{{Short description|Geologic formation in New Brunswick, Canada}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Albert Formation | image = | caption = | type = Formation | age = Early Mississippian (Tournaisian)<br />~{{Fossil range|359|347}} | prilithology = Sandstone, siltstone, oil shale | otherlithology = Mudstone, limestone, comglomerate | namedfor = Albert County | namedby = | region = New Brunswick | country = Canada | coordinates = {{coord|45.8779|N|64.6685|W|name=Albert Formation|display=inline,title}} | unitof = Horton Group<ref name=Carter>Carter, D.C. and Pickerill, R.K. 1985. Lithostratigraphy of the Late Devonian – Early Carboniferous Horton Group of the Moncton Subbasin, southern New Brunswick. Atlantic Geology, vol. 21, p. 11-24.</ref> | subunits = Gautreau Member<ref name=Carter /><br>Round Hill Member<ref name=Carter /><br>Hiram Brook Member<ref name=Carter /><br>Frederick Brook Member<ref name=Carter /><br>Dawson Settlement Member<ref name=Carter /> | underlies = Moncton Formation<ref name=Carter /> | overlies = Memramcook Formation<ref name=Carter /> | thickness = Up to {{convert|1800|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}<ref name=Smith>Smith, W.D. and Gibling, M.R. 1987. Oil shale composition related to depositional setting: A case study from the Albert Formation, New Brunswick, Canada. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 35, no. 4, p. 469-487.</ref> | extent = | area = | map = | map_caption = }}
The '''Albert Formation''' is a stratigraphic unit of Early Mississippian (Tournaisian) age in the Moncton Subbasin of southeastern New Brunswick. It was deposited in a lacustrine environment and includes fossils of fish and land plants, as well as trace fossils. It also includes significant deposits of oil shale. The oil shale beds are the source rocks for the petroleum and natural gas that has been produced from Albert Formation reservoirs at the Stoney Creek and McCully fields. In addition, the solid asphalt-like hydrocarbon albertite was mined from the Albert Formation at Albert Mines between 1854 and 1884.
==Lithology and mineralogy== The Albert Formation includes sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, and oil shale, with minor limestone and conglomerate.<ref name=Smith /> The oil shale beds are primarily kerogen-rich calcareous to dolomitic marlstones, clay marlstones, and laminated marlstones.<ref name=Macauley>Macauley, G., Ball, F.D. and Powell, T.G. 1984. A review of the Carboniferous Albert Formation oil shales of New Brunswick. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 32, no. 1, p. 27-37.</ref> The formation also includes local deposits of the evaporite minerals halite (rock salt), gypsum, anhydrite, and glauberite. The solid hydrocarbon albertite occurs as veins filling fissures in some of the beds, and is derived from the hydrocarbons in the oil shales.<ref name=Smith />
==Environment of deposition== The Albert Formation has been interpreted as a composite alluvial fan, fluvial-deltaic, and lacustrine sequence.<ref name=Carter /> The coarser-grained lithologies are nearshore deposits, while the finer-grained rocks, including the oil shale beds, are an offshore, deeper-water assemblage.<ref name=Carter /><ref name=Smith /> Fossils of whole fish preserved in the laminated oil shales indicate very low energy, anoxic conditions.<ref name=Keighley />
==Paleontology== The Albert Formation is known for its complete, articulated specimens of lower actinopterygian (palaeoniscoid) fishes, including the genera ''Rhadinichthys'', ''Elonichthys'', and ''Canobius''.<ref>Mickle, K.E. 2017. The lower actinopterygian fauna from the Lower Carboniferous Albert shale formation of New Brunswick Canada – A review of previously described taxa and a description of a new genus and species. College of Science, Health and the Liberal Arts Faculty Papers, paper 1. https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jchsfp/1; doi:10.5194/fr-20-47-2017.</ref> There are remains of land plants such as ''Lepidodendrales'' and ''Sphenopteris'',<ref name=Bell>Bell, W.A. 1960. Mississippian Horton Group of type Windsor-Horton District, Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 314, 112 p.</ref> as well as palynomorphs.<ref name=Utting>Utting, J. 1987. Palynostratigraphic investigation of the Albert Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of New Brunswick, Canada. Palynology, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 73-96.</ref> Trace fossils include ''Paleodictyon'', ''Helminthopsis'', and ''Planolites''.<ref name=Pickerill>Pickerill, R.K. 1990. Nonmarine ''Paleodictyon'' from the Carboniferous Albert Formation of southern New Brunswick. Atlantic Geology, vol. 26, p. 157-163.</ref>
==Economic resources==
===Oil and gas=== The Albert Formation hosts the only two commercial onshore oil and gas fields in Canada's Maritime Provinces. The Stoney Creek field produced from sandstone reservoirs in the Albert Formation between 1909 and 1991, and estimates suggest that significant oil remains in place there. The McCully field, which was discovered in 2000, produces from tight gas sandstones in the upper part of the Albert Formation, above the main organic mudstone (oil shale) source rocks.<ref name=Keighley>Keighley, D. 2008. A lacustrine shoreface succession in the Albert Formation, Moncton Basin, New Brunswick. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, vol. 56, no. 4, p. 235-258.</ref>
===Albertite=== Veins of the solid black hydrocarbon that was subsequently named albertite were first noted in the Albert Formation in 1820. In 1846, Abraham Gesner used albertite in developing the first method for distilling kerosene, and between 1854 and 1884 albertite was mined by underground methods at Albert Mines for use in the production of kerosene and illuminating gas.<ref name="Museum">{{cite web |last1=Albert County Museum |title=Albertite Mining |url=https://www.albertcountymuseum.com/mining |accessdate=23 April 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite web|title= Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database|author= ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database))|url= https://www.fossilworks.org/|access-date= 17 December 2021|archive-date= 25 March 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220325060448/http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=home|url-status= dead}}
Category:Geologic formations of New Brunswick Category:Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of North America Category:Carboniferous New Brunswick Category:Oil shale in Canada Category:Oil shale formations Category:Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits Category:Sandstone formations of Canada Category:Mudstone formations of Canada Category:Limestone formations of Canada Category:Conglomerate formations of Canada