Lower Mississippian Carbonate

The beds consist of fossiliferous, fragmental to algal, oolitic, and pisolitic limestones, with evaporitic dolomite and anhydrite more prevalent in the upper section. Patchily distributed lenticular sandstones occur in the middle of the beds. This unit is recognized in southeastern Saskatchewan, extreme southwestern Manitoba, and north-central and central North Dakota.

Lower Mississipian Shale

The Banff formation consists of a dark gray to black calcareous shale, with thin beds of argillaceous limestone increasing in abundance upward. There are gradations to argillaceous dolomite and silty beds. This unit is recognized in southern Alberta (Banff) and decreases in thickness east of Drumheller and north of Medicine Hat. Northward from Banff the unit gradually increases in thickness to approximately 305 meters north of the Peace River area.

Mannville Group  Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

“Basal Quartz” is a descriptive term for the dominantly quartz rich sandstone in the lower part of the Mannville Group, and is being discarded in favor of Ellerslie, though it is still much used. It is equivalent also to the Dina Sand and the McMurray Sand. The Ellerslie formation is divided into two zones. The upper is sandy shale and shaley sands, the lower is a very clean fine-grained quartz series, which has been labeled the Basal Quartz.

Middle-Upper Devonian Carbonate

Interbedded, fragmental and argillaceous limestone, with primary anhydrite in one of the fragmental limestone zones. It is recognized in the subsurface from about township 25 northward and northeastward, and its equivalent is present in the outcrop section in the Peace River area.

Permian Carbonate

The Belloy formation can be subdivided into three distinct members: 1. Upper Carbonate Member – Limy to dolomitic, finegrained quartz rich sandstone. 2. Sand Member – Medium grained quartz sand, with abundant weathered feldspars and clays. 3. Lower Carbonate Member – Composed of sands and silts, mixed with carbonates. Massive chert with interbedded limestone or dolomitized limestone.

Upper Cretaceous Sandstone

The Belly River group is composed of the Oldman formation and the Foremost formation. The upper member of the Oldman formation consists of carbonaceous sandstone and shaley coal seams with one or more bentonitic beds near its top. The lower member is composed of sandstone and shale with thin beds of siltstone. The sandstone weathers to form badlands topography and are world famous for dinosaurian remains. The Belly River underlies most of the Alberta plains. It can be traced eastward into central and southern Saskatchewan and southward into northern Montana. Oil production in the Belly River sandstone is generally restricted to west central Alberta, while gas can be found throughout much of the areal occurrence of the formation.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Blairmore consists primarily of sandstone, varying greatly in texture, with one thin bed of limestone towards the middle of the series. Widely distributed under the western plains, being present in the north-central and southern areas of Alberta, the central and southern areas of Saskatchewan, and the southern area of Manitoba.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Bluesky is fine to medium grained, usually glauconitic, partly calcareous or sideritic, salt and pepper sandstone with fair porosity. Chert granules and pebbles occur near the top, with thin shale interbedded throughout. The thickness is 0-46 meters in the Peace River plains subsurface. It thins to the south and southeast.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

Quartz rich, salt and pepper sandstone with scattered chert pebbles, fine grained, loose, porous, bentonitic matrix. This formation is in the Bow Island area of Alberta.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Cadomin is a massive, resistant conglomerate, but at some localities it contains abundant inter-bedded sandstone and finer clastics. The pebbles are firmly cemented in a course sandy matrix. This formation is one of the most prominent stratigraphic units in the Rocky Mountain Foothills, and extends from the U.S. border to beyond the Peace River area of northeastern B.C., a distance of over 1000 kilometers.

Peace River Formation Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

Fine to very fine grained, locally calcareous or sideritic, often glauconitic, salt and pepper sandstone with good porosity. The Cadotte is sometimes inter-bedded with shale and silt. It occurs in the subsurface of the Peace River region. North of township 93 the sandstone is absent.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

In the surface of the plains, the Cardium formation is encased in marine shales, and consists of discontinuous sheets of sandstone with associated conglomerate, siltstone, and shale. The sediments were accumulated in muddy and sandy inner and outer shelves, beaches, lagoonal, barrier islands, tidal, estuarine and coastal plains. The Cardium forms a large stratigraphic trap in its eastern shaleout, producing Canada’s largest individual oil field – Pembina. The thickness varies from 0 to over 134 meters. It has been reported as far south as township 14 in the foothills and township 17 in the mountains.

