A New Lithostratigraphic Framework for the Cretaceous Colorado Group in the Cold Lake Heavy Oil Area, East-Central Alberta, Canada

Tu, Qiang; Schröder-Adams, Claudia J.; Craig, Jim

doi:10.1007/s11053-007-9029-6

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The shale is finely laminated and about 20 m thick. However, thickness of the bentonite within the Fish Scales is reported to be less than 1-30 cm (Tu et al 2007 (Bloch et al 1999). The mineralogy of the Belle Fourche Formation is similar to that of the Westgate Formation.…”

Section: • Westgate Formation -The Westgate Formation In the Coldmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The SWS unit has a distinct base defined by an abrupt change to a very calcareous matrix. Up to 30 cm thick bentonite bed is associated with this base (Tu et al 2007). The SWS has been reported to contain a distinct fissility in cores, and blocky, silvery grey weathering pattern in outcrop (Bloch et al 1999).…”

Section: • Westgate Formation -The Westgate Formation In the Coldmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The Colorado Group consists of up to 180 m thick series of marine shales and minor siltstones, with some occasional ironstone, concretions, and bentonite layers (Hitchon et al 1989;Tu et al 2007). The 100-180 m thick post-Colorado nonmarine Quaternary deposits in the Cold Lake area consist of Pleistocene glacial deposits mainly comprising gravels, sands, silts, lacustrine clays, and tills.…”

Section: Regional Stratigraphy -Cold Lake Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, about 150 cases of casing failures were reported in the Colorado Group shales within the depth interval of 150-320 m. The 200-250 m depth interval is regarded as the zone with particular concern (Talebi et al 1998). Bentonite seams and natural horizontal fissures are found in the Colorado Group shales (Tu et al 2007). Wong and Chau (2004) investigated the potential of propagation of induced fractures along these discontinuities in the Colorado Group shales due to steam injection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geotechnical properties of bentonite seams — its effects on casing integrity under steam injection in Cold Lake, Alberta

WongRon

KumarDeepak²,

GautamRajeeb

2011

Can. Geotech. J.

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Bentonite seams of varying thicknesses, from a few millimetres to about 30 cm, are found at depths of 200-300 m within the Belle Fourche Formation and Second White Specks unit in the Cretaceous Colorado Group in the Cold Lake area of Alberta, which is one of four exploration sites for extraction of heavy oil in Alberta. Thermal heavy oil recovery processes in oil sand reservoirs, such as cyclic steam stimulation and steam-assisted gravity drainage, cause casing impairment and failure in the overlying Colorado Group shales. Based on the results from triaxial compression and direct shear box tests on bentonite seam samples, the material displays not only low stiffness and friction angle, but also pronounced creep. Results from numerical analyses of case studies illustrate that the shear slip mechanism along these bentonite seams is admissible in the field under steam stimulation processes. The slip mechanism is mainly attributed to the huge contrast in deformation moduli and creep between the soft bentonite seam and the stiff Colorado Group shales, rather than due to the low frictional resistance derived from the bentonite seam.

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Section: • Westgate Formation -The Westgate Formation In the Coldmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: • Westgate Formation -The Westgate Formation In the Coldmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Regional Stratigraphy -Cold Lake Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geotechnical properties of bentonite seams — its effects on casing integrity under steam injection in Cold Lake, Alberta

WongRon

KumarDeepak²,

GautamRajeeb

2011

Can. Geotech. J.

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“…The biostratigraphic zonation of Cretaceous strata in Western Canada was synthesized by Caldwell et al (1978). More recent research includes an organic geochemical study of Cenomanian-Turonian sediments by Simons et al (2003), a new lithostratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous Colorado Group in the Cold Lake heavy oil area by Tu et al (2007), and paleoenvironmental studies in the southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan by Nielsen et al (2008).…”

Section: Previous Work In the Wcsb/wismentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon isotope stratigraphy and geochemical studies/investigation for changes across bentonites in the upper cretaceous (cenomanian-turonian) successions of WCSB Canada

