The Nahanni Formation is a stratigraphical

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....

 unit of Givetian age

Geochronology

Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent to the method used. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this, and schemes of classification and terminology have been proposed...

 in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is a vast sedimentary basin underlying of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock...

.

It takes the name from Nahanni Butte, a proeminent ridge at the confluence of the South Nahanni River

South Nahanni River

The South Nahanni River is a major tributary of the Liard River, located roughly 500 kilometres west of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the centerpiece of Nahanni National Park Reserve...

 and Liard River

Liard River

The Liard River flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back...

, and was first described in outcrop on the south face of the mountain by C.O. Hage in 1945.

Hydrocarbon production

gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 is produced from the Nahanni Formation in the Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 Valley.

Paleontology

The Nahanni Formation contains paleofauna compose of coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

s, brachiopod

Brachiopod

Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...

s and trilobite

Trilobite

Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...

s.

Distribution

The Nahanni Formation reaches a maximum thickness of 137 metres (449.5 ft) at Nahanni Butte, and has typical thickness of 60 metres (196.9 ft). It occurs from the Franklin Mountains in the north to north-eastern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 in the south.

Relationship to other units

The Nahanni Formation is conformably overlain by the Fort Simpson Formation

Fort Simpson Formation

The Fort Simpson Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from the settlement of Fort Simpson, and was first described in well Briggs Turkey Lake No. 1 by A.E...

 in the west and by the Horn River Formation

Horn River Formation

The Horn River Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Devonian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from the Horn River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River, and was first described in outrop on the banks of Horn River in the Northwest Territories by Whittaker in 1922...

 in the east. It overlays the Headless Formation diachronically and transitionally, with younger deposits occurring in the west.

It is equivalent to the upper part of the Hume Formation in the Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 area, as well as the Lonely Bay Formation, Pine Point Formation

Pine Point Formation

The Pine Point Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Givetian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from Pine Point, a promontory on the south shore of the Great Slave Lake, west of Fort Resolution, and was first described in outcrop on the shore of the lake between Pine...

 and Little Buffalo Formation in the Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada , the deepest lake in North America at , and the ninth-largest lake in the world. It is long and wide. It covers an area of in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from to and up to ...

 area. In northern Alberta

Northern Alberta

Northern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.Its primary industry is oil and gas, with large heavy oil reserves being exploited at the Athabasca Oil Sands and Wabasca Area in the east of the region...

 it corresponds to the Keg River Formation

Keg River Formation

The Keg River Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Givetian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from the Keg River, a tributary of the Peace River, and was first described in the California Standard Steen River 2-22-117-5W6M well by J...

.