Detailed correlations within the Lower to Middle Cambrian succession (Mount Clark, Mount Cap, Saline River and La Martre formations) of the Northern Interior Plains indicate the need to modify the existing stratigraphic framework. The most important modification is the choice of a consistent and stratigraphically significant base to the Saline River Formation. Correlation of this horizon indicates it is an unconformity. Within the Evaporite member of the Saline River Formation, basinwide, shale-rich horizons are used to divide it into three informal units. Several structural and/or paleotopographic elements divide the basin into a series of depressions and uplifts, the former acting as local depocentres and the latter as sills between the depressions. Early to Middle Cambrian deposition was in a semi-enclosed, epicontinental marine basin. Initial transgression resulted in the deposition of a variably thick blanket of marine sandstone (Mount Clark Formation) followed by lower energy deposition of clay- and carbonate-muds (Mount Cap Formation). Either uplift or sea-level drop resulted in the development of an unconformity at the end of Mount Cap deposition. Subsequent deposition of the Saline River Formation was dominated by more restricted marine conditions and the development of extensive evaporite deposits. Gas and condensate have been recovered from sandstone reservoirs in the Mount Clark Formation of the northern part of the basin, and bitumen is a common component of the Cambrian sandstones and along fractures in carbonate beds throughout the basin. Potential source rocks have been identified in very thin, Gloeocapsomorpha prisca-like alginite-rich layers from the lower Mount Cap Formation of the northern areas of subcrop. These potential source rocks indicate immature to mature levels of thermal alteration. Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary compressional structures, with underlying precursor structures in Proterozoic rocks, remain the primary exploration target in the Colville Hills area, but potential stratigraphic traps in the Mount Clark sandstone are a feasible alternative play type, especially updip closure against paleohighs.