CSPG14FT A Revised Regional Stratigraphy and Stratigraphic Architecture for the Horseshoe Canyon Formation: Outcrop and Subsurface
A revised outcrop and subsurface stratigraphy for the 240 m thick, coal-rich, Upper Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation reveals subunits whose boundaries reflect changes in sediment supply, rates of subsidence, climate, and local sea levels during a time span of ~5 million years. Important to the hydrocarbon industry is the fact that some of these changes are marked by variation in sandstone body thicknesses, sandstone-mudstone ratios, and coal development. During this 2-day field trip, we will focus on classic and newly examined outcrops in the areas of Dorothy, East Coulee, Willow Creek, Drumheller, Horsethief Canyon, Morrin Bridge, Kubinec Ranch, Tolman Bridge, and the Dry Island Buffalo Jump recreational areas (some stops precluded by wet weather). We will interpret stratigraphic changes within the context of non-marine sequence-stratigraphic concepts. During the early evening of day 1 (and with beer in hand) we will examine proposed correlations of the outcrop stratigraphy with subsurface cross-sections that extend north to Edmonton, west to Calgary, and south to the international border. An evening visit to view dinosaurs and other fossils at the world famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is included.
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David Eberth, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Sedimentary Geology and Palaeoecology Research
David A. Eberth is a Research Scientist and the Curator of Geology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, where he has worked for the past 20 years. He received a B.Sc. in Zoology from the Univerisity of Massachusetts in 1977, a M.A. in paleontology from the University of Toronto in 1987. His primary research interests include the study of dinosaur paleoenvironments and vertebrate taphonomy (the influences on vertebrate fossil preservation). He has conducted field research in Canada, Argentina, Germany, China, Mexico and the USA. He is currently enjoying the ongoing interest in Alberta’s dinosaurs and Upper Cretaceous gas-bearing formations.
