Minnes Group
| Minnes Group Stratigraphic range: Mesozoic |
|
|---|---|
| Type | Group |
| Sub-units |
Gorman Creek Formation Bickford Formation Monach Formation Beattie Peaks Formation Monteith Formation |
| Underlies | Cadomin Formation |
| Overlies | Fernie Formation |
| Thickness | maximum 2,100 m (6,890 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Other | Siltstone, mudstone, coal |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 54°09′45″N 120°04′00″W / 54.1625°N 120.0667°WCoordinates: 54°09′45″N 120°04′00″W / 54.1625°N 120.0667°W |
| Region |
 British Columbia Alberta
|
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Type section | |
| Named for | Mount Minnes, British Columbia |
| Named by | W.H. Ziegler and S.A.J. Pocock |
The Minnes Group, originally named the Minnes Formation, is a geologic unit of latest Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is present in the northern foothills of the Canadian Rockies and the adjacent plains in northeastern British Columbia and west-central Alberta. Its strata include natural gas reservoirs and minor coal deposits. Fossil dinosaur tracks have been described from one of its formations.
The strata of the Minnes Group were originally described as the Minnes Formation which was revised to group status by D.F. Stott. Stott subdivided the group into four formations in the north as shown below. South of the Pine River the upper three formations are not readily divisible and those beds are included in the Gorman Creek Formation.
North:
South:
The formations of the Minnes Group were deposited in marine and nonmarine environments within and adjacent to the Western Interior Seaway. Depositional settings ranged from shallow marine to shoreline, coastal plain, deltaic, river channel, floodplain, and swamp environments.
The age of the Minnes Group strata has been determined from their fossil fauna, primarily species of the bivalve Buchia. Ammonites, plant fossils, palynomorphs, and microfossils have also been described from the Minnes Group. Dinosaur trackways are present on bedding surfaces in the Gorman Creek Formation of the Minnes Group near the Narraway River:
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Wikipedia