Calcium and magnesium in Alberta brines

Approximately 850 subsurface brines from Alberta containing more than 20,000 mg/L calcium and more than 3,000 mg/L magnesium were studied to determine their commercial potential. The brines are from Devonian, Granite Wash, and Lower Paleozoic strata. Knowledge of the regional compositional gradients, hydraulic-head distribution, and origin of the brines in nine stratigraphic units has been used to indicate regions in the Alberta Plains which contain proven and probable brine fields

Brines with more than 60,000 mg/L calcium and more than 9,000 mg/L magnesium are similar in composition to commercial brines in the United States which presently are being exploited for calcium chloride. These same brines also may be a potential source of magnesium. Potentially commercial brine fields are present only in the Upper Devonian Beaverhill Lake Formation of southern Alberta, and in the Middle Devonian Upper Elk Point Subgroup, Keg River Formation, and Lower Elk Point Subgroup of north-central Alberta.