678 J. H. SINCLAIR CRETACEOUS OF ALBERTA, CANADA 



In the Crowsnest region and elsewhere a flora of about 85 species is 

 known from the Kootenay formation. This includes no flowering plants, 

 the forms present consisting mainly of ferns (34 species), cycads (1!) 

 species), and conifers (25 species). 



Lithologically the formation is composed of sandstones, with important 

 beds of coal, which are very persistent over a wide area in Alberta and 

 British Columbia. It attains a maximum of 5,300 feet thickness in the 

 Crowsnest district, and in the Banff area it is described as having thick- 

 ness of about 4,300 feet. The latter figure, however, includes the lower 

 Ribboned sandstone and the upper Ribboned sandstone, barren portions 

 of the Kootenay above and below the coal measures.. In the Elbow River 

 area Cairnes and the author of this paper agree in a thickness of only 

 315 feet. This unquestionably marks the eastward extension of the 

 Kootenay basin. 



Blairmore Formation 



Overlying the Kootenay sandstones and similar lithologically is a thick 

 series of sandstones which were correlated by Cairnes with the Dakota 

 sandstones south of the United States boundary. Farther south, in the 

 Crowsnest district of Alberta, the name "Blairmore" has been adopted 

 for a group of sandstones which are found at the same horizon as those 

 on the Elbow River — that is, overlying the undoubtedly Kootenay forma- 

 tion. Inasmuch as the Dakota sandstone is not now recognized anywhere 

 in the State of Montana, and as there is neither lithologic nor paleonto- 

 logical evidence to justify identifying the Blairmore with the Dakota 

 formation elsewhere, it seems more fitting to the author of tliis paper that 

 the name Blairmore should be applied generally to the formation on 

 Sheep River and Elbow River which had been named Dakota by- Cairnes. 



As has been said above, there is no lithologic difference between the 

 sandstones of the Kootenay and those of the Blairmore which overlie it, 

 nor is there sufficient difference in the plant remains to justify separating 

 the series into these two groups. Since, however, a persistent conglom- 

 erate bed from 8 to 15 feet thick is everywhere found overlying the coals 

 of the Kootenay formation, it may be as Avell to accept the upper portion 

 of this sandstone group as a separate formation, with the name Blairmore. 



Measurements made by the author on the Elbow River and on the 

 Korth Fork of Sheep River, where the entire formation is clearly ex- 

 posed, have resulted in the finding of a thickness of 1,700 feet. This is 

 from the top of the conglomerate horizon to the base of the Benton shales. 



The Blairmore formation all through the foothill region is composed 

 of yellowish, massive sandstones in the bottom portion, which upward be- 



