Beaver Mines Formation

Beaver Mines Formation Stratigraphic range: Early Cretaceous (Albian)
Type	Formation
Unit of	Blairmore Group
Underlies	Ma Butte Formation
Overlies	Gladstone Formation
Thickness	up to 455 m (1,490 ft)
Location
Region	Alberta British Columbia
Country	Canada
Type section
Named for	Beaver Mines, Alberta
Named by	G.B. Mellon, 1967

The Beaver Mines Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Early Cretaceous (Albian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in southwestern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It was established by G.B. Mellon in 1967 who named it for the hamlet of Beaver Mines, Alberta. It contains a variety of plant fossils.

Fine- to coarse-grained greenish grey sandstone interbedded with greenish grey mudstone and siltstone, and lesser amounts of conglomerate, bentonite and tuff. Some conglomerate beds contain pebbles of volcanic origin. Minor argillaceous limestone is present at the top in some areas. The sandstones are feldspathic, in contrast to the quartzoes sandstones of the overlying Ma Butte Formation.

The Beaver Mines Formation was deposited in floodplain and fluvial channel environments by meandering river systems. It contains a variety of plant fossils including remains of ferns, cycads, cycadeoids, Ginkgos and extinct conifers, but remains of flowering plants do not appear until the overlying Ma Butte Formation.