682 J. H. SINCLAIR CRETACEOUS OF ALBERTA, CANADA 



therefore, into Belly Eiver formation, Bearpaw formation, Edmonton for- 

 mation, and Paskapoo formation is a difficult matter, since the rocks are 

 lithologically the same and no fossils have as yet been found to assist in 

 defining any time horizons. The formation immediately overlying the 

 Benton shales has been called here the Belly River formation from its 

 stratigraphic position. In the Great Plains region, especially along the 

 Red Deer River and southward near the International Boundary, the 

 Belly River formation is noted for the remains of dinosaurs and inverte- 

 brate fossils, which have clearly -correlated the formation in part with the 

 Judith River formation of the Upper Missouri River; but, as above stated, 

 no fossils have been found in what is believed to he the Belly River for- 

 mation in the area discussed in this paper: Its thickness and recognition 

 are not as yet entirely certain. In the Sheep River district, however, 

 there is a thickness of 1,400 feet of light-colored sandstones which can be 

 grouped as a formation, due to the fact that the upper portion is defined 

 or bounded by a zone of weak rocks with coal beds. This horizon is shown 

 in the rocks and coal seam at McPherson\s coal mine, near Black Dia- 

 mond post-office, on the North Fork of Sheep Creek, and also in the 

 strata at the old McDougall coal mine west and farther up the creek, near 

 Linehan post-office. On the High wood River this coal horizon is also 

 recognized and in several places small mines are located for the mining 

 of coal. It is a characteristic zone, noted by a high degree of folding and 

 faulting. It probably is not over a hundred feet in thickness, but every- 

 where it stands out from the overlying and underlying massive and 

 unbroken and unfolded sandstones. 



Bearpaw Formation 



The Bearpaw formation unquestionably exists in the Great Plains re- 

 gion to the east of the foothills. Fossils have been collected by the writer 

 of this paper in the Battle River district which are undoubted Bearpaw 

 types. But although very careful search has been made on Sheep River 

 and other streams of this district, no fossils have been found of the Bear- 

 paw horizon, nor have any shales been met with which could be classified 

 as Bearpaw. Although Mr. Bowling speaks of the Bearpaw as a marine 

 deposit in a somewhat diminished form in the foothills farther south, the 

 writer of this paper believes that it does not exist as a marine deposit 

 north of Willow Creek and south of the Bow River. It is of course pos- 

 sible that a small thickness of the Bearpaw may be hidden in the faulting 

 so characteristic of the coal horizon taken above as the upper limit of the. 

 Belly River formation. Cairnes has mapped portions of his area as .Bear- 



