1 ® Dasharathla1 Hira1a1 Shah 1967 ,1 ,.1
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SOME DEVONIAl~ STROMATOPOROIDS FROM ESTERHAZY SHAFT, SASKATCHEWAN By Dasharathlal Hiralal_Qhah B. Sc. (Hons.); M. Sc., (M. S. Uni. Baroda, India) A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geo1ogy in the Department of Geo1ogica1 Sciences at the McGill University Montreal August, 1966. i 1 1 1 1 ® Dasharathla1 Hira1a1 Shah 1967 ,1 ,.1 .. ,. , .... _... , .. -_.-, . _. .._------_._--_ .... -. 1 " f." TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUC TION Purpose l Location 2 Plan 2 Method of Study 4 Acknow1edgernent 4 STRA TIGRAPHY Introduction 6 Stratigraphie Discussion of the Esterhazy Fauna 6 PALEONTOLOGY (\~ STROMA TOPOROIDEA 16 Genus Anosty1~str~ 18 Genus Harnrnatostroma 23 Genus Actinostroma 26 Genus Trupetostroma 34 Genus Stachyodes 48 Genus Ferestromatopora 53 Genus Strornatopora 57 Genus Syringostroma 63 Genus Para11e1opora 66 Genus Clathrocoilona 70 APPENDIX l 72 APPENDIX il 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 J;lLATES 95 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS C':·, Page FIGURES 1. Location of Area 3 2. Geological Section of Esterhazy Shaft 7 TABLES 1 Surnmary of lithologies in Devonian part of Esterhazy (Gerald #3) Shaft above the Prairie Evaporite Formation 9 Il Ranges of Stromatoporoid species in the Esterhazy Shaft 11 III A comparison of the fauna of Esterhazy Shaft with that of the Beaverhill Lake Formation, Fairholme Formation, Waterways Formation: Southern Northwest Territories and Northern Alberta. (Upper Devonian), Redwater Reef of (f' Leduc Formation (=Cooking Lake). 13 "'> IV The thickness and spacing of 1aminae and pi1lars in Actinostroma clathraturn Nicholson 30 V The occurrence of Actinostroma clathraturn Nicholson· 33 PLATES 1. Anostylostroma cf. ancolurnna Tyler 95 2. Hammatostroma CyStoSUIn n. sp. 96 3. Hammatostroma CyStOSUIn n. sp. 97 Actinostroma clathraturn Nicholson 4. Actinostroma clathraturn Nicholson 98 5. Actinostroma c1athraturn Nicholson 99 Trupetostroma cf. warreni Parks 6. Trupetostroma cf. warreni Parks 100 Trupetostroma ? raricystosUIn Galloway and St. Jean Trupetostroma coalescens Gal10way and St. Jean Trupetostroma porosurn Lecompte (~') 7. Trupetostroma porosurn Lecompte 101 Trupetostroma cervimontanurn Stearn (~ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (cont'd) Page PLATES 8. Syringostroma ? confertw:n Stearn 102 Trupetostroma sp. Stachyodes costulat~ Lecompte Stachyodes cf. thomasc1arki Stearn 9. Stachyodes cf. thomasclarki Stearn 103 Ferestromatopora parksi Stearn Stromatopora 1aminosa Lecompte 10. Stromatopora cooperi Lecompte 104 Il. Stromatopora cooperi Lecompte 105 Para11elopora pellucida Yavorsky Clathrocoilona sp. o ABSTRACT M. Sc. Dasharathlal Hiralal Shah Department of Geological Sciences Sorne Devonian Stromatoporoids from Esterhazy Shaft, Saskatchewan Stromatoporoids from the Esterhazy Shaft, Saskatchewan, collected from the Duperow formation (lower Upper Devonian), Souris River formation, First Red Bed and Dawson Bay formation (Middle Devonian) are found between depths of 1,987 feet and 3,058.9 feet. The stromatoporoid faunas are represented by species of Anostylostroma and Ham.matostroma of the faxnily Clathrodictyidae; Actinostroma and Trupetostroma of the Actinostromatidae; Stachyodes of the Idiostromatidae and Ferestromatopora, Stromatopora, Syringo- stroma, Para11elopora and Clathrocoilona of the Stromatoporidae. A new species of Ham.matostroma (H. CyStoSUIIl) and sixteen other species are described. () () IN TRODUC TION () .-....••_".~. __ , .L~.' ............ •• _", ______ ' •• _. -- ~~~' .. ( ) INTRODUCTION Purpose: Stromatoporoid species collected from lower Upper Devonian and Middle Devonian formations of Esterhazy Shaft are described. The Prairie evaporite is the largest potash deposit known to the world today. Esterhazy is the largest, most modern potash mine in the world with a present capacity of Z million tons of finished product per year (target in mid~1967 is 3.5 million tons per year) operated by International Minerals and Chemical Corpora- tion. Although a great deal is known and published concerning the Prairie Evaporite, shaft-sinking tec1miques, mining methods and equipment used at 1. M. C. 