Sixty-two species of Foraminifera, representative of twenty-one families, are present in part of the late Cretaceous Bearpaw formation in the South Saskatchewan River valley.

The Bearpaw formation in this area consists of interbedded sands and shales and is divided into five members: the Beechy shale, the Ardkenneth sand, the Snakebite shale, the Cruikshank sand and the Vermilion shale members. A rich foraminiferal fauna is present in the Snakebite and Vermilion members: the former yielded a predominantly calcareous assemblage, the latter a predominantly arenaceous assemblage. Foraminifers present in the Ardkenneth and Cruikshank members are insufficient in number and variety to constitute distinctive assemblages.

The Snakebite and Vermilion shale members and the intervening Cruikshank sand can be recognized as far south as Saskatchewan Landing and as far north as Outlook. Distribution of these members indicates that sands exposed in the river valley at Outlook Bridge, and thought for the last twenty-five years to belong to the underlying Belly River group, probably are the northward development of the Ardkenneth member of the Bearpaw formation.

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