Cardium Formation 3. Sedimentology and stratigraphy in the Garrington- Caroline area, Alberta ( Canada, Turonian, Cretaceous).

The Cardium Formation (Turonian, Upper Cretaceous) is predominantly marine and consists of interbedded sandstones and mudstones with some conglomerate. In the Garrington-Caroline area, about 100km NNW of Calgary, the Cardium consists of two coarsening-upward sequences. The sandstones contain hummocky cross stratification (probably of storm origin) or the sequence of structures from parallel lamination upward into ripple cross-lamination (probably of turbidity current origin). There is no evidence of fairweather (tidal or longshore) currents, nor of reworking of the sand once it was emplaced in the basin. The depositional site at Garrington and Caroline lay at least 100km offshore, with southeasterly sediment dispersal from NW of Pembina. Most foraminiferal assemblages in the mudstones associated with the Cardium sandstones indicate water depths greater than about 50m. A formal stratigraphic terminology is proposed.-from Author