There are also producing basins in southern ontario, offshore newfoundland, and the scotian shelf. Tectonic and geographic setting of the western canadian sedimentary basin in the relation to the north american cordillera in the mideocene, when the basin attained its modern position and geometry adapted from the geological atlas of the western canadian sedimentary basin, after price, 1994. Mar 29, 2016 the western canada sedimentary basin uses less water during fracking operations than in places like the current mecca of frackquakes, oklahoma. Cahan the text accompanying this catalog gives a very brief synopsis of the age and style of the listed sedimentary basins and is not intended to be a substantial discussion of all of. Such sediments would have been derived by erosion of high plateaus. Origin and evolution of formation waters, alberta basin. Inregion oversupply conditions have worsened, creating transportation constraints further and further upstream in the wcsb, and prices at the. Basin creation and destruction in the collisional zone of pangea 7. The western canada sedimentary basin wcsb is the thinner part of the same northeasttapering wedge of supracrustal rocks that forms the eastern part of the cordillera. The western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres 540,000 sq mi of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta, northeastern british columbia and the. The digital files listed in table 1 were compiled as part of the petroleum processes research project being conducted by. The geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin wcsb was designed primarily as a reference volume documenting the subsurface geology of the western canada sedimentary basin. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas.
Factors affecting the permeability of shales in the western. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the western canada sedimentary basin, canada, 2012. The western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb is the largest with 57% of estimated conventional oil and gas reserves, followed by the atlantic margin with 18% and the arctic cratonic with 10%. Western canadian sedimentary basin work by the geological survey of canada gsc has identified significant potential in interior and offshore basins that are, to date, unexplored. The sedimentary environment is the specific depositional setting of a particular sedimentary rock and is unique in terms of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Briefly, the study area is part of the western canada sedimentary basin and com. A more detailed understanding of foreland basin initiation in western canada will lead the way for a comparison of timing and initiation across the canadaunited states border. A timeline of petroleum exploration in british columbia pdf. The following table summarizes the potential that the gsc estimates for these basins. Sedimentary rock sedimentary environments britannica. The western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast 540,000squaremile swath of land in the western half of canada. Pennsylvanianjurassic sedimentary basins of the colorado plateau and southern rocky mountains 8.
This remained a tectonically active region into eocene time and during this interval produced important deposits of copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, gold, silver, tungsten and other commodities. It extends from the cordilleran thrust belt to the canadian shield from east to west and covers an area of approximately of 2 million km 2 strobl, 1988. The queen charlotte, hecate and tofino basins of the offshore. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the rocky. Eaton, hadi ghofrani, dan walker, burns cheadle, ryan schultz, robert shcherbakov, kristy tiampo. Elements of basin analysis basin analysis basin analysis is a process that requires the integration of various methods and data sets with the purpose of understanding the origin and evolution of sedimentary basins. Geological survey report series 20051421, web publication and associated data files. The bulk of this dissolution has occurred from the prairie evaporite formation, which is predominantly halite and potash. Tight oil developments in the western canada sedimentary. The late devonian frasnian nisku formation in the western canadian sedimentary basin is a homoclinal ramp composed of four stacked carbonate cycles with reefs in both shallowramp and downslope settings. Classification of sedimentary basins learning geology. Ten years ago, news reports frequently cited peak oil as a looming problem facing our world. Linked together, such models would contribute to a new integrated understanding of sedimentary basins with broad implications for research across the geosciences, for identifying and extracting mineral and fossil fuel resources, and for preserving the quality of. The formation of sedimentary basins is ultimately controlled by topography that defines the surface depressions that receive the sediments, the elevated regions that provide sediment sources, and the topographic and bathymetric gradients that transport sediments from source to basin.
The stratigraphic and structural framework of the basin has been described in con nolly et al. A reservoir and geomechanical model of the colorado shale, western canadian sedimentary basin melanie regehr, baker hughes april 1518, 2012 spwla topical conference. Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the rocky mountains in.
