Shared Projects

The WCSB Working Group has partnered on a number of inter-jurisdictional geoscience projects across the basin.  These include:

1) 3D Model of the WCSB

This video depicts a 3D representation of the Geological Atlas of the Western Canadian Sedimentarty Basin (Mossop and Shetson, 1994). The 3D model represented here was built in Gocad 3D subsurface modeling software by G.L.D. Matile and G.R. Keller of the Manitoba Geological Survey using structural contours from the atlas. Areas where both the uppermost surface in the region and the underlying surface colours can be seen interspersed represent areas where the upper unit in that region is very thin.

The video starts with a perspective view of the Prairie Provinces and the Precambrian surface (pink) viewed from the southwest. Nine 3D surfaces representing major time periods (Cambrian, Ordovician/Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary) are then added sequentially. Subsequently the view changes to a top-down perspective with a 3D representation of the ground surface of the Canadian Cordillera thrust and fold belt (brown) which is represented by the SRTM digital elevation model (USGS, 2002). The nine 3D surfaces which represent major time periods are then sequentially removed leaving the Cordilleran ground surface to the west and the Precambrian surface to the east.

References

Mossop, G.D. and Shetson, I. (compilers). 1994. Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Research Council, Calgary, 509 p.

United States Geological Survey 2002: Shuttle radar topography mission, digital elevation model, Manitoba; United States Geological Survey, URL , portions of files N48W88W.hgt.zip through N60W102.hgt.zip, 1.5 Mb (variable), 90 m cell, zipped hgt format [Mar 2003].

2) Knowledge Transfer Program

• Information exchange among staff from group members through informal contact and job shadowing.
• Experts in a given sub-discipline (e.g., shale gas, geothermal energy) share knowledge with interested colleagues from other jurisdictions.

3) Williston Basin Architecture and Hydrocarbon Potential in Eastern Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba.
Targeted Geoscience Initiative II (TGI II)

4) Structural Lineaments Compilation
Objective: Compilation and interpretation of all structural features in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, including:

• Faults;
• Surface linear features;
• Basin features – scarps, reef trends, basin axes;
• Arches; and
• Basement geology.

For more information:

• GIS Compilation of Structural Elements in Northern Alberta, Release 1.0
• Structural Compilation Project for the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

5) Integrated Petroleum Resource Potential and Geoscience Studies of the Bowser and Sustut Basins.

6) Regional Geoscience Studies and Petroleum Potential, Peel Plateau and Plain.