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 matrix permeability of major shales in the western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb were investigated in order assess their gas shale potential. The stress regime of the western canadian sedimentary basin. 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. Origin and evolution of formation waters, alberta basin, western canada sedimentary basin.
Reserve growth curves for natural gas, using year of discovery data, have been constructed for western canada and the usa. An example is the benue trough, underlying the congo river basin in. Alberta basin depression, alberta, canada britannica. Inregion oversupply conditions have worsened, creating transportation constraints further and further upstream in the wcsb, and prices at the. 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.
A new interpretation of early jurassic basin history in. These assessments address various aspects of energy markets in canada. 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. Robertson basins and plays tellus sedimentary basins. 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. It extends from british columbia through alberta and saskatchewan into manitoba. Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada sedimentary basin.
Preliminary catalog of the sedimentary basins of the. Coalfields of the western canada sedimentary basin alberta. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the rocky mountains in. Geological survey report series 20051421, web publication and associated data files. The western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb is a vast 540,000squaremile swath of land in the western half of canada. Foreword sedimentary basins and hydrocarbon potential. 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. The wcsm provides a consistent framework to organize and manage stratigraphic data. The structural pattern within each sedimentary province displays a dominating influence of rift controlled depocenters. 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. 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. Executive summary the dynamics of sedimentary basins. Controls on lithofacies variability in late devonian.
Porosity characterization of various organicrich shales from. Eaton, hadi ghofrani, dan walker, burns cheadle, ryan schultz, robert shcherbakov, kristy tiampo, jeff gu, rebecca m. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock extending from the rocky. The basin was formed when the earths crust sank along the continental side of the rocky mountains. The digital files listed in table 1 were compiled as part of the petroleum processes research project being conducted by. The sedimentary environment is the specific depositional setting of a particular sedimentary rock and is unique in terms of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. 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 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. Acrobat enables the user to zoom in on a given area up to 1600% of its original size. Nisku formation deposits in the cynthia basin, a westward facing subbasin, contain two distinctly different reef types. The stratigraphic and structural framework of the basin has been described in con nolly et al. Modeling of the western canada sedimentary basin isopach grid files. Breakthroughs in new techniques are described in section 1, including detrital zircon geochronology, cosmogenic nuclide dating, magnetostratigraphy.
Geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin. New siberianalaskan, and north canadian sedimentary provinces, which constitute a circum arctic bell. Sedimentary basins of the world the sedimentary basins. The age of individual sedimentary basin varies from paleozoic to recent from one. 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. Such sediments would have been derived by erosion of high plateaus. Sedimentary rocks clastic sedimentary rocks are formed from the mechanical break up of other rocks and are classified based on the particle size, e. 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. Fortythree formation waters were sampled from different geographical locations and formations fig. Western canada sedimentary basin petroleum systems. Briefly, the study area is part of the western canada sedimentary basin and com.
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. Fernie region of southeast british columbia which is part of the western canada sedimentary basin. 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 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. 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 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. Sedimentary rock sedimentary rock sedimentary environments. 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. A timeline of petroleum exploration in british columbia pdf. The following table summarizes the potential that the gsc estimates for these basins. 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. Crude oil and natural gas resources open government portal. Sedimentary rock sedimentary environments britannica. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources of the western canada sedimentary basin, canada, 2012. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Connolly department of geology, the university of alberta, edmonton, alberta t6g 2e3, canada lynn m. Shetsen compilers, canadian society of petroleum geologists and alberta research council, p. Alberta basin, large, petroleumrich sedimentary basin along the eastern edge of the rocky mountains in western canada. 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.
Lawton1,3, zhuoheng chen, and amin saeedfar1 1cmc research institutes inc. Basin creation and destruction in the collisional zone of pangea 7. 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. The bulk of this dissolution has occurred from the prairie evaporite formation, which is predominantly halite and potash. In the writeup entitled the rw catalogue how good is the data. 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. This energy briefing note ebn, tight oil developments in the western canada sedimentary basin, is one such assessment.
Eaton, hadi ghofrani, dan walker, burns cheadle, ryan schultz, robert shcherbakov, kristy tiampo. There are also producing basins in southern ontario, offshore newfoundland, and the scotian shelf. 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. Western canada sedimentary basin download ebook pdf. Tight oil developments in the western canada sedimentary. Sedimentary basins form part of the earths crust, or lithosphere. A reservoir and geomechanical model of the colorado shale. Cratonic basins convergence related basins strikeslip basins. 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.
