ABSTRACT

The stratigraphic interval of Upper Cretaceous to Tertiary sediments extends from the Foothills of Alberta eastward to the southwestern corner of Manitoba, and from the 49th parallel northward to the erosional edge in northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. The wedgeshaped geometry is the most striking feature of this predominantly clastic succession, ranging from less than 400 m in the east to greater than 4000 m in the west. Sediment supply into the basin was primarily derived from the episodic uplift and subsequent erosion of rocks associated with the

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Laramide orogenic event along the western edge of the foreland basin. The clastic wedge can be subdivided into three progradational pulses of continental, predominantly fluvial/alluvial sedimentation, (the Belly River wedge, Horseshoe Canyon wedge, and the Scollard/Paskapoo wedge). These pulses of coarser sediments prograde into finer intervals of marine (Pakowki and Bearpaw formations), or lacustrine origin (Battle Formation). The changes from the Belly River, Horseshoe Canyon and Scollard/Paskapoo formations and the underlying Pakowki, Bearpaw and Battle formations respectively, are gradational and diachronous. The regional facies changes and intertonguing of the chronostratigraphic units often creates unique correlation difficulties for subsurface mapping.

Detailed mapping of the basal Belly River Formation has been undertaken to illustrate specific allostratigraphic models and to determine the hydrocarbon potential associated with these transitional boundaries.

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