Crowsnest Formation, on the Crowsnest Highway west of Coleman, Alberta.
| type = Geological formation
| age = {{fossil range|Albian|Albian|Mid to Upper Albian}}
| period = Albian
| prilithology = Volcanic rocks, pyroclastic breccia
| otherlithology = Sandstone
| namedfor = Crowsnest Pass
| namedby = G.M. DawsonDawson, G.M. 1886a. Preliminary report on the physical and geological features of that portion of the Rocky Mountains, between latitudes 49 and 51 30'. Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, Annual Report, v. 1, p. 1B-169B.
| region = Alberta
| country = Canada
| coordinates = {{coord|49|38|51|N|114|31|48|W|name=Crowsnest Formation|display=inline,title}}
| unitof = Blairmore GroupGlass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. {{ISBN|0-920230-23-7}}.
| subunits =
| underlies = Blackstone Formation
| overlies = Ma Butte Formation
| thickness = Up to {{convert|488|m|ft|-1}}
| extent = Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
| area =
| map = {{Location map+ | Canada
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | Canada
| lat_deg = 49.6
| lon_deg = -114.5
| mark = Green pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| map_caption =
}}
The Crowsnest Formation, also called the Crowsnest Volcanics, is a geological formation in southwestern Alberta, Canada, on the southwestern margin of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.{{Cite web|url=http://ags.aer.ca/reports/atlas-of-the-western-canada-sedimentary-basin.htm|title=The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Chapter 19: Cretaceous Mannville Group of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin|author=Mossop, G.D. and Shetsen, I. (compilers), Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Geological Survey|year=1994|accessdate=2016-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701131122/http://ags.aer.ca/reports/atlas-of-the-western-canada-sedimentary-basin.htm|archive-date=2016-07-01|url-status=dead}} It was named for the Crowsnest Pass near Coleman, Alberta. The formation consists mostly of pyroclastic rocks that were laid down in a series of explosive eruptions about 100 million years ago during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch. It contains unusual minerals such as melanite (a variety of andradite garnet) and analcime (a variety of zeolite).
Lithology and mineralogy
File:Blairmorite from the Crowsnest Formation.jpg from the Crowsnest Formation. The amber mineral is analcime, the pale mineral is sanidine, and the small black minerals are melanite garnet. The specimen is about {{Convert|17|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length. Photo by P. Glombick, courtesy of Alberta Geological Survey.]]File:Mélanite-Mali.jpg garnet.]]File:Crowsnest Volcanics 1371.JPG.]]The formation contains pyroclastic flows, lahars, agglomerates, tuffs and ash-fall deposits, as well as volcanic-rich sandstones and other sediments.Leckie, D. and Burden, E.T. 2001. Stratigraphy, sedimentology, and palynology of the Cretaceous (Albian) Beaver Mines, Mill Creek, and Crowsnest Formations (Blairmore Group) of southwestern Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 563, 103 p. The whole-rock chemistry of the volcanics is relatively normal, ranging from trachyandesite (latite) to phonolite and trachyte, but the mineralogy is unusual. In addition to analcime and melanite, common minerals include sanidine, aegerine-augite and chlorite.{{Cite journal|url= http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e06-037|title=A petrographical and geochemical study of the volcanic rocks of the Crowsnest Formation, southwestern Alberta, and of the Howell Creek suite, British Columbia.|publisher=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 43: 1621–1637|author=Bowerman, M., Christianson, A., Creaser, R.A. and Luth, R.W.|journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |year=2006|volume=43 |issue=11 |pages=1621–1637 |doi=10.1139/e06-037 |accessdate=2013-11-03|url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|last=Pearce|first=T.H.|title=Analcime phenocrysts in igneous rocks: Primary or secondary? – Discussion.|url=http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM78/AM78_225.pdf|publisher=American Mineralogist 78: 225–229, 1993.|accessdate=2013-10-31}} Blairmorite, a rare analcime-rich rock-type named for the town of Blairmore, Alberta, is known only from the Crowsnest Formation and a locality in Mozambique.
Stratigraphy
The Crowsnest Formation is the uppermost unit of the Blairmore Group. Exposures along the Crowsnest Highway (Highway 3) and the railroad west of Coleman are the type locality. It is underlain by the Ma Butte Formation (also known as the Mill Creek Formation). The contact is gradational, with volcanic fragments becoming progressively more common toward the top of the Ma Butte Formation. The lower part of the formation is trachytic with abundant sanidine phenocrysts, melanite and pyroxene. The upper part contains sanidine, analcime, melanite and rock fragments. It is unconformably overlain by the shales of the Blackstone Formation that were deposited during a marine transgression in the Late Cretaceous.
Deposition
The volcanics were laid down on an inland floodplain that is represented by the underlying Ma Butte Formation. The eruptions probably occurred to the west near what is now Cranbrook, British Columbia, and the material was subsequently moved eastward by thrust faulting during the Laramide orogeny. It's estimated that the volcanics originally covered an area of about {{Convert|1800|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}, and their volume is estimated at {{Convert|209|km3|mi3|abbr=on}}.
Thickness and distribution
The Crowsnest Volcanics are exposed along a series of folded, west-dipping fault plates in the Front Ranges and foothills of the southern Canadian Rockies. They reach maximum thicknesses of {{convert|426|to|488|m|ft|-1}} along a trend that extends northward from Coleman along McGillivray Ridge to Ma Butte.