NO. 5 PRE-DEVONIAN PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS 2']'] 



Feet Meters 



\d. Shaly limestone with thicker oolitic limestone layers 



interbedded. The limestones become more arenaceous 



in the lower part 6 i .8 



\e. Gray and dirty brown, thin-bedded sandstones with 

 coarse annelid trails and mud cracks on the surface 

 of many of the layers. Eight feet (2.4 m.) from the 

 top two calcareous layers occur, and another 9 feet 

 {2."^ m.) from the base 2^ 8.3 



i/. Shaly, gray and brownish sandstones passing down into 

 drab-colored argillaceous and arenaceous shales with 

 thin layers of hard sandstone. Eleven feet (3.4 m.) 

 from the top there is a thin band of purple shale 57 17.4 



Total Mount Whyte formation 248 75.7 



Fauna. — (58y) : many fragments of OlcncUus occur in the 

 lower 20 feet (6.1 m.) of the interbedded sandstones. 



St. Piran Formation 



la. Gray quartzitic sandstones in layers i to 3 feet (.3 to 



.9 m.) thick weathering rough on the surface 55 16.8 



Fauna. — (sBx) : fragments of OlcncUus. 



In the cliff at the southwest end of the mountain, 

 about 200 feet (60.9 m.) of quartzitic sandstones are 

 exposed that may belong to the Fort Mountain 

 formation. 



SLATE MOUNTAIN GROUP 

 Ptarmigan Peak Section 



The Ptarmigan Peak massif, 5.4 miles (8.7 km.) north-nortlieast 

 of Lake Louise Station on the Canadian Pacific Railway, is formed 

 of Middle and Lower Cambrian limestones and quartzitic sandstones 

 that are superjacent to sandstone and shales of the pre-Cambrian 

 Hector formation of the Algonkian. The pre-glacial. glacial, and post- 

 glacial erosion has cut away the Hector sandstones and shales close 

 up to the quartzites of the Lower Cambrian, which rise as cliffs nearly 

 all around the base of the massif. These cliffs are surmounted by 

 castellated towers and bold cliffs, eroded from the hard, thick-bedded 

 limestones of the Cathedral formation that form the summits of 

 Ptarmigan Peak (10,070 feet, 3,069.3 m.), Mount Richardson (10,125 

 feet, 3,086.1 m.), and Pika Peak. 



The Cathedral limestone is superjacent to the Ptarmigan formation, 

 with the Mount Whyte below, which is clearly outlined above the 

 St. Piran sandstones and shales. 