Schooler Creek Group Upper Triassic Evaporite

In the Peace River area, the formation consists of massive anhydrites, red dolomitic siltstones, evaporitic dolomite and minor halite. The formation is characterized by a transition from an evaporitic facies in the east to a massive sandstone and secondary dolomite facies in the west. Hydrocarbon production is associated with coastal dunes, shallow-marine sandstones and tidal flat algal carbonates. Charlie Lake formation is restricted to an area of the Rocky Mountain Foothills and extends to Grande Prairie and south of Fort Nelson.

Joli Fou Formation Mannville Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

A fairly coarse grained, clean friable sand, which is glauconitic in its upper part and argillaceous in its lower part. Restricted to the subsurface in the Lloydminster area.

Stettler Formation Upper Devonian Carbonate

The east Crossfield D-1 reservoir is made up of the Crossfield Member of the Stettler Formation in the Wabamun (D-1) Group and is of Upper Devonian Age. The Crossfield Member is a sour gas producing zone which averages 30.5 meters in thickness and varies in width from 3.2 to 19.3 m. This geological feature extends in a north south direction close to the Fifth Principle meridian of Alberta from Olds to Okotoks, a distance of about 145 km. The Crossfield member is a shelf deposit between intertidal and supratidal anhydrite deposits to the east and an open marine basin to the west. Gas comes from porous dolomitized stromatoporoidal and algal bank rock. Pores consist of vugs of algal origin and original stromatoporoidal organic porosity (vugular and pinpoint porosity) produced by ground water solution. Partial filling of the original pore spaces with calcite cement has greatly reduced total porosity and in certain areas of the field has reduced effective porosity.

Winterburn Group Upper Devonian Carbonate

The Nisku consists of dolomite, variably silty and anhydritic, with variable amounts of secondary anhydrite, is porous in part, and there are some shales inter-bedded. The Nisku anhydrite and dolomite occur throughout the Cooking Lake shelf area of central Alberta. The formation changes facies to calcareous shale and limestone in the central western Plains area.

Woodbend Group Upper Devonian Carbonate

The Leduc is a crystalline dolomite or limestone, with scattered vugs, typically semi-fragmental and reefy in nature. The Leduc is sporadically developed in Western Canada, where its thickness varies from 0 to more than 215 meters.

Blairmore Formation Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Dalhousie is a massive sandstone quartzose, very coarse to fine grained and sandy conglomerate. The matrix is almost entirely a quartz sand. The name is used in a belt in, and parallel to, the foothills from Jumping Pound south to Pincher Creek.

Mississippian Carbonate

The Debolt is divided into two members: 1. Upper Debolt – Finely crystalline dolostones, anhydritic in part, with interbeds of anhydrite. 2. Lower Debolt – Cherty, massive, bioclastic, limestone, that may be replaced by dolomite eastward. Northward the shale content increases.

Kaskapau Formation Upper Cretaceous Sandstone

In the south Pouce Coupe gas field, the Doe Creek is characterized as a group of generally three to four lenticular sands grouped within fifty-foot interval. The sands are fine-grained and contain a little chert and glauconite.

Upper Cretaceous Sandstone

The beds are massive, cross-bedded sandstones. Zones of thin-bedded sandstone and shale, shelly limestone and coal are present. The Dunvegan extends from the Peace River area north to Fort Nelson and the Liard River, and in the foothills belt, as far as Jasper, primarily within the deep Basin area of northwestern Alberta plains and foothills, and the foothills of northeastern B.C.

Turner Valley Formation Mississippian Carbonate

The Elkton consists of dolomite and limestone, finely to coarsely crystalline, with some inter-bedded silty dolomite. There is some chert near the top. The general distribution is from the Caroline-Sundre area on the north (Township 37) to the Shell Parkland No.1 (6- 29-15-26 W4M) well on the south.

Spirit River Formation Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

This member consists of a variable of greywacke, shale, siltstone and conglomerate, with some thin coal beds. Traces of glauconite are common. The Falher Member is found in the subsurface sections of west-central Alberta.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Gething formation consists of fine grain shale and fine grain sandstone, with the presence of coal. The Gething occurs in the eastern Peace River foothills, being particularly well exposed in Peace River Canyon. It extends as far east as Pouce Coupe, and probably further, and as far south as the Kakwa Lake – Copton Creek area.

