The Joli Fou Formation is a allostratigraphical unit of middle

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

in the

Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) underlies of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This vast sedimentary ...

. It takes the name from the Joli Fou Rapids on the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is pro ...

, and was first described in an outcrop along the river, downstream from Joli Fou Rapids, by RTD Wickenden in 1949.Wickenden, R.T.D., 1949. Some Cretaceous sections along the Athabasca River from the mouth of Calling River to below Grand Rapids, Alberta (Report and Figure);

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...

, Paper 49-15, 31 p. and Figure 1, Sketch map of area along Athabasca River in Alberta, showing positions of bedrock outcrops and geological sections examined, Scale: 1 Inch to 4 Miles

Lithology

The Joli Fou Formation is composed of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

with minor

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

lenses. The shale is non-calcareous, dark grey, while the sandstone lenses are fine to minor medium grained, quartzose or micaceous. In central Saskatchewan, the unit contains

glauconitic Glauconite is an iron potassium phyllosilicate ( mica group) mineral of characteristic green color which is very friable and has very low weathering resistance. It crystallizes with a monoclinic geometry. Its name is derived from the Greek () m ...

sandstone and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

interbeds.

Distribution

The Joli Fou Formation is thick at its type section, and reaches up to in southern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. It occurs throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, from the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

Foothills to south-central Saskatchewan.

Relationship to other units

The Joli Fou Formation is the basal (oldest) formation of the

Colorado Group Colorado is a geologic name applied to certain rocks of Cretaceous age in the North America, particularly in the western Great Plains. This name was originally applied to classify a group of specific marine formations of shale and chalk kn ...

. It is overlain by the

Viking Formation The Viking Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the town of Viking, Alberta, and was first described in the Viking- Kinsella oil field by Dowling in 1919. Lithol ...

( disconformably in south-eastern Saskatchewan) and conformably underlain by the upper

Mannville Group The Mannville Group is a stratigraphical unit of Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the town of Mannville, Alberta, and was first described in the ''Northwest Mannville 1'' well by A.W. Nauss in 1945 ...

( Grand Rapids Formation in north-eastern Alberta, Pelican Formation in southern Alberta). It is equivalent to the lower

Ashville Formation The Ashville Formation is a geological formation in Saskatchewan and Manitoba whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Di ...

in southern

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, the

Skull Creek Shale The Skull Creek Shale is a Cretaceous geologic formation in Wyoming as well as Colorado and Nebraska, United States. The Skull Creek Shale corresponds with the Kiowa Shale. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Colorado * Li ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

and parts of the Blackleaf Formation in northern

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. In south-eastern Alberta, the base of the Formation contains the Cessford Sand marker, consisting of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The Joli Fou Formation was previously referred to as the Pelican Shale, but renamed in 1949 to avoid confusion with the overlying Pelican Sandstone beds.

References

{{Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Northeast_Plains=yes, Central_Plains=yes Cretaceous Alberta Geologic formations of Alberta Cretaceous Saskatchewan Geologic formations of Saskatchewan Shale formations Sandstone formations of Canada Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin