Elk Point Group
The Elk Point Group is a stratigraphic unit of Early to Middle Devonian age in the Western Canada and Williston sedimentary basins. It underlies large area that extends from southern boundary of the Northwest Territories in Canada to North Dakota in the United States. It has been subdivided into numerous formations, many which host major petroleum and natural gas reservoirs.
Lithology
The formations of the Elk Point Group are composed primarily of carbonate rocks and evaporitic rocks, with lesser amounts of dolomitic mudstone and shale.Paleontology
Some of the carbonate formations of the Elk Point Group contain rich assemblages of marine invertebrate fossils, including many species of brachiopods, gastropods, bivalves, cephalopods, crinoids, ostracods and corals. The evaporitic formations are unfossiliferous or contain a few spores and algal remains.Environment of Deposition
The formations of the Elk Point Group were deposited in a marine embayment that stretched from an open ocean in the present-day Northwest Territories of Canada to North Dakota in the United States, covering an area roughly half as large as that covered by today's Mediterranean Sea. At times of low water levels and excessive evaporation, halite and other evaporite minerals were deposited in sabkha, supratidal flat and coastal lagoon environments, and at times of higher water levels carbonate platform sedimentation and reef growth were dominant.Distribution and Thickness
The Elk Point Group extends from the southern boundary of the Northwest Territories through northwestern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba in Canada, and continues into eastern Montana and North Dakota in the United States. It reaches a maximum thickness of about in eastern Alberta.Stratigraphy
The Elk Point Group was named for the town of Elk Point, Alberta by J.R. McGehee in 1949. Core from a well that was drilled near Elk Point has been designated as the type section. The group is subdivided into the Lower and Upper Elk Point Group, each of which is further subdivided into formations according to the dominant lithologies, as shown in the tables below.The Lower Elk Point Group comprises all strata lying below the Winnipegosis Formation or the Keg River Formation and is present only in the deepest parts of the basin. The Upper Elk Point Group, which is present throughout the basin, includes those formations and all overlying formations to the base of the Manitoba Group or the Beaverhill Lake Group.
Subdivisions
In northern Alberta and central Alberta, the Elk Point Group contains the following subdivisions, from top to base:| Sub-unit | Age | Lithology | Max. Thickness | Reference |
| Watt Mountain Formation | Givetian | red and green shale, sandstone, anhydrite, dolomite, limestone | ||
| Gilwood Member | Givetian | coarse quartz and feldspathic sandstone | ||
| Presqu'ile Formation | Givetian | crystalline dolomite | ||
| Sulphur Point Formation | Givetian | fossiliferous limestone, green shale | ||
| Muskeg Formation | Givetian | anhydrite, salt, dolomite, limestone | ||
| Zama Member | Givetian | sucrosic dolomite | ||
| Keg River Formation | Givetian | porous dolomite, wackestone limestone, includes the Rainbow Member | ||
| Contact Rapids Formation | Eifelian to Givetian | argillaceous dolomite, dolomitic shale | ||
| Chinchaga Formation | Eifelian to Givetian | anhydrite, crystalline dolomite, quartz sandstone, dolomitic shale, halite | ||
| Cold Lake Formation | Eifelian | halite, dolomitic shale | ||
| Ernestina Lake Formation | Eifelian | red shale, carbonates, anhydrite | ||
| Lotsberg Formation | Eifelian | halite, calcareous shale | ||
| La Loche Formation | Eifelian | red dolomitic or calcareous shales, silty or sandy, quartzose sandstone |
;In southern Alberta
The Elk Point Group is dolomitic and is not differentiated.
;In Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Montana
| Sub-unit | Age | Lithology | Max. Thickness | Reference |
| Dawson Bay Formation | Givetian | dolomitic mudstone, crystalline limestone, argillaceous carbonate, bituminous limestone, dolomite, anhydrite, halite | ||
| Prairie Evaporite Formation | Givetian | halite, anhydrite, dolomite, dolomitic mudstone, limestone, potash | ||
| Winnipegosis Formation | Givetian | dolomite, bituminous carbonates, anhydrite | ||
| Ashern Formation | Eifelian to Givetian | argillaceous dolomite and dolomitic shale and siltstone; minor anhydrite | ||
| Meadow Lake Formation | Eifelian | dolomite with mudstone interbeds, limestone and sandstone at base |
Relationship to Other Units
The Elk Point Group is conformably overlain by the Manitoba Group in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and by the Beaverhill Lake Group in Alberta. It rests unconformably on Precambrian basement rocks in northern Alberta, on Cambrian strata in northeastern Alberta and in Saskatchewan, and on Ordovician to Silurian formations in western Alberta, Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba. In the Northwest Territories, some of its uppermost units are exposed at surface or are unconformably overlain by Cretaceous strata.The Lower Elk Point Group is equivalent to the Stone Formation and its equivalents, and the Headless and Nahanni Formations, in northerneastern British Columbia and the southwestern Northwest Territories. In the same areas, the Upper Elk Point includes the Pine Point Group, and is equivalent to parts of the Horn River Formation, Besa River Formation, and others.