Type Locality:

Sparky No. 1 well, in the Lloydminster oilfield, Alberta-Saskatchewan.

Distribution:

The sand and associated shale are about 12 m (40 ft) thick in the Lloydminster area, but can vary between zero and 20 m (65 ft). Vigrass (1977) recognized an "intra-Mannville" disconformity at the top of the Sparky. Silt and shale filled channels related to this disconformity locally replace the Sparky.

Locality Data:

Thickness(m): Minimum 0, Maximum 20.

Lithology:

Petroliferous, unconsolidated, well-sorted, rounded pure quartz sand, with an average grain size of 0.15 mm. Commonly it is associated with pyrite nodules and grey shale and open contains plant fragments. It is most often interpreted as a widespread package of shoreface deposits locally cut by channelized bodies of shale and sandstone. It is capped by a regionally extensive coal.

Relationship:

Wickenden (1948) placed the Sparky sand in the "Middle Division" of the Mannville Group (Grand Rapids Formation). It can probably be more correctly referred to as the last sand of a transitional sequence between the marine Clearwater Formation and the nonmarine Grand Rapids Formation, referred to as the Lower Grand Rapids Formation by Putnam (1980) and others. The disconformity at the top of the sand supports this thesis, and Badgley (1952) recognized that such a transition zone could exist. Vigrass (1977) cited several authors who reported marine fossils in Sparky shales which are similar to those in the Clearwater Formation near Fort McMurray. The Sparky is overlain disconformably by the Waseca sand and conformably overlies a thin shale above the G.P. (General Petroleum) sand. It usually occurs about 50 m (175 ft) below the top of the Mannville Group.

References:

Alberta Oil and Gas Conservation Board, 1949. Schedule of Wells.

Badgley, Peter C., 1952. Notes on the subsurface stratigraphy and oil and gas geology of the Lower Cretaceous series in central Alberta (Report and seven figures); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper No. 52-11, 12 p.

Putnam, P.E., 1980. Fluvial deposition within the upper Mannville of west-central Saskatchewan: Stratigraphic implications. In: Lloydminster and beyond: Geology of Mannville hydrocarbon reservoirs. Sask. Geol. Soc., Spec. Pub. 5, p. 196-216.

Vigrass, L.W., 1977. Trapping of oil at intra-Mannville (Lower Cretaceous) disconformity in Lloydminster area, Alberta and Saskatchewan; American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), AAPG Bulletin, vol. 61, no. 7 (July), pp.1010-1028.

Wickenden, R.T.D., 1948. The Lower Cretaceous of the Lloydminster oil and gas area, Alberta and Saskatchewan (Report, Map and Figure); Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 48-21, 15 p. and Preliminary Map 48-21A, "Lloydminster Area, Alberta and Saskatchewan showing structure contours on top of the Mannville Formation", Scale: 1 inch to 1 mile.