Woodbend Group

The Formation is composed of crystalline and dolomitized limestone (Cooking Lake Formation) in off-reef areas, bituminous shale and argillaceous limestone, detrital limestone (reef fallout), stromatoporoid calcarenite (Duvernay Formation), gray shale, argillaceous limestone, argillaceous dolomite, crystalline dolomite (Ireton Formation). In reef build-ups, it consists of massive limestone and dolomite with porosity (Leduc Formation). Hydrocarbon production Oil is produced from the Leduc Formation in central Alberta since the early 1950s. Shale gas and liquids are extracted from the Duvernay Formation using horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. Several project test the economic viability of extracting bitumen from the Grosmont Formation. ==Distribution==

The Woodbend Group reaches a maximum thickness of in northern Alberta (where reefs were developed), and has typical thickness of in southern and central Alberta. It extends laterally from north-eastern British Columbia through Alberta and into southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Reef build-ups range in size from small mounds to pinnacle reefs and large atoll size reefs and bank developments. ==Subdivisions==

;Central Alberta In central Alberta the following formations are recognized, from top to bottom: ;Northeast Alberta In northeast Alberta the following formations are recognized, from top to bottom: == Relationship to other units ==

The Woodbend Group is conformably overlain by the Winterburn Group and conformably overlays the Beaverhill Lake Group. It is transgressive in the Peace River Arch and Tathlina uplift. Newer deposits rest on the Woodbend group upon an erosional surface in eastern Alberta, south-central Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is equivalent to the Birdbear Formation and Duperow Formation in northern Montana, southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, as well as parts of the Fort Simpson Formation and Muskwa Formation of northeastern British Columbia and southern Yukon, while it corresponds to the Tathlina Formation, Twin Falls Formation and Hay River Formation in the Northwest Territories. == References ==