Robertson basins and plays tellus sedimentary basins of the world map aapg datapages and the gis publications committee wish to thank robertson a cgg company for allowing the robertson sedimentary basins of the world map to be posted on datapages gis open files page, thereby making it available to the public as a free download. The structural pattern within each sedimentary province displays a dominating influence of rift controlled depocenters. In the western canadian sedimentary basin using data from public domain data mining, 3d views and characterization of fractures, faults and migration paths anomaly approach crossformational approach multidisciplinary 3d exploratory statistics 4d integration keywords t. The stress regime of the western canadian sedimentary basin. It extends from british columbia through alberta and saskatchewan into manitoba. Intracratonic basins form within stable continental interiors. Robertson basins and plays tellus sedimentary basins. Western canada sedimentary basin download ebook pdf. Gas resources of the western canada sedimentary basin this dataset contains the estimated gas resources of western canadian provinces, yukon, and northwest territories, as assessed by the neb and provincial and territorial partners. Western canadian sedimentary basin videos and latest news articles. The western canada sedimentary basin wcsb is a major clastic wedge of the foreland basin derived from cordillera and is characterized by a northeastsouthwest oriented basin osadetz, 1989. Areas of the western sedimentary basin of canada, canadian journal of remote sensing, 17. Acrobat enables the user to zoom in on a given area up to 1600% of its original size.
Connolly department of geology, the university of alberta, edmonton, alberta t6g 2e3, canada lynn m. The western canada sedimentary basin figure 1 is basically a simple northeasterly tapering wedge of sedimentary rocks, more than 6 km thick, that extends southwards from the canadian 1 present address. Fluid compartmentalization of devonian and mississippian dolostones, western canada sedimentary basin. Using the wcsm, data was then assigned to one of 21 hydrostratigraphic units see table 1 based on the hydrostratigraphic model used in rpcls hydrogeological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin hydrogeologic atlas. The western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres 540,000 sq mi of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta, northeastern british columbia and the southwest corner of the northwest territories. The physical features of a sedimentary environment include water depth and the velocity and persistence of currents. The matrix permeability of major shales in the western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb were investigated in order assess their gas shale potential. The western canada sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1400000km2 of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta, northeastern british columbia and the southwest corner of the northwest territories. In the writeup entitled the rw catalogue how good is the data.
The region is considered mature for petroleum exploration. Salt dissolution and permeability in the western canada sedimentary basin. Porosity characterization of various organicrich shales from the western canadian sedimentary basin, alberta and british columbia, canada raphael a. The headquarters of the atlas project was located at the alberta geological survey ags in edmonton. Atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin this is an online version of the outofprint geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin, as well as digital data and shapefiles for some of the content. Preliminary catalog of the sedimentary basins of the united states by james l. Eaton, hadi ghofrani, dan walker, burns cheadle, ryan schultz, robert shcherbakov, kristy tiampo, jeff gu, rebecca m. Canadian society of petroleum geologists canadas energy geoscientists. Sedimentary cover thickness map sedimentary basins in the. Sedimentary basin of canada hydrocarbonproducing areas of. Origin and evolution of formation waters, alberta basin, western canada sedimentary basin. Geological survey of canada, 601 booth street, ottawa, ontario, kia oe8, canada. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. In the paper, the authors also conclude that the massive amount of wastewater incidents in the u.
Other articles where sedimentary basin is discussed. Western canada sedimentary basin petroleum systems. The western canada sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres 540,000 sq mi of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta, northeastern british columbia and the southwest corner of the northwest territories. Supply of western canadian sedimentary basin crude oil. Geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin. Fluid compartmentalization of devonian and mississippian. An example is the benue trough, underlying the congo river basin in. The western canadian sedimentary basin is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta.