Watt Mountain Formation Middle Devonian Sandstone

This sandstone has a fairly constant character, consisting predominantly of sub-rounded to sub-angular, moderately well sorted quartz grains. Very fine sand and silt infill these coarser grains. Accessory minerals are few, although light colored feldspars are common. Streaks of chlorite or kaolinite friable sands are found. Minor bands of shale and shaley sandstone occur. Toward the base of the sandstone porosity decreases due to shale content. The Gilwood is recognizable to the south of the Peace River High as far as township 55 and to the north as far as township 103. It is not recognizable to the east of a line running from township 103, range 23 W5M to township 73 range 1 W5M.

Mannville Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

Glauconitic sandstone is the basal member of the Clearwater formation in the Mannville group of central and southern Alberta. Generally, the Glauconitic Sandstone consists of very fine to medium quartz-rich sandstone in eastern Alberta and quartz sandstone intermixed with coarser sandstone in the westernpart of the province. Commonly, the Glauconite content decreases and clay content increases in southern Alberta, where the unit becomes less marine. Siderite (Fe) spherules are present in places. Interstitial clay and calcareous cement content vary. This unit is widespread in Alberta, extending into B.C.

Lower Devonian Sandstone

It is composed of sandstone and shale. The sandstone is fairly well sorted to conglomeratic. It is generally coarse grained, angular and very porous in many localities. It is 0-190 meters in thickness and is distributed for a great distance to the north and east of the Peace River Arch, and a lesser distance south of the arc.

Upper Triassic Sandstone

The Halfway formation, of northeastern B.C. and northwestern Alberta, generally consists of fine to medium grained quartz-rich sandstone cemented with variable amounts of dolomite and anhydrite. Coquina beds of varying thickness are also found with the Halfway formation. These coquina beds represent concentrations of shells and shell fragments. Zones of micro-porous sandy dolomite may be inter-bedded with the Halfway sandstone. The formation is restricted to the general Peace River area northwest of Grande Prairie and east of the Foothills.

Mississipian Sandstone

The Kisbey consists of a calcareous sandstone and silty dolomite, medium grained, porous and well sorted. It occupies the northeastern part of the Williston Basin.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Lloydminster Sand is an unconsolidated quartz sand inter-bedded with silt. Thin coal and carbonaceous shale beds usually mark the top. This sand varies in thickness from 10 – 30 meters. It can be traced from Vermilion to Lloydminster.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Luscar is made up of fine to medium grained sandstone, black shale, and thin ironstone bands generally associated with shale. In the Jasper Park area, it has thin beds and lenses of fine conglomerate, containing commercial coal seams. Some calcareous shale.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone & Shale

Consists of inter-bedded salt and pepper sands, non-marine grey shale, quartz sands, and a marine shale member. Distributed through the Vermilion area. Also, between Edmonton, Athabaska, and Lloydminster. Shown to extend as far south as the International Border and westward to west of Lethbridge. The formations in this group are: Blairmore, Clearwater Shale, Glauconite, Moulton, Ostracod, Sunburst, Bantry Shale, Taber, Cutbank, Ellerslie (Basal Quartz), and the Detritial.

First White Speckled Shale Colorado Group Upper Cretaceous Sandstone

The Medicine Hat sandstone consists of bioturbated, muddy sandstones and siltstones. Typically, the Medicine Hat was deposited in a shallow marine environment.

Lower Mississippian Carbonate

The Midale consists of limestone and dolomitic limestone with evaporitic dolomite and anhydrite in the lowermost part. Recognized in southeastern Saskatchewan and in north central North Dakota.

Montana Group Upper Cretaceous Sandstone

The Milk River formation can be divided into upper and lower members. The top of the Milk River is marked by a concentration of chert pebbles. The upper member consists chiefly of fine-grained argillaceous sandstone with inter-bedding of sandy clays and shales. Thin streaks of impure (coal) and bands of inclusions of ironstone are common. The lower member is mainly medium-grained, cherty, massive sandstone with occasional thin streaks of sandy shale.

Madison Group Lower Mississippian Carbonate

The Mission Canyon formation consists of limestone and in parts is dolomitized. Thin anhydrite beds occur in the Williston basin area. This formation extends into the Williston subsurface (eastern Montana, Dakotas, Saskatchewan) and into northern Montana and southern Alberta as well as southward into Wyoming.

Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

A quartzitic (quartz-rich) sandstone, inter-bedded with shale and sandy shale. The upper part of the succession is more shaley and contains carbonaceous shale and thin coal seams.

Fernie Formation Lower Jurassic Carbonate

Generally, it consists of black limestone and calcareous black shales with abundant chert fragments and phosphate nodules. In the subsurface of west Alberta there is as much sandy chert as sandstone. The Nordegg extends from the International Boundary to about the 57th parallel, and along and slightly east of the Foothills Belt.

Lower Cretaceous Carbonate/Sandstone

The Ostracod zone shows lithologic variation. Most commonly it is a hard dark grey to dark brown and brownish black shale that is partly calcareous, and in many places contains thin bands of dark grey to brown argillaceous limestone. Pyrite bands are common. Lenses of siltstone and fine-grained sandstone, frequently oil stained are common. Distribution: Central and southern Alberta (i.e. Rocky Mountain House vicinity, and Peace River Region).

Peace River Formation Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

Cadotte: Fine to very fine grained, locally calcareous or sideritic (FeC03), often glauconitic, salt and pepper sandstone with good porosity. Rare chert pebbles occur. Sometimes inter-bedded with marine shale and silt. The thickness varies from 9 – 52 meters. It occurs in the subsurface throughout the Peace River region. North of township 93 the sandstone is absent. Paddy: A sandstone that is poorly sorted, fine to very coarse, partly silty and carbonaceous, containing thin shale and some coal beds. It occurs generally in the Peace River area of west central Alberta from the B.C. boundary as far east as the west end of Lesser Slave Lake, and in a north-south direction, from township 71-96. The Paddy is disconformably underlain by the Cadotte Member.

Triassic Carbonate

The Pardonet consists of dark calcareous shales and siltstones, with small proportions of dark limestone and rarely, calcareous shales. The thickness varies from 75 meters to more than 610 meters in the western sections. This formation occurs in the Peace River area.

Rundle Group Mississippian Carbonate

The Pekisko Formation consists of medium to coarsely crystalline crinoidal limestone in beds as much as 15 meters thick interbedded with finely crystalline, dark grey to brownish grey, argillaceous dolomitic limestone with dark green chert nodules. It grades eastward to a light yellowish brown, coarse grained, bioclastic, chalky limestone, with dark shale and siltstone, and northward into dark grey shales.

Middle Devonian Carbonate

Pine Point is a thin bedded, bituminous limestone, and in places is very shaley. Distributed in the northwest plains in Alberta, and north-eastern British Columbia.

Fernie Formation Middle Jurassic Sandstone

The Rock Creek sandstone is well developed in south east Alberta and comprises a single quartzose sandstone unit, variably bioturbated or crossbedded. The blocky log character and abrupt base of the Rock Creek Member is typical of this unit in its northern facies area in much of west central Alberta. But in many places, several sandstones are interbedded with units of siltstones, shale and bivalve coquinas and the base of the unit may vary from abrupt to gradational. Easternly derived Rock Creek quartzarenites and shales were cyclically deposited on a shallow marine shelf. Its thickness ranges from 1.5 to 10 meters, and is found in the Fernie, Crowsnest Pass, and Cadomin areas.

Colorado Group Cretaceous Shale

The Second White Speckled shale is a term commonly used in Alberta and Saskatchewan to designate the lower of two zones of medium dark grey marine shale containing numerous white buff calcareous specks.

Middle Jurassic Carbonate

Upper Member: Argillaceous limestone, in places sandy, with inter-beds of shale, grades into sandstone.
Lower Member: Limestone, oolitic, and in places dolomitic.
Both members form the reservoirs of several oil fields in southwestern Saskatchewan. The Shaunavon is present all across southwestern Saskatchewan, the northern U.S.A., and adjacent Alberta where it is known as the Sawtooth.

Rundle Group Mississippian Carbonate

Consists of inter-bedded argillaceous limestone, silty and argillaceous dolomite, siltstone, sandstone, shale and breccias. Anhydrite and red beds are present in the subsurface at isolated locations. In the Peace River area, the Shunda is dominantly limestone with inter-bedded shale. This formation is present in the foothills and the western part of the plains area from township 15 in the south to the Peace River area in the north.

