| Title | Depositional model for shale gas deposits of the Besa River Formation in Liard Basin, British Columbia |
| Author | Ferri, F; McMechan, M; Creaser, R; Friedman, R |
| Source | AAPG Search and Discovery Article 2016 p. 1 |
| Year | 2016 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20150305 |
| Publisher | American Association of Petroleum Geologists |
| Meeting | AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition; Calgary; CA; June 19-22, 2016 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | html |
| Province | British Columbia |
| NTS | 94J; 94K; 94N; 94O |
| Area | Rocky Mountains |
| Lat/Long WENS | -126.0000 -122.0000 60.0000 58.0000 |
| Subjects | sedimentology; fossil fuels; sedimentary rocks; shales; depositional environment; depositional history; basins; basin analyses; Besa River Formation; Liard Basin; Paleozoic; Devonian; Pennsylvanian;
Mississippian |
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| Program | Shale Reservoir Characterization, Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) |
| Links | Online - En ligne
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| Abstract | The Middle Devonian to Middle Mississippian Besa River Fm is a predominantly shale succession that was deposited in Liard Basin and now outcrops along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in
northeast British Columbia. It contains the deepwater basinal equivalents to carbonate and shale developed to the east in the subsurface of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. In the outcrop belt of westernmost Liard Basin, the Besa River Fm is
about 300 m thick whereas the correlative carbonate and shale are over 2000 m thick near the Bovie structure. In central Liard Basin, the upper Besa River Fm contains a gassaturated, silicaand organicrich section equivalent to the Exshaw Fm and an
underlying unit informally referred to as the Patry member. The Exshaw and Patry succession has recently been the focus of shalegas exploration, with the initial development well producing over 6.5 BCF (184 × 106m3) of natural gas since 2011. ReOs
systematics of shale in upper part of the organicrich zone, together with UPb dating of an associated thin tuff define an age at the DevonoMississippian boundary and corroborates correlation with the Exshaw Fm. The underlying organicrich Patry
sequence is developed in central and western Liard Basin and is considerably thicker along its eastern limit at the Kotcho shelf edge, where it defines a north to northeasterly trending section that is over 200 m thick. The proposed depositional
model for this succession incorporates a regional transgression near the end of Late Devonian Kotcho deposition that is accompanied by anoxic bottom waters. Maximum flooding occurred during deposition of the lower Exshaw. It is postulated that a
westsidedown normal fault, similar in orientation to the Bovie structure, created the accommodation space for accumulation of a thicker section of organicrich rocks. This model would suggest that the extensional tectonics related to the Bovie
structure were initiated during the Late Devonian. The Exshaw Fm thickens along the northwestern margin of the Peace River Embayment (PRE), an extensional feature coeval with the Carboniferous Liard Basin. Although a thicker section of the Exhsaw Fm
was tested along the northwest margin of the PRE, this unit has not been penetrated within the westernmost part of the PRE, particularly in the Fort St. John Graben system. Application of the model from Liard Basin would suggest the potential for a
much thicker Exshaw section may exist in that area. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The Middle Devonian to Middle Mississippian Besa River Fm is a predominantly shale succession that was deposited in Liard Basin. In central Liard Basin,
the upper Besa River Fm contains a gas-saturated, silica- and organic-rich section equivalent to the Exshaw Fm and an underlying unit informally referred to as the Patry member. This succession has recently been the focus of shale-gas exploration.
The organic-rich Patry sequence is considerably thicker along its eastern limit at the carbonate shelf edge, where it defines a north to north-easterly trending section that is over 200 m thick. It is postulated that a west-side-down normal fault
created the accommodation space for accumulation of a thicker section of organic-rich rocks. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 297324 |
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