| Kettle Point Formation | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Late Devonian | |
| Type | Geological formation |
| Underlies | Pleistocene glacial till or Mississippian Bedford Formation |
| Overlies | Hamilton Group |
| Thickness | average of 100 feet (30 m) to maximum of 360 feet (110 m) in drill holes |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | bituminous shales |
| Other | shale and siltstone interbeds |
| Location | |
| Location | Kettle Point Park, Ontario |
| Region | southern Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Kettle Point, Ontario |
| Named by | J. F. Caley |
| Location | Kettle Point Park, Ontario |
| Year defined | 1943 |
| Coordinates | 43°10′59.41″N 82°1′3.11″W / 43.1831694°N 82.0175306°W |
| Region | Southeast shore of Lake Huron |
| Country | Ontario, Canada |
| Thickness at type section | 12 feet (3.7 m) exposed along shoreline |
The Kettle Point Formation, also known as the Kettle Point (black) Shale, is a geologic formation that consists of thinly laminated, siliciclastic, organic-rich black shale with thin to thick interbeds of organic-poor mudstone. It is largely restricted to the subsurface of southwestern Ontario.[1][2]
The eponymous type location of the Kettle Point Formation is Kettle Point which is located on the southeast shore of Lake Huron, southwestern Ontario. Kettle Point is the sole significant, and relatively accessible, outcrop of this formation. The outcrop consists of a wave-cut bluff which is 6.5 feet (2.0 m) high. Along its length, the wave-cut bluff exposes 12 feet (3.7 m) of slightly tilted shale. Kettle Point was named for decimetre- to meter-sized, hemispherical to spheroidal authigenic carbonate concretions that erode out of the Kettle Point Formation. These concretions are locally called kettles due to their resemblance to cooking vessels used by European settlers.[2][3]