Geology of Saskatchewan

The Canadian Shield, Precambrian shield, makes up the bedrock geology highlighted by rocks and lakes and a boreal forest area. There are transitional areas between boreal and tundra flora. The lower boundary of the Canadian Shield cuts across the province diagonally from the latitude 57 degrees in the northwest to 54 degrees in the south east. Three orogenies formed the Precambrian shield, the Kenoran (Laurentian-Algoman), Hudsonian (Penokean) and Grenville Orogeny. Between 2.2 and 2.5 billion years ago was the Kenoran Orogeny, which was overlain by the Hudsonian Orogeny 1700 to 1900 million years ago. The Canadian Grenville province occurred between 1080 and 980 Ma and did not affect the geology of the Canadian Shield in Saskatchewan. The Grenvillian Orogeny deformed much of eastern Canada, and includes the Grenville Front Tectonic Zone in Quebec and Labrador, the Appalachian structural front to the south between what we now name the Great Lakes and Newfoundland. The Flin Flon greenstone belt, also referred to as the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt, is a Precambrian greenstone belt located in the central area of Manitoba and east-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies in the central portion of the Trans-Hudson Orogeny and was formed by arc volcanism during the Paleoproterozoic Era. Athabasca basin The Athabasca basin, a historical fluvial siliciclastic basin with sediments from the Hudsonian mountains with the occasional rare marine sequence. The Athabasca basin was formed during the Statherian or Paleohelikian 1.7 to 1.6 billion years ago when coarse fluvial and marine clastic sediments were laid down containing gold, copper, lead, zinc, and uranium oxides. The highest-grade uranium deposits in the world are found at the unconformity between these clastic layers and the Precambrian bedrock. The Athabasca Sand Hills protected by The Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park are unique feature of the Canadian Shield. The hills are located in northern Saskatchewan and border Lake Athabasca, which straddles the Alberta and Saskatchewan border. ==Phanerozoic Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin==

There were three depositional stages for the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin which were dependent on plate tectonics of the era. Present-day North America was identified to lay upon the Proterozoic super-continent, Rodinia. Near Fort à La Corne (FALC) were Kimberlite volcanoes in Archean cratons. The Cretaceous 144-66 Ma to Miocene periods deposited clastic sediments from the Cordilleran orogeny. In the Cypress Hills area and southern Saskatchewan, lignite deposits developed from the marshes of these Tertiary rivers. The Williston Basin affects this region at the southern edge. Tectonic movements and global changes in the sea level have given rise to a source of oil, natural gas, and coal. ==Quaternary period==

During the Quaternary period, between 2 and 3 million years ago, the prairies were covered by a glacier, the Laurentide Ice Sheet. It was thick, which advanced and receded several times across the prairies. There were multiple glaciations affecting the Saskatchewan area during the Pre-Illinoian, Illinoian, and Wisconsin stages of the last ice age. These glaciations occurred during the Quaternary period, which comprises the last two million years. Northern Saskatchewan and the shield area shows the effects of glacial erosion and scour; the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is a location of glacial deposition and collection.Glacial Lake Regina covered south-central area, and Glacial Lake Agassiz covered much of Saskatchewan and neighbouring regions of the US and Manitoba. Glaciotectonic hills or ice-shoved hills show thrusting, folds, ridges and push moraines. These hills consist of upper Cretaceous bedrock which rises to an elevation of in the Dirt Hills. To the north is the Regina Lake Plain, which is lower in elevation. The Missouri Coteau from whence the hills arise, is lower than these hills. Between the Alberta and Saskatchewan Plains is the Missouri Coteau, dead ice moraine, a major escarpment, a long meandering ridge of hill country. The area is probably underlain with marine shale of the Bearpaw Formation. This area remained above the ice sheets, being pushed and folded by the glacier movement. ==Astroblemes==

There are six notable meteorite or comet impact craters in Saskatchewan. Carswell, Deep Bay, and Gow Lake have affected the Canadian Shield area of the north. In the southern Phanerozoic crater are the Viewfield, Elbow, and Maple Creek structures. It is estimated that the impact to the Athabasca basin occurred about 478 million years ago during the Ordovician period. The thrust of the impact affected the Athabasca Rock groups. The William River Subgroup and the Douglas and Carswell formations show inversions, thrusting and disruptions. The impact that occurred about 210 million years ago has created the Gow Lake Structure. This lake is in diameter with Calder island centrally located. Weyburn is west and Stoughton is north of the Viewfield Impact Structure, a small impact crater in diameter. The impact occurred in the early Jurassic period about 190 million years ago. Oil and gas reserves have been found in the area of the rim breccia The crater is located in Maple Bush rural municipality north of Aitkow (Riverhurst) and west of Grainfield (Grainland). The Elbow crater is located south of the elbow of the South Saskatchewan, and south of Diefenbaker lake across the waters from the town of Elbow which is north of the South Saskatchewan River. ==Notes==