The Belloy Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Permian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

Belloy Formation
Stratigraphic range: Permian
TypeGeological formation
UnderliesMontney Formation, Fort St. John Group
OverliesRundle Group, Stoddart Group
Thicknessup to 274 metres (900 ft)[1]
Lithology
PrimaryChert
OtherSandstone, siltstone, conglomerate, dolomite
Location
Coordinates55°45′37″N 118°02′55″W / 55.7604°N 118.0487°W / 55.7604; -118.0487 (Imperial Belloy 12-14-78-1W6M)
Region Alberta,  British Columbia
Country Canada
Type section
Named forBelloy, Alberta
Named byH.L. Halbertsma, 1959

It takes the name from the hamlet of Belloy, Alberta, and was first described in the Imperial Belloy 12-14-78-1W6M well by H.L. Halbertsma in 1959.[2]

Lithology and depositional setting edit

The Belloy Formation is composed of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequences of cherty dolomite and sandstone, glauconitic and quartz sandstones, phosphorite, siltstones and conglomerate with phosphatic chert pebbles. The Belloy was deposited along a northwest-trending, tidally-influenced, west-prograding shoreline. [3]

Distribution edit

The Belloy Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 274 metres (900 ft) in the Canadian Rockies foothills south of Fort St. John. It thins out towards the east and occurs in the sub-surface throughout the Peace River Country.

Relationship to other units edit

The Belloy Formation is disconformably overlain by Triassic or younger beds (Montney Formation, Fort St. John Group). It is unconformably overlies Mississippian sediments such as those of the Rundle Group.

The Belloy Formation is homotaxial with the Belcourt Formation and Kindle Formation of the Rocky Mountains.

References edit

  1. ^ Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units. "Belloy Formation". Archived from the original on 2012-07-08. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  2. ^ Halbertsma, Henk Leendert, 1959. Nomenclature of Upper Carboniferous and Permian strata in the subsurface of the Peace River area; Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Journal of the Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, vol. 7, no. 5 (May), pp.109-118.
  3. ^ Naqvi, I.H. (1972). "The Belloy Formation (Permian), Peace River Area, Northern Alberta and Northeastern British Columbia". Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. 20 (1).