Olagoke¹

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A high-resolution study of isotopic and stratigraphic trends that characterized the aftermath of volcanic events in Cenomanian-Turonian sections from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is presented. The research is based on 5 18 0, 5 13 C, 5 13 C or g, TOC analyses of about 140 fossil (foraminifera, inoceramid) and whole rock samples combined with previously archived data.Stable isotope (O, C) data were acquired from three sections in the WCSB; Vermilion River VR1 & VR2 and the drill-core from well 6-34-30-8W4 (Youngstown), to (1) investigate the trends in the sedimentary sequences deposited in the aftermath of Cretaceous volcanic eruptions and (2) for chemostratigraphic correlation within the Western Interior Seaways (WIS) of North America. Planktic foraminifera of the genera Heterohelix, and Hedbergella, and inoceramid shells used in the analysis were precipitated in isotopic equilibrium with sea water and show no significant diagenetic or vital effects; 8 C values range between -8.86%o and 3.72%o, i o n 5 O value range from -13.93%o to -3.77%o, and 8 C org value range between -28.68%o to -| T 1 Q 23.94%o. The 5 C values shift positively by about ~5%o, the 8 O values shift negatively by about ~ 5%o and 8 I3 C org values shift negatively by ~l%o all within the late Cenomanian. These shifts all coincided at the onset of the Ocean Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2), similar to other CTB sections within the WIS/WCSB and worldwide.The results are similar to those obtained from other sections in the WIS/WCSB and generally reflect two major trends/events; the mid Cenomanian cool period and the warm late Cenomanian/early Turonian period, which incorporates the OAE2.ii The TOC as well as 8 13 C org results indicate that the low organic content that characterized the mid Cenomanian Belle Fourche Formation, became relatively high by time of the deposition of the late Cenomanian Keld member/Second White Specks Formation, but again become low by the early Turonian. The C/N ratio, 8 13 C or g and 8 15 N results indicate that the main source of organic matter is from C3 plants of terrestrial origin.Across the bentonites, S 18 0, 8 13 C org and TOC generally increases while 8 13 C decreases. The 8 O increases by 0.57-2.14%o across the bentonites >5cm thickness, indicating cooling of -2.28 C -8.56 C. The environmental recovery time from the effects of volcanic events was found to be 8 to 18 kyr.The observed 8 13 C and 8 13 C org trends from the three sections from WCSB indicate that a correlation exists with the North American stratotype section of the Cenomanian-Turonian OAE2 boundary at Pueblo, Colorado.

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Tectonic, eustatic and climatic controls on marginal‐marine sedimentation across a flexural depocentre: Paddy Member of Peace River Formation (Late Albian), Western Canada Foreland Basin

Plint

Krawetz

Buckley

et al. 2017

The Depositional Record

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In north‐central Alberta and adjacent British Columbia, clastic strata of the middle to late Albian Peace River and Shaftesbury formations were deposited in alluvial to shallow‐marine environments across the foredeep of the Western Canada Foreland Basin. A high‐resolution, log and core‐based allostratigraphic framework for the Paddy Member of the Peace River Formation established nine allomembers, PA to PI, bounded by flooding surfaces and apparently equivalent non‐marine surfaces. Within the estimated 2 Myr. duration of the Paddy, allomembers allow the evolving palaeogeography and changing relationship between accommodation and sedimentation rates to be analysed on time‐steps on the order of 105 years. Paddy strata fill an arcuate depocentre ca 300 km wide, across which the rocks thin eastward from 125 m to ca 5 to 10 m. The northern part of the basin is occupied by muddy, offshore marine deposits that pass abruptly southward into a linear, WSW‐ENE‐trending body of sandstone deposited in a wave‐dominated barrier‐strandplain, at least 350 km long. Extending >200 km to the south of the strandplain was a region of shallow brackish to freshwater lagoons and lakes that graded to the SW into alluvial facies. Within the lagoon region, few‐m thick, elongate and patchy sandstones represent river‐dominated deltas. In allomembers PA to PG, these sandstones are concentrated in the west and south, implying supply from the western Cordillera. In allomembers PH and PI, sandstones are mainly in the east and have a distinctive, quartz‐rich composition. They can be correlated eastward into the coeval Pelican Formation, and were sourced probably from the Canadian Shield on the opposite side of the basin. In the western foredeep, alluvial rocks comprise aggradational, unconfined floodplain deposits with ribbon sandstones, dissected, on at least nine separate levels, by palaeovalleys that are confined to the proximal foredeep. Valleys are 10 to 30 m deep, few km wide, and filled with multi‐storey channel‐bars of pebbly coarse sandstone or conglomerate. Valleys cut down from well‐developed interfluve palaeosols that record a falling and then rising water table. Alternating aggradation and degradation, and advance and retreat of the alluvial gravel front is attributed to cycles of varying rainfall intensity, rather than tectonism or eustasy. Apparently, coeval transgressive‐regressive successions in the lagoon and marine regions are attributed to few‐m scale eustatic changes. On the NE margin of the basin, tidal sandstone fills a northward‐opening estuary cut on the basal Paddy unconformity. This sandstone contains the first well‐documented specimens of Gnesioceramus comancheanus (Cragin), proving contemporaneity with at least part of the marine Joli Fou Formation to the east. Paddy allomembers change shape upward from short blunt wedges, through more acutely tapered wedges, to sheets. This change reflects initially rapid flexural subsidence, attributed to active thickening of the adjacent orogenic wedge. A waning rate of def...

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A New Lithostratigraphic Framework for the Cretaceous Colorado Group in the Cold Lake Heavy Oil Area, East-Central Alberta, Canada

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Geotechnical properties of bentonite seams — its effects on casing integrity under steam injection in Cold Lake, Alberta

Geotechnical properties of bentonite seams — its effects on casing integrity under steam injection in Cold Lake, Alberta

Carbon isotope stratigraphy and geochemical studies/investigation for changes across bentonites in the upper cretaceous (cenomanian-turonian) successions of WCSB Canada

Tectonic, eustatic and climatic controls on marginal‐marine sedimentation across a flexural depocentre: Paddy Member of Peace River Formation (Late Albian), Western Canada Foreland Basin

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