Nature
The Frenchman Formation is a Late Cretaceous rock unit in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, defined in 1942 from outcrops along the Frenchman River. Representing the latest Maastrichtian, it records the final chapter of the Cretaceous in this part of Canada. Its top coincides with the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, recognized by biostratigraphic change and, in some areas, an iridium anomaly. Composed mainly of sandstone with claystone and minor conglomerate, it is also an important fossil-bearing unit. It has yielded some of the youngest known dinosaur genera, mammals, birds, and plant remains that reveal temperate mixed forests and ecological recovery after forest fire just before the end-Cretaceous extinction.
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Saskatchewan · Canada