Nature
The Ravenscrag Formation is an early Paleocene geological unit in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, first described in 1918 from Ravenscrag Butte near the Frenchman River. An eastward-thickening wedge up to 244 metres thick, it consists mainly of silty claystone with mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, and important lignite coal seams laid down in floodplain and swamp settings just after the Cretaceous ended. Its base marks the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary and records major biostratigraphic change. Especially significant for its fossils, it preserves early North American mammals, other vertebrates, and abundant plants, while also providing low-sulphur coal and clay used for brickmaking.
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Saskatchewan · Canada
