{{Infobox Rockunit | name = Beaverhill Lake Group | image = | caption = | type = Geological formation | age = Middle to Late Devonian ~{{Fossil range|390|365}} | period = Devonian | prilithology = Calcareous shale, limestone | otherlithology = Dolomite, anhydrite | namedfor = Beaverhill Lake | namedby = Imperial Oil staff, 1950 | region = Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta | country = Canada | coordinates = {{coord|53.30142|N|112.3908|W|display=inline,title|name= Beaverhill Lake Group}} | unitof = | subunits = Swan Hills Formation<br>Waterways Formation<br>Slave Point Formation<br>Fort Vermilion Formation | underlies = Woodbend Group and Muskwa Formation | overlies = Elk Point Group | thickness = up to {{convert|220|m|ft|-1}}<ref name=Glass /> | extent = | area = | map = | map_caption = }}
The '''Beaverhill Lake Group''' is a geologic unit of Middle Devonian to Late Devonian (late Givetian to Frasnian) age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin that is present in the southwestern Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia and Alberta.<ref name=Glass /><ref name=Mossop11>{{Cite web|url=http://ags.aer.ca/reports/atlas-of-the-western-canada-sedimentary-basin.htm|title=The Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Chapter 11: Beaverhill Lake Group of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin|others=Compiled by Mossop, G.D. and Shetsen, I.|author=Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Geological Survey|year=1994|accessdate=2016-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701131122/http://ags.aer.ca/reports/atlas-of-the-western-canada-sedimentary-basin.htm|archive-date=2016-07-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was named by the geological staff of Imperial Oil in 1950 for Beaverhill Lake, Alberta, based on the core from a well that they had drilled southeast of the lake, near Ryley, Alberta (Anglo-Canadian Beaverhill Lake No. 2, 11-11-50-17W4).<ref>Geological Staff, Imperial Oil Limited, Western Division, 1950. Devonian Nomenclature in Edmonton Area, Alberta, Canada. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Vol. 34, No. 9, pp. 1807-1825.</ref>
Petroleum is produced from the Swan Hills Formation of the Beaverhill Lake Group in the Swan Hills area of northern Alberta.<ref name=Barss /><ref name=Hemphill />
==Lithology== The Beaverhill Lake Group consists of anhydrite and carbonate rocks at the base (the Fort Vermillion Formation), overlain by interbedded sequences of calcareous shale, argillaceous micritic limestone, limestone and dolomite. The group becomes thicker and more shaly to the west. <ref name=Glass />
==Distribution and thickness== The Beaverhill Lake Group is present beneath the plains of the southwestern Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia and Alberta.<ref name=Mossop11 /> It reaches a maximum thickness of about {{convert|220|m|ft|-1}} in central Alberta.<ref name=Glass /> Outcrops of one of its formations (the Waterways) can be seen along the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers in the Fort McMurray area.<ref name=Norris2>Norris, A.W. 1963. Devonian stratigraphy of northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 313.</ref>
==Stratigraphy== ;Central Alberta {|class="wikitable" |- ! Sub-unit !! Age !! Lithology !! Max<br>Thickness !! Reference |- | Waterways Formation, Mildred Member || Late Devonian || argillaceous limestone and shale || {{convert|42.7|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Waterways Formation, Moberly Member || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || grey, fine-grained, thin bedded limestone, fossiliferous limestone || {{convert|95.7 |m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Waterways Formation, Christina Member || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || green calcareous shale and argillaceous limestone with brachiopods || {{convert|27.4|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Waterways Formation, Calmut Member || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || fine-grained argillaceous limestone with olive green shale and brachiopods || {{convert|31.1|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Waterways Formation, Firebag Member || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || green calcareous shale and minor argillaceous limestone with brachiopods || {{convert|61|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}|| <ref name=Glass /> |- | Slave Point Formation || Middle Devonian || limestone interbedded with fine- to coarse-crystalline dolomite, minor shale laminae || {{convert|120|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} || <ref name=Glass>Glass, D.J. (editor) 1997. Lexicon of Canadian Stratigraphy, vol. 4, Western Canada including eastern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Calgary, 1423 p. on CD-ROM. {{ISBN|0-920230-23-7}}.</ref> |- | Fort Vermilion Formation || Middle Devonian || brown to white anhydrite with interbeds of dolomite or limestone || {{convert|37|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} || <ref name=Glass /> |}
