| Eldon Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Middle Cambrian ~ | |
 The Eldon Formation forms the cliffs of Mount Yamnuska in Alberta | |
| Type | Formation |
| Underlies | Pika Formation |
| Overlies | Stephen Formation, Snake Indian Formation |
| Thickness | Up to 500 metres (1640 ft)[1] |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Limestone, dolomite |
| Other | Mudstone |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 51°18′8.5″N 115°55′45″W / 51.302361°N 115.92917°W |
| Region | Canadian Rockies |
| Country |  Canada |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Eldon Switch on the Canadian Pacific Railway in Banff National Park, Alberta |
| Named by | Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1908[2] |
The Eldon Formation is a stratigraphic unit that is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the southern Canadian Rockies of southwestern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia.[3] It is a thick sequence of massive, cliff-forming limestones and dolomites that was named for Eldon Switch on the Canadian Pacific Railway near Castle Mountain in Banff National Park by Charles Doolittle Walcott,[1][2] who discovered the Burgess Shale fossils. The Eldon Formation was deposited during Middle Cambrian time, and it includes fossil stromatolites.[1] The Eldon forms the scenic cliffs at the top of Castle Mountain, and can also be seen at Mount Yamnuska and other mountains in Banff and Yoho National Parks.[4]
- ^ a b c Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. ISBN 0-920230-23-7.
- ^ a b Walcott, C.D. 1908. Nomenclature of some Cambrian Cordilleran formations. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 53, no. 1, 14 pp.
- ^ Slind, O.L., Andrews, G.D., Murray, D.L., Norford, B.S., Paterson, D.F., Salas, C.J., and Tawadros, E.E., Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Geological Survey (1994). "The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (Mossop, G.D. and Shetsen, I., compilers), Chapter 8: Middle Cambrian and Early Ordovician Strata of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin". Retrieved 2018-07-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Leckie, D.A. 2017. Rocks, ridges and rivers – Geological wonders of Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks. Brokenpoplars, Calgary, Alberta, 217 pp. ISBN 978-0-9959082-0-8.