ABSTRACT

Sediments of the Beaverhill Lake Group were deposited following a relative sea level rise during the Late Givetian. An extensive carbonate platform known as the Slave Point Formation developed, upon which grew the cyclic platform reefs of the Swan Hills Formation in west-central Alberta. Several backstepping reef margins flanked the emergent Peace River Arch. A barrier reef development approximately coincided with the underlying Givetian Elk Point Group barrier reef complex, forming the "Presqu'ile Barrier" of northeast British Columbia, northwest Alberta and the southwest part of the Northwest Territories.

The basin was subsequently infilled by argillaceous carbonates of the Waterways Formation, which depositionally onlap pre-existing reef margins. This formation is subdivided into five members, which are regionally correlatable throughout Alberta, and are equivalent to the restricted marine carbonates and evaporites of the Souris River Formation in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Beaverhill Lake Group reefs host prolific hydrocarbon reservoirs, such as Swan Hills, Peace River Arch fringing reefs, and the barrier trend of northeast British Columbia. The recent Caroline discovery demonstrates the potential for finding additional reserves.

Regional stratigraphic cross-sections illustrate the difficulty of utilizing lithostratigraphic information for chronostratigraphic correlations. Our well file databases should be modified to better accommodate stratigraphic principles defined by time rather than "tops".

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