The Peace River Formation is a

stratigraphical Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...

unit of middle Albian

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. It takes the name from the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

, and was first described on the banks of the river, downstream from the

Smoky River The Smoky River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Peace River. The descriptive name refers to the presence of "smouldering beds of coal in the riverbank" noted by the Cree Indians. It drains an area of . Fro ...

confluence to the mouth of the Notikewin River by McConnell in 1893.

Lithology

The Peace River Formation consists of greywacke, coal, coarse to fine marine sandstone and dark, fissile, non-calcareous

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 ...

Hydrocarbon production

Gas is produced from the

Cadotte Member The Peace River Formation is a stratigraphical unit of middle Albian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the Peace River, and was first described on the banks of the river, downstream from the Smoky River conflue ...

in northern-western Alberta.

Distribution

The Peace River Formation is thick on average. The formation has different extents at different stages, with the Paddy Member present only in the Peace River Country in northern Alberta south of Clear Hills, while the

and the Harmon Member occur in both Alberta and north-eastern British Columbia.

Physiography

The Peace River Lowland, a landform region in the Alberta Plateau. The landform region is a gently rolling lowland without clearly defined outer boundaries, extending east of the Rocky Mountains on both sides of the

, sloping downward to the north and east. The higher hills in the foothills east of the Rockies in northeastern British Columbia have elevations of about 1000 m and the plains west of Lake Athabasca are about 300 m above sea level. The lowland's

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

sediments of the former lake bottom of Glacial Lake Peace are underlain by Upper and Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks mainly shales of the Shaftesbury formation and sandstones of the Dunvegan and Peace River formations. The

and its immediate tributaries have incised almost 200 meters into the sediments and into the Cretaceous bedrock in the western section but only about 70 meters in the east side further north around

Fort Vermilion Fort Vermilion is a Hamlet (place), hamlet on the Peace River in northern Alberta, Canada, within Mackenzie County. Established in 1788, Fort Vermilion shares the title of oldest European settlement in Alberta with Fort Chipewyan. Fort Vermilio ...

. On the basis of topography and landscape pattern, the area may be subdivided into four local physiographic units: the Peace River Lowland, Otter Lakes Upland, Utikuma Lake Upland, and Clear Hills Upland. The Peace River Lowland is located in the central part of the area and is dissected by the

. The Otter Lakes Upland in the northeast is a southern extension of the Buffalo Head Hills. It has a rugged

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

topography with steep slopes and isolated hills. Elevations above sea level range from to . The Utikuma Lake Upland in the southeast also ranges from to . The Clear Hills Upland in the west ranges from to .

Relationship to other units

The Peace River Formation is a sub-division of the

Fort St. John Group The Fort St. John Group is a stratigraphic unit of Lower Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the city of Fort St. John, British Columbia and was first defined by George Mercer Dawson in 1881. Lithology T ...

. It is conformably overlain by the

Shaftesbury Formation The Fort St. John Group is a stratigraphic unit of Lower Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the city of Fort St. John, British Columbia and was first defined by George Mercer Dawson in 1881. Lithology ...

shale and is conformably underlain by the

Spirit River Formation The Spirit River Formation is a stratigraphical unit of middle Albian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the Spirit River, and was first described in Imperial Oil Spirit River No. 1 well by Badgley in 1952. Li ...

. It is equivalent to the Commotion Formation in British Columbia and to the

Scatter Formation The Fort St. John Group is a stratigraphic unit of Lower Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the city of Fort St. John, British Columbia and was first defined by George Mercer Dawson in 1881. Lithology ...

in the

Liard River The Liard River of the North American boreal forest flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Co ...

area. It correlates to the Buckinghorse Formation in north-eastern British Columbia.

Subdivisions

The Peace River Formation is composed of the following subdivisions from base to top: The Harmon Member correlates with the Hulcross Shale of the Commotion Formation in British Columbia and the shale member of the

in the

area. The Cadotte Member correlates with the lower part of the Boulder Creek Member of the Commotion Formation and to the sum of the sandy member of the Scatter Formation and the base of the

Lepine Formation The Fort St. John Group is a stratigraphic unit of Lower Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the city of Fort St. John, British Columbia and was first defined by George Mercer Dawson in 1881. Litholo ...

. In eastern and central Alberta, the Harmon Member can be correlated to the

Joli Fou Formation The Joli Fou Formation is a allostratigraphy, allostratigraphical unit of middle Albian Geochronology, age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the Joli Fou Rapids on the Athabasca River, and was first described in an ...

, and the Cadotte Members with 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 ...

References

{{WCSB, Northwest_Plains=yes Stratigraphy of Alberta Stratigraphy of British Columbia