Unit Name: Saskatchewan Group
Unit Type: Lithostratigraphic
Rank: Group
Status: Formal
Usage: Currently in use
Age Interval: Frasnian (385.3 - 374.5 ma)
Province/Territory: Manitoba; Saskatchewan
Originator: Baillie, 1953b, p. 30.
Type Locality:
Williston Basin. Kent (1963, p. 12) selected a characteristic reference section for Saskatchewan from the Mobil Oil Woodley Sinclair Cantuar X-2-21 well in 2-21-16-7W3M, between 1,377.1 and 1,620 m (4,518 and 5,315 ft).
Distribution:
Attains a maximum thickness of about 350 m (1,148 ft) near the Saskatchewan border with Alberta, and is present throughout the Williston Basin except around its edges, where it has been subjected to post-Mississippian erosion.
Lithology:
Predominantly carbonates, with thin evaporites that exhibit cyclic sedimentation. Cycles are of variable thickness and completeness. A complete sequence of sediments comprises in ascending order: a thin dolomite (commonly with rolled mudstone clasts); fossiliferous limestone; thin dolomite; algal stromatolites; anhydrite; halite and thin dolomitic mudstone. Several zones of sporomorphs are recognized (Kent 1963, 1968a; Dunn, 1975). For characteristic fauna see Kent (1968a).
Relationship:
Conformably overlies carbonates of the Manitoba Group and is conformably overlain by shales and dolomitic beds of the Three Forks Group. It contains the Duperow and Birdbear formations. Its lateral equivalents are: in central Alberta the upper Beaverhill Lake Formation, the Woodbend Group and the lower part of the Winterburn Group; in eastern Alberta the upper Beaverhill Lake Formation arid the Fairholme Group; in Montana and North Dakota the Jefferson Group.
Other Citations:
Baillie, 1953, 1955; Dunn, 1975; Kent, 1963, 1968a.
References:
Baillie, A.D., 1953b. "Devonian names and correlations of the Williston Basin area; "Geological Notes" provides an abstract of the above publication in American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 2 (February), pp. 444-447.
Source: CSPG Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, Volume 4, western Canada, including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba; D.J. Glass (editor)
Contributor: K.R. Milner; C.E. Dunn
Entry Reviewed: Yes
Name Set: Lithostratigraphic Lexicon
LastChange: 29 May 2008