Talk:Gowganda Formation

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: rejected, closed by AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 20:42, 28 June 2026 (UTC)

Gowganda Formation visible from Ontario Highway 11

• ... that the Gowganda Formation (pictured) in Ontario is one of the world's best-preserved, best-exposed, and oldest glacial deposits?

• • ALT1: ... that outcrops of a 2.3 billion-year-old glacial deposit (pictured) are visible from major highways in Northeastern Ontario? Source: Eyles, Nick (2013). Road Rocks Ontario: Over 250 Geological Wonders to Discover. Fitzhenry & Whiteside. pp. 443–5. ISBN 978-1-55041-859-0.
  • Reviewed:
  • Comment: Apologies for nominating late – I always intended to nominate this for DYK, but I was focusing on other projects and forgot about it until now. This is only one day past the standard seven-day cutoff, so may I humbly ask a small extension be made as is sometimes allowable? Thanks.

Cremastra (talk · contribs) 20:17, 8 June 2026 (UTC).

• You're good given the grace period at WP:DYKNEW. I'll review this. ミラP@Miraclepine 15:36, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

Hook eligibility:

• Cited: - Since I can't access the Eyles source, need quotes for these per WP:DYKCITE.
• Interesting: - ALT0 is a superlative hook supported by multiple sources, but none of the claims in the lede are backed by more than one. ALT1 is fine BTW and I prefer that over ALT0.
• Other problems: - ALT1 says "2.3" but page says "2.3 or 2.4". Maybe just say "two billion"? ALT1 says "major highways" but only Highway 17 is mentioned.

Image eligibility:

• Freely licensed:
• Used in article:
• Clear at 100px: - While the pic meets the 140px cutoff, it doesn't show that it's on the road, but gives an impression that it was taken on foot, so it's not completely clear. None of the images in commons:Category:Glacially striated tillite outcrop (Gowganda Formation in Ontario) are any better. I'm ambivalent on this since it still depicts the subject; I just won't mind if a promoter declines to show the image.

QPQ: - None yet.
Overall: Created eight days before nom, but within the one/two day grace period. Length 4961 B. Had to make a few minor changes per core content policies. Fixed a typo in ALT1, allowed per WP:DYKRR's [d] footnote. Image is licensed CC-BY 2.0 and from a Ohio State geologist's Flickr.@Cremastra: address the issues and you're good to go. ミラP@Miraclepine 17:33, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

Thank you for your comments.

"ALT1 says "2.3" but page says "2.3 or 2.4"." 2.3 Ga seems to be the more widely-accepted date; I might actually remove 2.4 Ga from the text altogether, since it seems to be the result of older estimates.

"ALT1 says "major highways" but only Highway 17 is mentioned." Also from Highway 11 per the infobox image; I can add Highway 11 in-text as I believe it's cited in Road Rocks Ontario.

Re the image, the description of the file says it is from a Highway 11 roadcut. The cited coordinates are also directly on the road.

The quotes: Ontario Rocks p. 203: "In 1905, Coleman was instrumental in discovering one of the oldest glacial deposits on Earth at Gowganda in Northern Ontario. Dated at 2.3 billion years old, it..."

Road Rocks Ontario: "Outcrops of the distinctive diamictites of the Gowganda Formation can be seen in many road cuts across a broad area of northern Ontario, all the way from Elliot Lake northeastward to New Liskeard. Excellent outcrops occur on Highway 108 [...] just east of Highway 11 near New Liskeard [...] Many outcrops of these distinctive and very important rocks can be seen along Highway 17 between Thessalon and Espanola, and in the area of Whitefish Falls on Highway 6 south of Espanola." (pp. 444–5)

Cremastra (talk · contribs) 19:49, 9 June 2026 (UTC)

@Cremastra: On the first two replies: per WP:DYKHOOK the article must be changed accordingly to address the issues with the hook. And thanks for the quotes. The issue with ALT0 still isn't addressed though, so I still prefer ALT1. ミラP@Miraclepine 04:03, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

• @Cremastra: Note that, as far as I can tell, you haven't provided a QPQ. The nomination may be closed if you don't provide one promptly. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 03:11, 24 June 2026 (UTC)
• Marking for closure as no QPQ has been provided in weeks despite the above review and a ping. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:21, 27 June 2026 (UTC)