Geological atlas of the northern canadian mainland. Factors affecting the permeability of shales in the western. Porosity characterization of various organicrich shales from the western canadian sedimentary basin, alberta and british columbia, canada raphael a. 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. Sedimentary cover thickness map sedimentary basins in the. Click download or read online button to get western canada sedimentary basin book now. Beneath these crustal elements is the more continuous subcrustal lithosphere. Geol201 sedimentary basins vancouver island university. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas. 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.
Canadian pools can grow only through pool extensions, infill drilling, and improved recovery. The coalbearing strata of the lower cretaceous mannville. 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. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock. The physical features of a sedimentary environment include water depth and the velocity and persistence of currents. Purchase the sedimentary basins of the united states and canada, volume 5 1st edition. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources. Areas of the western sedimentary basin of canada, canadian journal of remote sensing, 17. Sedimentary basins range in size from as small as hundreds of meters to large parts of ocean. Origin and evolution of formation waters, alberta basin. Canadian society of petroleum geologists canadas energy geoscientists. Other articles where sedimentary basin is discussed. 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 gis dataset is one of a collection of shapefiles representing part the atlas, coal resources of the western canada sedimentary basin chapter 33, figure.
Classification of sedimentary basins learning geology. Pennsylvanianjurassic sedimentary basins of the colorado plateau and southern rocky mountains 8. Convergent boundaries create foreland basins through tectonic compression of oceanic and continental crust during lithospheric flexure. Extensive dissolution of evaporites has occurred in the williston basin, canada, but it is unclear what effect this has had on bulk permeability. Western canadian sedimentary basin definition english. A reservoir and geomechanical model of the colorado shale, western canadian sedimentary basin melanie regehr, baker hughes april 1518, 2012 spwla topical conference. Sedimentary basins form primarily in convergent, divergent and transform settings. Ten years ago, news reports frequently cited peak oil as a looming problem facing our world. Geological survey of canada, 601 booth street, ottawa, ontario, kia oe8, canada. 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. 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. Fluid compartmentalization of devonian and mississippian.
Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada sedimentary basin by gail m. Salt dissolution and permeability in the western canada sedimentary basin. 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. Grid files for the 3d geologicpetroleum system model of the. 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. 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. 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. The crust is thin, dense, and topographically low across the ocean basins, but thick, of lower density, and. These resources include coal, natural gas, and oil sands. Trenchless technology is commonly used in the petroleum industry. 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. Gas resources of the western canada sedimentary basin. The georgia basin and fraser delta in southeastern british columbia. Western canadian sedimentary basin british columbia.
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. 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 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. 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. Sedimentary basin of canada hydrocarbonproducing areas of. Introduction the dynamics of sedimentary basins the. The headquarters of the atlas project was located at the alberta geological survey ags in edmonton. A good example is the western canada sedimentary basin extending from the eastern side of the rocky mountains to central manitoba. Petroleum system modeling of the western canada sedimentary. The region is considered mature for petroleum exploration. Intracratonic basins form within stable continental interiors.
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. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only, and does not. 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. Geological atlas of the northern canadian mainland sedimentary basin david w. What is the western canadian sedimentary basin wcsb. Walter department of geological sciences, the university of michigan, ann arbor, m1 48109, u. 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. In modern settings, aulacogens end at the passive continental margin. The southern midcontinent, permian basin and ouachitas 9. Western canadian sedimentary basin videos and latest news articles. Preliminary catalog of the sedimentary basins of the united states by james l.
Pdf salt dissolution and permeability in the western. This gis dataset is one of a collection of shapefiles representing part of chapter 24 of the atlas, uppermost. The sedimentary basins of the united states and canada. 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. Canadian border, into which large volumes of clastic sediment that is, sediment of predominantly clay, silt, and sand sizes were deposited. Fluid compartmentalization of devonian and mississippian dolostones, western canada sedimentary basin. 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%. The sedimentary basins of the united states and canada, volume 5. Geological atlas of the western canada sedimentary basin, g.
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. Supply of western canadian sedimentary basin crude oil. Data mining, 3d views and characterization of fractures. In the paper, the authors also conclude that the massive amount of wastewater incidents in the u. The western canada sedimentary basin article pdf available in philosophical transactions of the royal society a mathematical physical and engineering sciences 3051489. The queen charlotte, hecate and tofino basins of the offshore.
Sedimentary basin an overview sciencedirect topics. Mar 29, 2016 the western canada sedimentary basin uses less water during fracking operations than in places like the current mecca of frackquakes, oklahoma. Its internal structure and the lateral variations in its shape reflect a long and complex history of development involving a foreland basin. There are more factors which can impact reserve growth of us fields versus pools in the western canada sedimentary basin. Limitations of the cwls rw catalogue regarding completeness were recognized by the authors. Hydraulic fracturing and seismicity in the western canada. 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.
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