Abstract
The Milk River aquifer system consists of 30–60 m of Cretaceous sandstone located within the Milk River Formation, southern Alberta, Canada. The Milk River Formation is confined below by > 500m of shale of the Colorado Group and above by up to 120 m of shale the Pakowki Formation. The dominant recharge area for the aquifer is the Sweetgrass Hills, Montana, where the aquifer crops out. From the recharge area, the groundwater flows to the north, east and west. Calculated groundwater residence times at the north end of the aquifer (about 100 km north of the recharge area) range from 250 to 510 ka. Limited hydrological data from the confining shales suggest that cross-formational flow does not occur. Systematic patterns are observed in major ions (Na, Cl, HCO 3 + CO 3, and SO 4), stable isotopes ( 18O and deuterium), and field pH on a regional scale. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the geochemical evolution of the groundwaters.
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