In September 1981, Mr. Jim Razzel, an Economic Development Co-coordinator for the Saddle Lake Reserve, contacted the Alberta Geological Survey and Alberta Agriculture regarding possible marl deposits on the Saddle Lake Reserve.
In October of the same year, Mr. Adolf Gettel and the author made a preliminary geological investigation into these deposits, the results of which are presented in this report.
The two alleged marl deposits on the Saddle Lake Reserve are shown on an enclosed figure and are hereafter referred to as: Northern and Southern sites.
The Northern site is located 5 km south of Saddle Lake (L.S.D. 13, Sec. 12, Twp. 58, Rge. 12, W4 - approximately). Access to this site is good via a local gravel based road.
The Southern site is located in the extreme southwestern end of the Reserve, about 1 km north of the North Saskatchewan River (LSD's 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; Sec. 24, Twp. 57. Rge. 13, W4 - approximately). Access to this site is fair, via a partially improved gravel based road. This road passes immediately by the southern end of this site.
No previous recorded work on either site is known, aside from a consultant's report (author's unknown) to the Tribe that made mention of marl deposits. Local people claim that approximately 10 years (?) ago a drilling program was undertaken at the Southern site, no record of this is available.
Both sites were examined on foot and surface samples (only) were collected. An attempt was made to trace the aerial extent of the sites both in the field and by air photo interpretation.
Samples were submitted to the Alberta Research Council's chemical laboratory for determination of CaO, SiO2, and H2O content. The samples were also examined with a binocular microscope.
Macdonald, D.E. (1982): Preliminary geological investigations into reported marl deposits on the Saddle Lake Reserve, Alberta; Alberta Research Council, ARC/AGS Open File Report 1982-02, 18 p.