It is present beneath the plains of northern and eastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba in Canada,[3] and it extends into northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana in the United States.

In southern Saskatchewan and northern North Dakota it includes major deposits of sylvite and carnallite that are mined for their potassium content.

An extensive reef complex called the Presqu'ile Barrier developed across the mouth of the embayment, blocking it from the open ocean and restricting the inflow of sea water.

That event, called the Messinian salinity crisis, resulted in the deposition of sequences of evaporite minerals up to 1,600 metres (5,250 ft) thick.

[10] Groundwater has gained access to Prairie Evaporite Formation along its eastern and southern margins, dissolving the halite and other soluble minerals.

That process, which is ongoing today, produced a breccia that consists of fragments of overlying formations that collapsed when their support was removed, as well as insoluble material from within the Prairie Evaporite itself.

[1][4] The Prairie Evaporite Formation is part of the Elk Point Group and was named by A.D. Baillie in 1953 based on a core from a well (Imperial Davidson No.

The Whitkow Member at the base, which is present locally in the deepest parts of the basin, consists of coarsely crystalline halite with minor anhydrite.

[1] Because of their impermeability, the salt and anhydrite beds of Prairie Evaporite also act as a seal for petroleum and natural gas reservoirs in underlying formations.