Upper Devonian Carbonate

The Slave Point formation consists of a fine-grained, thinbedded argillaceous, slightly bituminous limestone. The term Slave Point is usually used in central to northern Alberta to refer to a carbonate member at the base of the Beaverhill Lake formation.

Madison Group Mississippian Carbonate

Souris Valley Beds comprise a thin bedded-type sequence of argillaceous limestone, calcareous shale and chert. The unit can be traced throughout a large area in southeastern Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba, and extending into the adjacent part of North Dakota.

Mannville Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

A petroliferous unconsolidated, well sorted, rounded, pure quartz sand. Commonly it is associated with pyrite nodules and shale. Interpreted as shoreface deposits that are locally cut by channelized bodies of sandstone and shale. The Sparky Sand and associated shale are about 12 meters thick in the Lloydminster area.

Lower Cretaceous Sandstone & Shale

The Spirit River formation consists of the following members: Notikewin Sandstone Member; Falher Sand and Shale Member; Wilrich Shale Member; Clearwater Shale. The formation occurs in the subsurface throughout an area extending from the B.C. – Alberta boundary as far east as the west end of Lesser Slave Lake and in a north-south direction from township 96 to township 73.

Mannville Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Sunburst consists of grey sandy shale, dense silty sandstone, dark grey carbonaceous shales, lenticular fine grained porous quartz sandstone with a variable thickness of soft variegated mudstone at the base. Locally, the sandstone may be absent, or the entire zone may be sandstone, frequently with a clay matrix. Present in northwestern Montana and southwestern Alberta usually east of the Sweetgrass arch. The main productive sand is known as the Lander Sand at the top of the Sunburst. The remainder has produced some natural gas but very little crude oil.

Beaverhill Lake Group Upper Devonian Carbonate

The Swan Hills is divisible into two informal reef complex units. The lower unit is a dark brown cryptocrystalline limestone sequence. The upper unit is characterized by light brown finely granular bioclastic limestone. This member is a reef limestone of variable thickness occurring in the Beaverhill Lake formation in the Swan Hills area.

Mannville Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Taber Sand consists of clear quartz and black chert grains in a non-calcareous, often a highly bentonitic or laolinitic matrix; in places more cherty towards the base. The sand is locally inter-fingered with shale.

Rundle Group Mississippian Carbonate

At the type locality, the Turner Valley consists of medium to coarse crystalline limestone and medium crystalline dolomite containing an intermediate unit of finely crystalline carbonates. The whole section is completely dolomitized in parts of southwestern Alberta. The formation occurs in the mountain belt of western Alberta and thins eastward. The zero edge occurs just east of Calgary and passes southeast toward the southern border of Alberta.

Colorado Group Lower Cretaceous Sandstone

The Viking varies from coarse to fine salt and pepper sand to silt and silty shale. Several sand horizons of variable thickness may be present with intervening beds of dark grey to black shale. The primary constitute of the sand is clear quartz. Black chert and glauconite are characteristic throughout, as is siliceous cement. Variations in the porosity of the lenticular Viking sands (related to sinnowing and current action), together with the up-dip loss of permeability, produce many stratigraphic traps. The major Viking gas reserves are Viking-Kinsella, Provost, Bindloss and the Coleville-Smiley area in Saskatchewan. The Viking “shales out” north and east of a line drawn roughly from Lac La Biche, Alberta through Coleville and Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Upper Devonian Carbonate

In the Stettler area of Alberta, the Wabamun has been divided into the Big Valley and Stettler formations. The group consists of dolomitic limestone and calcareous dolomites in the middle and lower parts. Inter-bedded anhydrite occurs which forms a prominent zone near the base of the formation in some areas. (Leduc Area) Brecciation and Calcite veining are common.
The thickness varies from 10 – 215 meters. From the wedge-edge in east-central Alberta where it is truncated at the Palaeozoic erosional surface, the Wabamun increases in thickness westward toward the Foothills. It extends northwestward into the Peace River area and southward to the Calgary area.

Madison Group Mississippian Carbonate

The Whitewater Lake member has been divided into a lower and upper unit. The lower unit consists of ooliticfossil- fragmental limestone inter-bedded with calcareous shale or argillaceous limestone; the upper unit is a relatively non-argillaceous, oolitic, bioclastic limestone.
Distribution: Virden-Whitewater area, Manitoba

Middle Devonian Carbonate

Equivalent to the Keg River formation.