Cardium Formation 8. Facies and environments of the Cardium shoreline and coastal plain in the Kakwa Field and adjacent areas, northwestern Alberta.

The Cardium Formation is an Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) shelf sandstone that was deposited in the Western Interior Seaway. The sediment source was the rising cordillera. The Formation in the subsurface consists of six major transgressive-regressive cycles, each of which comprises a coarsening-upward sequence erosionally overlain by a conglomerate that was formed during a relative lowering of the sea level. Three areas of gravelly shoreface were identified in the study area, and three more are known beyond it. Each is thought to indicate proximity to a river mouth, from which gravel was moved up to 20 km alongshore. Most gravelly shorefaces lie close to the maximum progradational edge of the Cardium shoreface and are interpreted to be evidence of tectonic rejuvenation of the rivers. -from Authors