The Kakisa Formation is a

stratigraphic unit A stratigraphic unit is a volume of rock of identifiable origin and relative age range that is defined by the distinctive and dominant, easily mapped and recognizable petrographic, lithologic or paleontologic features ( facies) that characteriz ...

Frasnian The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Givetian Stage and followed by the Famennian Stage. Major reef-building was under way during ...

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone has been alive or something 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 Canada 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 b ...

. It takes the name from the Kakisa River, a tributary of the

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

, and was first described in outcrop on the banks of the Trout River by H.R. Belyea and D.J. McLaren in 1962.Belyea, H.R. and McLaren, D.J., 1962. Upper Devonian formations, southern pan of Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...

, Paper 61-29.

Lithology

The Kakisa Formation is composed of

silty Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

and

dolomitic Dolomite () is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite (see Dolomite (rock)). An alternative name sometimes ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

Reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

builders such as

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s and

stromatoporoid Stromatoporoidea is an extinct clade of sea sponges common in the fossil record from the Middle Ordovician to the Late Devonian.Stock, C.W. 2001, Stromatoporoidea, 1926–2000: ''Journal of Paleontology'', v. 75, p. 1079–1089. They can be cha ...

s can be identified in the formation. It is reefoid in its northern extent, where its thickness is variable.

Distribution

The Kakisa Formation reaches a maximum thickness of . it occurs at the surface in outcrops along the Kakisa River between

Tathlina Lake Tathlina Lake is a large, shallow lake, located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. An outcropping of the Kakisa Formation occurs along the side of this lake. This turbid lake, the 15th largest in the Northwest Territories, is located at an el ...

and

Kakisa Lake Kakisa Lake is a large lake located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is fed by the Kakisa River, and near to the community of Kakisa Kakisa (Slavey language: ''K’agee''; ''between the willows'') is a "Designated Authority" in the So ...

and as an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

along the

. In the sub-surface, it can be found in north-eastern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, where it is typically thick, and thins out towards the

Peace River Arch Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such a ...

Relationship to other units

The Kakisa Formation is disconformably overlain by the Trout River Formation and conformably overlays the Redknife Formation (east) or the Fort Simpson Formation (west). It is equivalent to parts of the Winterburn Group in

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordered ...

. Towards the west, it becomes

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

y and turns into the Fort Simpson Formation.

References

{{Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Northwest_Plains=yes, Fort_Nelson=yes Geologic formations of British Columbia Geologic formations of the Northwest Territories Devonian southern paleotropical deposits Frasnian Stage Limestone formations of Canada Devonian British Columbia Devonian Northwest Territories