The formation consists primarily of conglomerate, although at some localities there are minor interbeds of coarse-grained sandstone, shale, and coal. The conglomerate is typically massive and consists of well-rounded pebbles, cobbles and boulders of white, grey and green chert, and white and grey quartzite, in a matrix of quartzose sand. In some areas there are also minor pebbles, cobbles and boulders of limestone, dolomite, black argillite and, rarely, greenish volcanics. The conglomerate and sandstone beds are cemented with silica, making them very hard and resistant to erosion, so they tend to form prominent outcrops.
Environment of deposition
Deposition of the Cadomin Formation marked the renewal of subsidence and sedimentation following a long period of uplift, exposure and erosion of older strata. The Cadomin sediments were derived from sources in the mountains to the west, and were deposited across the pediment surface by systems of alluvial fans and braided streams. It is postulated that the streams flowed generally northeastward, turning northwestward at the Fox Creek Escarpment.
Paleontology
The Cadomin Formation preserves the oldest dinosaur skeletal fossils from Alberta . The fossil material is attributable to a polocanthid ankylosaur, and comes from the basal unit of the Cadomin formation known as the Pocaterra Creek member. Unattributed turtle material was also reported from the formation, and the same locality as the dinosaur material.
Distribution
s near Cadomin, Alberta are the type locality. The formation is exposed at the surface in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, extending from the Canada–US border in southeastern British Columbia and southwestern Alberta and to the Peace River region in northeastern British Columbia, a distance of more than. It is also recognizable in the subsurface east of the foothills. It ranges in thickness from to more than and is generally thicker and more coarse grained in the west.
Relationship to other units
The Cadomin Formation overlies a major regional unconformity caused by pre-Cadomin erosion, although little or no evidence of the angular nature of that unconformity is apparent at most outcrops. It rests unconformably on the Fernie Formation, the Nikanassin Formation, the Minnes Group or the Kootenay Group, depending on the location and the extent of the erosion. It is conformably overlain by the Gladstone Formation in Alberta and Gething Formation in northeastern British Columbia, and it is equivalent to the base of the Mannville Group.
Hydrocarbon production
is produced from the Cadomin Formation in the Deep Basin area of western Alberta in the Hinton-Grande Cache-Grande Prairie area, and in the Cutbank area in northeastern British Columbia.
