The Solomon sandstone extends through Alberta from about the Ghost River in the south to more than one hundred miles north of the Athabasca River. The area described in this dissertation is bounded on the south by the Bow River and on the north by the Athabasca River.

The Solomon sandstone is considered to be a member of the Wapiabi formation. It conformably overlies the Wapiabi shales, and is overlain by shales of the Transition Zone, the uppermost strata of the Wapiabi formation. It is the most recent marine deposit of Cretaceous age in this area.

This sandstone is a resistant-weathering unit with shale above and below it. It outcrops primarily along rivers and forms high ridges as well. At its western extremity it is composed of a medium to thick-bedded fine-grained greenish-grey to rusty-brown sandstone with a one- or two-foot bed of chert-pebble conglomerate marking its upper limit. The lower contact is gradational, sometimes being indicated by a very glauconitic zone. The sandstone is composed of angular to sub-angular grains of quartz and chert with minor amounts of feldspar. The cementing material is predominantly siliceous; but calcareous and argillaccous matrices are not uncommon. Near the eastern edge of the area the sandstone grades into a thin-bedded coarse-grained siltstone which becomes very impure and dark grey to black in color.

The Solomon was derived from previously-existing rocks exposed in the Cordilleran Geanticline to the west. The detritus was deposited under neritic to shallow bathyal conditions on a mildly unstable to unstable shelf area. The rate of subsidence of the area of deposition was not sufficient to offset the effect of the rapid influx of sediments from the rising landmass to the west, and the transition from marine to non-marine conditions took place at the close of Solomon time.

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