The Beaverhill Lake - Souris River interval within the study area comprises a thick succession of open marine carbonates, shales and evaporites. The designation of Beaverhill Lake Group reflects the terminology of the Alberta Basin to the west with Souris River Formation being the designation in south west Saskatchewan.

Initial transgression took place over the exposed surface of the Watt Mountain - First Red Bed sediments.  A carbonate platform/reef margin became established in the northern part of the study area dividing open marine basinal conditions, to the west and north, from an extensive lagoon - coastal plain sabkha.  This succession is assigned to the Davidson Carbonate which onlaps southwards onto eroded highs cored by Cambrian sediments.  Evaporative drawdown led to deposition of the Davidson Evaporite, a largely basinal development that onlaps southwards back onto the carbonate platform.  This carbonate-evaporite couplet comprises the most prospective stratigraphic closure in the area with reservoir quality in both limestone and dolomitized units.  Oil staining observed in core along with a limited number of gas shows attest to the generation and passage of hydrocarbons.

The balance of sedimentation in this stratigraphic interval comprises coastal plain sabkha sediments of the Harris and Hatfield members.  This is composed of interbedded carbonates and anhydrites with variable reservoir quality.  Again the section exhibits a number of gas shows, probably small structural traps.

This study presents a detailed stratigraphic analysis of the Beaverhill Lake - Souris River interval based on 232 wells and 22 cores (totaling over 660 metres).  The study area extends from Township 1 to 30 and between Ranges 17W3 and 16W4.

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• fully illustrated text (29 pages, plus 26 figures and 8 colour plates), documenting stratigraphy, depositional facies, stratigraphic evolution, exploration potential, play types, source rock intervals, core descriptions, and database;
• 5 stratigraphic and 1 stratigraphic facies cross sections;
• 6 maps (isopach & structure) at 1:250,000 scale;
• stratigraphic picks from Top Cooking Lake Fm. to Top Cambrian, including Cooking Lake, Beaverhill Lake, Souris River, Hatfield, Harris, Davidson, 1st Redbed, Dawson Bay, Neely/Burr, Elk Point, Watt Eq., Winnipegosis Formations;
• 232 well database available in hardcopy format;
• core descriptions from 22 wells with internally consistent correlations.