;Swan Hills area {|class="wikitable" |- ! Sub-unit !! Age !! Lithology !! Max<br>Thickness !! Reference
|- | Swan Hills Formation || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || stromatoporoid reef (micritic and pelletoidal limestone facies or coarse, porous, bioclastic limestone facies) || {{convert|152|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Waterways Formation || Middle Devonian to Late Devonian || nodular and argillaceous limestone and shale with brachiopods, corals and ostracods || {{convert|230|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} |<ref name=Glass /> |- | Fort Vermilion Formation || Middle Devonian || brown to white anhydrite with interbeds of dolomite or limestone || {{convert|8|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} ||<ref name=Glass /> |}
In northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia the unit has formation status and is not subdivided.<ref name=Wendte />
==Environment of deposition== The formations of the Beaverhill Lake Group were deposited in an embayment that extended from an open ocean in the present-day Northwest Territories in Canada, to North Dakota in the United States. An extensive reef complex called the Presqu'ile Barrier had developed across the mouth of the embayment, blocking it from the open ocean and restricting the inflow of sea water. Low water levels and excessive evaporation led to the deposition of the anhydrite-rich Fort Vermillion Formation at the base of the group in northern areas. Water levels then increased throughout the embayment, and the overlying carbonate rocks were deposited in reefs (Swan Hills Formation), and in carbonate platform and basin environments (Waterways Formation).<ref name=Mossop11 /><ref name=Wendte>Wendte, J. and Uyeno, T. 2005. Sequence stratigraphy and evolution of Middle to Upper Devonian Beaverhill Lake strata, south-central Alberta. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology. v. 53, no. 3, p. 250-354.</ref>
==Relationship to other units== The Beaverhill Lake Group is conformably underlain by the formations of the Elk Point Group. In most areas it is conformably overlain by the formations of the Woodbend Group, and in northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia it is disconformably overlain by the Muskwa Formation.<ref name=Glass />
It is equivalent to the Souris River Formation in southeastern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,<ref name=Mossop11 /> and to the Flume Formation of the Fairholme Group in the Canadian Rockies.<ref name=Glass /> According to D.L Griffin, it is equivalent to the Slave Point Formation and Waterways Formation in northeastern Alberta, with the Slave Point Formation and the lower Hay River Formation in the District of Mackenzie, as well as the Horn River Formation and Fort Simpson Formation northwest of the Slave Point-Keg River facies in northeastern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.<ref>Griffin, D.L., 1965. "The facies front of the Devonian Slave Point - Elk Point sequence in northeastern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories"; Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 13-22.</ref>
==Paleontology== The carbonate rocks of the Beaverhill Lake Group contain rich brachiopod faunas.<ref name=Norris>Norris, A.W. 1983. Brachiopods (''Schizophoria, Strophodonta'' (''Strophodonta''), ''Nervostrophia, Eostrophalosia'' and ''Devonoproductus'') from the lower Upper Devonian Waterways Formation of northeastern Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 350.</ref> There are also crinoids, ostracods and corals, and, in the Swan Hills Formation, stromatoporoids.<ref name=Glass /><ref name=Norris2 />
==Hydrocarbon production== Since 1957 oil has been produced from the Swan Hills Formation of the Beaverhill Lake Group in the Swan Hills area of northern Alberta, where it includes Devonian reef structures similar to those of the Leduc Formation and the Rainbow Member in Alberta.<ref name=Barss>Barss, D.L., Copland, A.B., and Ritchie, W.D., 1970, Middle Devonian Reefs, Rainbow Area, Alberta, in Geology of Giant Petroleum Fields, AAPG Memoir 14, Halbouty, M.T., editor, Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp. 18-49</ref><ref name=Hemphill>Hemphill, C.R., Smith, R.I., and Szabo, F., 1970, Geology of Beaverhill Lake Reefs, Swan Hills Area, Alberta, in Geology of Giant Petroleum Fields, AAPG Memoir 14, Halbouty, M.T., editor, Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp. 50-90</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin|Northeast_Plains=yes|Northwest_Plains=yes|South AB=yes}}
Category:Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin Category:Geologic groups of Alberta Category:Geologic groups of British Columbia Category:Geologic groups of the Northwest Territories Category:Devonian southern paleotropical deposits Category:Middle Devonian Series Category:Upper Devonian Series Category:Devonian Alberta Category:Devonian British Columbia Category:Devonian Northwest Territories Category:Shale groups of Canada Category:Limestone groups of Canada Category:Dolomite groups