The formation was named for the Palliser Range in Banff National Park (which in turn took its name from John Palliser, the leader of the 1850s Palliser Expedition), by H.H. Beach in 1943.[2] The type locality was defined in 1994 in the "Devil's Gap" section south of Mount Costigan of the Palliser Range, north of Lake Minnewanka.[4]
Lithology and paleontology
The Palliser Formation was deposited in a marine environment as an extensive carbonate shelf.[5] It is subdivided into the Morro Member (the lower part) and the Costigan Member (the upper part).[6] The Morro Member consists of massive, fine-grained limestone and dolomitic limestone. It contains remains of brachiopods, crinoids, gastropods, ostracods and conodont elements. The Costigan Member is less dolomitic, more argillaceous, and more fossiliferous than the Morro. It contains remains of brachiopods, crinoids, conodont elements, nautiloids, bryozoans, stromatoporoids and stromatolites.[4][1]Anhydrite beds can be present in both members.[7]
Distribution and thickness
The Palliser Formation is present throughout the main and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies, where it reaches a maximum thickness of 580 metres (1,900 ft), as well as in the subsurface in the foothills, where it is up to 240 metres (790 ft) thick.[1]
^ abMeijer Drees, N.C. and Johnston, D.I. 1994. Type Section and conodont biostratigraphy of the Upper Devonian Palliser Formation, southwestern Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. 42:1. P 55-62.
^Beales, F.W. 1954. The Palliser Banks in the Late Devonian seas of southwestern Alberta. Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 10, p. 1-5.
^DeWit, R.W., and McLaren, D.J. 1950. Devonian Sections in the Rocky Mountains between Crowsnest Pass and Jasper, Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 50-23.
^ abGlass, 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. ISBN0-920230-23-7.
^Leckie, D.A. 2017. Rocks, ridges and rivers – Geological wonders of Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks, p. 47. Brokenpoplars, Calgary, Alberta, 217 pp. ISBN978-0-9959082-0-8.