's Esterhazy Shaft, potash products and their uses on a global scale, strangely little has been published on the organisms - -stromatoporoids - -which occur in the associated limestones. Stromatoporoid specimens were collected by a local collector for the Geological Survey of Canada from limestone dug out of the Esterhazy Shaft between the depths of 1,987 feet and 3,059 feet including the Duperow formation, Souris River formation, First Red Bed, and Dawson Bay formation, allof Devonian age. The collector sampled the rocks brought out of () 1 2 () the shaft periodically and labelled the collections with the level at which digging was taking place. The stromatoporoid fauna described here, although large, probably represents only a small part of the species actually present in the shaft. Poor preservation in some and sarnpling are the possible reasons for this. Seventeen species of stromato- poroids are present. in the Esterhazy Shaft collection. Location: Esterhazy Shaft, operated by International Minerals and Chemical (Canada) Limited, is located 12 miles , , northeast of Esterhazy (longitude 1020 8 .:.; .. ~ and latitude 50 0 45 '), Eastern Saskatchewan; 20 miles from the Manitoba border and 130 miles north of the Canadian--U. S. boundary (see Figure 1). Plan: The Esterhazy Shaft area reveals the stratigraphy of Devonian beds in which the stromatoporoids occur. The present study does not attempt any paleontological correlation or paleoeco- logical study but presents the systematic stromatoporoid paleonto- logy of Devonian formations in the shaft. Seventeen species of stromatoporoids, including one new, are described. Appendix l lists the stratigraphie horizon, depth of sample from collar of shaft, sample nurnber, and stromatoporoid species identified. Appendix II, compiled from the core log data describes C>, the rock types. r-- ~ n ~! 0 1010 105° 104° 103° 102 51° 51° Qu'Appelle 50° 50° 1 I~" 3 ..... " '""' l'\ \ 1 1 (1)1 Carlyle ~Is: AI]> ]>'2 -i1-(') -i :1: 10 m lCD :El]> ]>1 21 '1 1 1 ___. ________ .-1--- 49 0 49° 0 1020 1010 105 1040 U. S. A. 1030 Scale: 1": 32 miles VJ Fig. l, Location of Area 4 () Method of Study: The study of stromatoporoids requires 1) the examination of the external morphological features, 2) the examination of vertical skeletal elements, 3) the examination of horizontal skeletal elements, The last two require oriented thin sections. Two thin-sections were prepared of each specimen, one vertical, perpendicular to the plane of the coenosteurn, the other parallel to the surface of the coenosteurn. These sections must be precisely oriented. The thin-section study was made Wlder a stereo microscope with 10 and 40 times magnification. The record of measurements of all skeletal elements is made with a graduated- millimeter eyepiece. In the systematic paleontology the measure- ments described are either averages or mean values or the full range of size -variation. Acknowledgment: The author is most grateful to Prof. c. W. Stearn for his able guidance, encouragement, ever wi1ling help provided during the completion of the thesis and also for his painstaking corrections and constructive suggestions to improve the thesis. The author is also sincerely thankful to J. E. Gill, Chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences for the various facilities provided. To Prof. E. W. Mountjoy the author is much ( " . ' obliged. 5 c) The author is thankful to the National Research Council under whose grant the study was carried out. Special thanks are due to Mr. H. D. Strain of 1. M. C. (Canada) Ltd., for providing his unpublished geological data of the Esterhazy Potash Deposit. The author further wishes to express his most sincere thanks to Prof. S. S. Merh, Head of Geology De partment, M. S. University of Baroda, Baroda, (lndia) for his advice. To Manjuia, wife of the author the credit is due for ably shouldering the family responsibilities in lndia and the most needed constant encouragement. .' C) STRATIGRAPHY .( ) ---'- ----- ------.----:-- --- -------"1------ï-··--- .---.-.------_.. - " . •"!:'. , STRATIGRAPHY Introduction The general stratigraphy Qf the shaft (the Devonian part) is given in Table I. The strata of the sediInentary basin of Western Canada dip gently to the south and west, away from the Canadian Shield, at an average of less than 30 feet per mile. The regional dip at the Esterhazy Shaft, potash beds and overlying strata is 30 to 40 feet per mile to the southwest into the Western Canada Basin Stromatoporoids occur in the Duperow formation (Upper Devonian), Souris River, First Red Bed and Dawson Bay formations (Middle Dewnian). The core log of the Esterhazy Shaft (Gerald #3) has been obtained from Joseph Y. Wright, Geologist of International Minerals and Chemical (Canada) LiInited, Esterhazy, Saskatchewan. Generalized descriptions of the rock types compiled from the core log appear in Appendix II. A graphic section, prepared from .the ::;a:me core data is shown in Fig 2. Stratigraphic Discussion of the Esterhazy Fauna: The s tromatoporoid fauna des cribed here, al though large, probably represents onlya small part of the species actually present ( ) 6 7 (:, GEOLOGICAL SECTION OF ESTERHAZY SHAFT .... ;. ...J <t U- :E W Cl I W U l- ll.. - " Cl :E 0 0 0 1- Z ...J C\J Z ll.. <t 0 <t Cf) <t l- I Cl Cf) r() ...J U <t <t W :# Z w Cf) >- a: " -l N 0 W <t 0 -l U 0 <l ...J <t Z u <l Cf) <t I Il:: - U a: w :E z - (!) (.!) w ...J 0 1- 0 Cf) <t 1- ...J W Z <t 0 0 a: 0 w 0 (.!) 1- <t a.. Z a: a: 0 w u 1- Z c c 0 0 .... .- 0 -a E E a'- lL. ~olL. ~ 0 ::1 "- ..:.: Q) (JI ·0 ·0 .- "0 ·0 0 a. 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