Editing Mount Rundle (section)

== Geology ==
[[File:Mount Rundle, summit.jpg|thumb|left| East aspect of Mount Rundle showing summit]]
Mount Rundle consists of [[limestone]]s, [[Dolomite (mineral)|dolomitic]] limestones, [[Dolomite (rock)|dolomite]]s and [[shale]]s of [[Paleozoic]] ([[Late Devonian]] to [[Mississippian (geology)|Mississippian]]) age. In ascending order, they belong to the [[Palliser Formation|Palliser]], [[Exshaw Formation|Exshaw]] and [[Banff Formation]]s, topped by the [[Rundle Group]], which was named after the mountain.<ref name="lexicon">{{Cite web|url=http://cgkn1.cgkn.net/weblex/weblex_litho_detail_e.pl?00053:013065|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222015657/http://cgkn1.cgkn.net/weblex/weblex_litho_detail_e.pl?00053:013065|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 February 2013|title=Rundle Group|author=[[Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units]]|access-date=29 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://cgkn1.cgkn.net/weblex/weblex_litho_detail_e.pl?00053:008601|series=[[Lexicon of Canadian Geologic Units]]|title=Livingstone Formation|year=1953|access-date=29 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707092317/http://cgkn1.cgkn.net/weblex/weblex_litho_detail_e.pl?00053:008601|archive-date=7 July 2012}}</ref>

Mount Rundle illustrates the classic limestone-shale-limestone "sandwich" of the front ranges.<ref name="BenGadd2008">{{citation|title=Canadian Rockies Geology Road Trips|last=Gadd|first=Ben|publisher=Corax Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-9692631-2-8|pages=118–119}}</ref> The basal "slice of bread" is the lower massive cliffs of tough grey Pallister Formation limestones and dolomites.<ref name="BenGadd2008" /> The "sandwich filling" is the Banff Formation, a layer of softer, more easily eroded, dark brownish-gray to black [[calcareous]] shale with thin beds of [[Argillaceous minerals|argillaceous]] limestone.<ref name=calfrac>{{cite web|url=http://www.calfrac.com/_pdf/Canadian-Formations.pdf|title=Formations|url-status=dead|website=calfrac.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319063308/https://www.calfrac.com/_pdf/Canadian-Formations.pdf|archive-date=19 March 2017}}</ref> The top layer of the geologic sandwich is the grey limestones and dolomites of the Rundle Group that form the massive upper cliffs at the top of Mount Rundle. Between the Palliser and the Banff lie the thin, recessive shales of the Exshaw Formation (the "lettuce leaf" of the sandwich), covered with debris from above.<ref name="BenGadd2008" />

The Paleozoic "sandwich" is part of the Rundle [[thrust sheet]] that was moved up from the west along the Rundle [[thrust fault]] and emplaced on top of the younger rocks (the [[Early Cretaceous]] [[Mist Mountain Formation]]) that underlie Canmore and the forested slopes along the [[Bow River]]. The thrust faulting occurred during the Columbian [[Orogeny]] between late Jurassic and early Cretaceous time. At that time a collision of [[tectonic plates]] caused huge sheets of sedimentary rock in what is now [[British Columbia]] to become detached and slide eastward to northeastward over their neighbors, piling up to form the southern [[Canadian Rockies]]. This left the Paleozoic strata on Mount Rundle [[dip (geology)|dipping]] steeply to the southwest, so that the southwest-facing side of the mountain forms an extensive [[dip slope]]. Geologists consider Mount Rundle to be a classic example of a mountain cut in dipping layered rocks, with the tilted strata giving the mountain its shape.<ref name="bivouac" /><ref name="BenGadd2008" /><ref name="platetectonics">{{citation|url=http://www.mountainnature.com/geology/platetectonics.htm|title=The Formation of the Rocky Mountains|work=Mountains in Nature|date=nd|access-date=29 January 2014|archive-date=23 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723230042/http://www.mountainnature.com/Geology/platetectonics.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CSPG_2007poster">{{citation|publisher=Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists|year=2007|magazine=Alberta Oil Magazine: the oil and gas publication of Canada|access-date=30 January 2014|title=Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Poster|url=http://www.ayrtonexploration.com/CSPG_poster.pdf|format=PDF}}</ref>

The most recent stage in the history of Mount Rundle began in the [[Pleistocene]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] about 2 million years ago with the sculpting and gouging of the Canadian Rockies by glaciers, and then by streams and rivers.<ref name="CSPG_2007poster" /> Finally, after the glaciers retreated for the last time, a series of steep, tree-covered [[alluvial fan]]s began to grow at the mouths of the deep gulches on the northeast-facing side of the mountain.

=== Commerce ===
'''Rundle rock''' or '''Rundle stone''', a natural stone, first quarried on Mount Rundle, is a common [[dimension stone]] used in southern [[Alberta]] for landscaping and building purposes. It has been used in the construction of the [[Banff Springs Hotel]] and several of the [[Parks Canada]] buildings. It is fine-grained sandstone dating back to the Triassic Period.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Foubert|first1=Tanya|title=At Kamenka Quarry, every stone has a story|url=http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/At-Kamenka-Quarry-every-stone-has-a-story-20160113|access-date=February 18, 2018|work=Rocky Mountain Outlook|date=Jan 13, 2006}}</ref>