Tectonic extension at divergent boundaries where continental rifting is occurring can create a nascent ocean basin leading to either an ocean or the failure of the rift zone. The purposes of the zmapformat grid files are to create the 3d geologic and petroleum system models of the wcsb, and to publish these files such that others can use them in applications such as reservoir and basin modeling. Alberta basin, large, petroleumrich sedimentary basin along the eastern edge of the rocky mountains in western canada. Recent advances focuses on key topics or areas where the greatest strides forward have been made, while also providing online access to the comprehensive 1995 book. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources.
Reserve growth curves for natural gas, using year of discovery data, have been constructed for western canada and the usa. The georgia basin and fraser delta in southeastern british columbia. Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada sedimentary basin. Western canadian sedimentary basin british columbia. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only, and does not. The wcsm provides a consistent framework to organize and manage stratigraphic data. The primary petroleumproducing sedimentary basin is the western canada sedimentary basin wcsb, which extends from the canadian shield to the rocky mountains through manitoba, saskatchewan, alberta and northeastern british columbia. Aug 16, 2016 the western canadian sedimentary basin is a vast sedimentary basin underlying 1,400,000 square kilometres of western canada including southwestern manitoba, southern saskatchewan, alberta.
Porosity characterization of various organicrich shales from. Shetsen compilers, canadian society of petroleum geologists and alberta research council, p. Western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb gas supply has ratcheted higher and shows signs of further growth, even as its share of export markets has been shrinking with the rise of u. Its internal structure and the lateral variations in its shape reflect a long and complex history of development involving a foreland basin. Introduction the dynamics of sedimentary basins the. Geol201 sedimentary basins vancouver island university. During an underbalanced milling campaign in an area of the montney formation in the western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb in 2017 to early 2018, a well servicing company experienced a series of three coiled tubing complete immobilization incidents. This gis dataset is one of a collection of shapefiles representing part the atlas, coal resources of the western canada sedimentary basin chapter 33, figure. The geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin was designed primarily as a reference volume documenting the subsurface geology of the western canada sedimentary basin. This publication contains zmapformat grid files of isopach intervals that represent strata associated with devonian to holocene petroleum systems of the western canada sedimentary basin wcsb of alberta, british columbia, and saskatchewan, canada. Cratonic basins convergence related basins strikeslip basins. Trenchless technology is commonly used in the petroleum industry. A good example is the western canada sedimentary basin extending from the eastern side of the rocky mountains to central manitoba.
Foreword sedimentary basins and hydrocarbon potential. Extensive dissolution of evaporites has occurred in the williston basin, canada, but it is unclear what effect this has had on bulk permeability. The board periodically publishes assessments of canadian supply and demand of energy and natural gas markets in support of its ongoing market monitoring. The western canadian sedimentary basin has been a leader in this movement with entrepreneurs using new technology to develop our resources in a safe and reliable way. Sedimentary basins form primarily in convergent, divergent and transform settings. Gas resources of the western canada sedimentary basin. Executive summary the dynamics of sedimentary basins. Pdf salt dissolution and permeability in the western. This study area is situ ated in the western canada sedimentary basin wcsb, which consists of a wedge of phanerozoic sedimentary rocks that overlap the precambrian new base metal mineral potential continued from page 1 continued on page 6 craton and thicken westward towards the deformed belt of the cordillera fig. Canadian border, into which large volumes of clastic sediment that is, sediment of predominantly clay, silt, and sand sizes were deposited. Western canadian sedimentary basin definition english.
The depositional record of these events is partly recorded in the western canada sedimentary basin which is a prolific producer of oil, gas and coal. Preliminary catalog of the sedimentary basins of the. Sedimentary rocks clastic sedimentary rocks are formed from the mechanical break up of other rocks and are classified based on the particle size, e. In the western canada sedimentary basin with more than 700,000 wells, a considerable amount of geophysical logging image and dipmeter has been collected, but most of this remains inaccessible. This gis dataset is one of a collection of shapefiles representing part of chapter 24 of the atlas, uppermost. The gulf coast basin is a large, predominantly tertiaryage sedimentary basin fringing and extending into the gulf of mexico the terms gulf of mexico basin and gulf coast basin are used interchangably in the literature that is.
