The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian

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

Mount Rundle Mount Rundle is a mountain in Canada's Banff National Park overlooking the towns of Banff and Canmore, Alberta. The Cree name was ''Waskahigan Watchi'' or house mountain. In 1858 John Palliser renamed the mountain after Reverend Robert Rundle ...

(itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the northern side of the mountain in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

by R.J.W. Douglas in 1953.Douglas, R.J.W., 1953b. Carboniferous stratigraphy in the southern Foothills of Alberta; Alberta Soc. Petrol. Geol., 3rd Ann. Field Conf. Guidebook, p. 66–88.

Lithology

The Rundle Group consists of massive

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

interbedded with dark argillaceous limestone.

Chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

nodules are observed in the shaley beds, and

crinoid Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, which are ...

s and

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...

s are observed in the clean massive beds. Dolimitization is observed in the

Elkton Member The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from Mount Rundle (itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the north ...

of the Turner Valley Formation.

Distribution

The Rundle Group reaches a maximum thickness of at

Tunnel Mountain Tunnel Mountain (also known as Sleeping Buffalo, ''Iinii Istako'', ''Eyarhey Tatanga Woweyahgey Wakân''), is a mountain located in the Bow River Valley of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada at the junction of the Spray River with the Bow and ...

. It thins out toward east and north and is completely

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust, and then sediment transport, tra ...

or absent in east

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and only the lower part occurs in

southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.disconformably overlain by the

Rocky Mountain Formation ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

in the front ranges of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

and by the

Fernie Formation The Fernie Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Jurassic age. It is present in the western part of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in western Alberta and northeastern British Columbia.Poulton, T.P., Tittemore, J. and Dolby, G. 1990. Jurassic ...

in the foothills and by

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

beds in the prairies. It conformably overlies the

Banff Formation The Banff Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the town of Banff, Alberta, and was first described on the north-west slope of Mount Rundle, near Banff by E.M. Kindle ...

. The Rundle Group can be correlated with the Mission Canyon Formation 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 ...

, northeastern

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 ...

and

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 ...

Subdivisions

The Rundle Group comprises the

Mount Head Formation The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from Mount Rundle (itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the nort ...

and Livingstone Formation in the

Rocky Mountains 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 ...

; by the Turner Valley Formation, Shunda Formation and

Pekisko Formation The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from Mount Rundle (itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the north ...

in the foothills and plains. It is equivalent to the

Debolt Formation The Debolt Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Meramecian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the hamlet of Debolt, Alberta, and was first described in the Amerada Crown GF23-11 well near Debolt by G. Macaul ...

and

Prophet Formation The Rundle Group is a stratigraphical unit of Mississippian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from Mount Rundle (itself taking the name from Robert Terrill Rundle), and was first described in outcrops at the north ...

in north-eastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and west-

northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cent ...

Debolt DeBolt is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16. A variant name is Debolt. H. E. Debolt, an early postmaster, gave the community his last name. The hamlet is located in census division No. 18. ...

, Shunda and

s are staked in the Fort Nelson area.

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

Foothills and plains

Deep basin

References

{{WCSB, Northwest_Plains=yes, South AB=yes, Canadian Rockies=yes Stratigraphy of Alberta Stratigraphy of British Columbia