Stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleogeography of the Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albian) Peace River, Joli Fou and Pelican formations, northern Alberta, Canada

• Main Author: Vannelli, Kathleen
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarship@Western 2016
• Subjects: Cretaceous; sedimentology; allostratigraphy; Paddy Member; Joli Fou Formation; Pelican Formation; Geology; Canada; Joli; Peace River
• Online Access: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4088; https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/context/etd/article/5778/viewcontent/Vannelli_Final_V._3___text_.pdf

Late Albian (~ 104-101 Ma) strata in northern Alberta are assigned to the marginal-marine Paddy Member, and the marine Joli Fou, Pelican and Viking formations. Temporal relationships between these units have never been established in detail. This study shows that the marine Joli Fou mudstone forms a sheet that onlaps westward against a subaerial ridge (?forebulge); coeval fluvio-lagoonal lower Paddy strata onlap against the opposite side. The ridge crest was buried by upper Paddy strata, of Cordilleran provenance, that grade eastward into deltaic lower Pelican quartz arenites derived from the Canadian Shield. The presence of quartz arenites in the Peace River area demonstrates that the Pelican fluvio-deltaic system completely blocked the Joli Fou Seaway; waters to the south became brackish, shown by the absence of marine fauna in Viking rocks. Upper Pelican allomembers offlap eastward, implying subtle tectonic uplift in the west, probably related to erosional degradation of the Cordillera.