There are more factors which can impact reserve growth of us fields versus pools in the western canada sedimentary basin. Geological atlas of the northern canadian mainland sedimentary basin david w. Crude oil and natural gas resources open government portal. Convergent boundaries create foreland basins through tectonic compression of oceanic and continental crust during lithospheric flexure. A thesis submitted to the faculty of graduate studies through the department of earth and environmental sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of. Coalfields of the western canada sedimentary basin alberta. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock. Canadian sedimentary basin were combined with routine analytical investigations xray diffraction, source rock analyses, mercury porosimetry, and petrography to characterize mineral composition, mineral assemblage, morphology, organic content, and porosity. The sedimentary basins of the united states and canada. The western canada sedimentary basin article pdf available in philosophical transactions of the royal society a mathematical physical and engineering sciences 3051489.
The geological atlas was originally published in 1994 and has been out of print for a number of years. Geological atlas of the northern canadian mainland. A reservoir and geomechanical model of the colorado shale. Canadian pools can grow only through pool extensions, infill drilling, and improved recovery.
Click download or read online button to get western canada sedimentary basin book now. Horizontal drilling, tight oil plays, western canadian sedimentary basin brought together industry leading drilling executives, decision makers, and technical experts from the bakken, cardium, viking, and other major plays in western canada to deliver integral insights into the applications of the different drilling tools, techniques and. This energy briefing note ebn, tight oil developments in the western canada sedimentary basin, is one such assessment. Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada sedimentary basin by gail m. Walter department of geological sciences, the university of michigan, ann arbor, m1 48109, u. These assessments address various aspects of energy markets in canada. A new interpretation of early jurassic basin history in.
Sedimentary basins range in size from as small as hundreds of meters to large parts of ocean. Geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin, g. Beneath these crustal elements is the more continuous subcrustal lithosphere. Fernie region of southeast british columbia which is part of the western canada sedimentary basin. Potential gas shales in the wcsb range from comparable shallow and soft water sensitive shales in the east to relative deep, brittle and silica rich shales in the deeper parts of the basin to the. Breakthroughs in new techniques are described in section 1, including detrital zircon geochronology, cosmogenic nuclide dating, magnetostratigraphy. Lawton1,3, zhuoheng chen, and amin saeedfar1 1cmc research institutes inc. Modeling of the western canada sedimentary basin isopach grid files. Aulacogens are thought to represent the third, failed arm of a threearmed rift, two of whose arms continued to open to form an ocean basin. Limitations of the cwls rw catalogue regarding completeness were recognized by the authors. Sedimentary rock sedimentary rock sedimentary environments. New siberianalaskan, and north canadian sedimentary provinces, which constitute a circum arctic bell. The sedimentary basins of the united states and canada, volume 5. Sedimentary basins of the world the sedimentary basins.
The coalbearing strata of the lower cretaceous mannville. The southern midcontinent, permian basin and ouachitas 9. Data mining, 3d views and characterization of fractures. The western canadian sedimentary basin is a foreland basin in which rocks have been subjected to greater lateral compression than in the three other locations, and where a significant volume of former overburden has been eroded. Alberta basin depression, alberta, canada britannica. Controls on lithofacies variability in late devonian. Sedimentary basins form part of the earths crust, or lithosphere. Grid files for the 3d geologicpetroleum system model of the. These resources include coal, natural gas, and oil sands.
Purchase the sedimentary basins of the united states and canada, volume 5 1st edition. Petroleum system modeling of the western canada sedimentary. Sedimentary basin an overview sciencedirect topics. The age of individual sedimentary basin varies from paleozoic to recent from one. The western canada sedimentary basin, a simple northeasterly tapering wedge of sedimentary rocks more than 6 km thick, extends southwest from the canadian shield into the cordilleran foreland thrust belt. What is the western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb.
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