Heat flow through the sediments and temperatures of the Churchill province basement under the sedimentary cover are determined for 24 locations in the central part of the Prairies basin in Alberta where the vertical heat flux is approximately constant from the base of the sediments to the surface. The contribution to heat flow from heat generation in the sediments is also considered. The average heat flow through the sediments is found to be 71 mWm− 2±12 mWm− 2 which is about 30 mWm− 2 higher than in the neighbouring shield area of the Churchill province, and the contribution from heat generation in the sediments to the surface heat flow is only approximately 2.5 mWm− 2. The relationship between basement heat generation and heat flow is investigated, and it is found that the platform heat flow/heat generation values are in general higher than those from the Churchill province of the shield found by Drury 1985. Although for the platform and shield data, the reduced heat flow is about 40 mWm− 2 and the slope is about 8 km, it is apparent that the platform data alone are not good enough to establish a precise relationship.