The dataset accompanies Alberta Geological Survey Open File Report 2009-01. The dataset contains the results of geochemical analyses of rock samples from the Bad Heart Formation, Clear Hills region and Smoky River region (northwestern Alberta) collected by Alberta Geological Survey from 2004 to 2007. The data comprise elemental analyses of 325 rock samples, including ooidal ironstone, ooidal sandstone, sandstone, siltstone, shale, Bad Heart rubble and till, and conglomerate.

In 2011, for the Alberta Geological Survey Saline Aquifer Mapping Project, we collected and analyzed 40 water samples from oil wells producing from geological units, including the Cardium, Viking, Mannville, Glauconitic, Ellerslie, Nordegg, Banff, Wabamun, Nisku and Leduc, within approximately 200 km of Edmonton, Alberta. We analyzed filtered water samples for pH, density and specific conductance. oxygen, hydrogen and strontium isotopes. and dissolved constituents, including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, barium, strontium, lithium, chloride, bromide, sulphate, sulphide, silica and inorganic carbon.

In 2010, for the Alberta Geological Survey Saline Aquifer Mapping Project, we collected and analyzed 38 water samples from oil wells producing from geological units, including the Glauconitic, Ostracod, Ellerslie, Banff, Wabamun, Nisku, Leduc and Cooking Lake, within 100 km of Edmonton, Alberta. We analyzed filtered water samples for pH, density and specific conductance. oxygen, hydrogen and strontium isotopes. and dissolved constituents, including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, barium, strontium, lithium, iron, manganese, chloride, bromide, sulphate, sulphide, silica and inorganic carbon.

Geochemical analytical data are reported for 123 Cretaceous rock samples from northwestern Alberta collected by Alberta Geological Survey (AGS) staff from 2001 to 2005. The values for one repeat analysis are included (5602R), making a total of 124 analytical records. The results include analyses of 57 mudstone, 29 shale, 13 ironstone, 6 pyrite (float), 5 kimberlite (including one till clast) and 5 sandstone (including one bioclastic sandstone) samples. Geochemical analyses were performed by Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, for a wide range of elements and oxides using the following analytical methods. (a) Method 1EX: four-acid (HF-HNO3-HClO4-HCl) digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) multi-element analyses. (b) Method 1F: aqua regia digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) multi-element analyses. (c) Method 2A: carbonate carbon (CO2), graphitic carbon, organic carbon and sulphate determined using a Leco carbon-sulphur analyzer. (d) Method 4A: fusion-HNO3 digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) analyses except for (i) total C and total S by Leco carbon-sulphur analyzer and (ii) loss on ignition (950 degrees C). (e) Method 4B: fusion-HNO3 digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analyses.

This lithium ground- and formation-water geochemical dataset will enable present and future companies to better evaluate their targets and characterize their resource estimates by being able to distinguish between background and anomalous concentrations of lithium throughout Alberta. The dataset comprises lithium geochemical data from ground and formation water in Alberta and near the Alberta border. The data were captured from several databases, including those from Alberta Geological Survey (oil and gas wells database, AERI and Beaver River Basin projects), and the Alberta Research Council. In total there are 1,511 records, of which 48 records have >75 mg/L Li. Nineteen analyses have >100 mg/L Li (up to 140 mg/L) and occur within the Middle to Upper Devonian Beaverhill Lake Formation and Woodbend and Winterburn groups of west-central to northwestern Alberta. Economic concentrations of lithium are known to form in either lithium pegmatite or in high-lithium brine and clay. A few of the world's oil-field waters also have medium to high lithium content. During the mid-1990s, several government reports showed that lithium values of up to 140 mg/L Li occurred in west-central Alberta formation waters of the Beaverhill Lake and Woodbend groups. however, minimal data were publicly released.