Documentation of the sub-Cambrian unconformity, Rocky Mountains Main Ranges, Alberta

Abstract

Much of the existing literature on the base of the Cambrian System in the southern Rocky Mountains tends to de-emphasize the importance of the stratigraphic hiatus represented. Although a sub-Cambrian regional unconformity has been reported by several authors, conclusive evidence of the unconformity has not been published.This paper documents profound truncation of Miette Group strata of Windermere age at the base of the Gog Group of Early Cambrian age, and draws attention to several localities at which Precambrian structures are truncated at the base of the Cambrian. The sub-Cambrian unconformity is comparable in style and magnitude to the sub-Devonian unconformity of the same region.