Cathedral Formation
| Cathedral Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Middle Cambrian ~ | |
The Cathedral Formation and Cathedral Escarpment form the grey mountain in the distance, with the Burgess Shale and Walcott Quarry in the foreground. | |
| Type | Formation |
| Underlies | Stephen Formation |
| Overlies | Mount Whyte Formation, Naiset Formation |
| Thickness | Up to 610 metres (2000 ft) |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Limestone, Dolomite |
| Other | Calcareous mudstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 51°23′47″N 116°23′25″W / 51.39639°N 116.39028°W |
| Region | Canadian Rockies |
| Country | Canada |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Cathedral Mountain |
| Named by | Charles Doolittle Walcott, 1908 |
| Part of a series on |
| The Burgess Shale |
|---|
The Cathedral Formation is a stratigraphic unit in the southern Canadian Rockies of Alberta and British Columbia, on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It is a thick sequence of carbonate rocks of Middle Cambrian age. It was named for Cathedral Mountain in Yoho National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott, the discoverer of the Burgess shale fossils.
The Cathedral Formation includes fossil stromatolites, oncolites, and other algal remains, as well as a few shale beds with trilobites. The Cathedral escarpment on its westernmost edge is thought to have played a major role in the deposition and preservation of the Burgess shale fossils.