Survey Metadata

Within in the study area, 100 000 km² in central Saskatchewan, 107 oil exploration holes have been drilled to depths of several hundred metres over the past 50 years.  The Saskatchewan Geological Survey has maintained archive collections of the samples from these reconnaissance and exploration programs.  Rock cuttings from 96 of these wells provided the source material for this survey.  Each sample was a composite from two 10 ml glass vials of well-cuttings that comprise a 20 ft (6 m) interval of the stratigraphic sequence.  In each drill hole, sampling commenced at the unconformity between sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous age and overlying Pleistocene deposits, and continued to a depth of 200 ft (60 m) into Cretaceous rocks.  This provided a maximum of 10 samples per well, although locally fewer were available because of poor drill chip recovery.  In total, 720 samples (including standards and duplicates) were submitted for analysis.  The data are published in Geological Survey of Canada Open File 2491.