| Title | Organic petrography and geochemical characterization of the Upper Cretaceous Second White Specks and Upper Belle Fourche alloformations, west-central Alberta: analysis of local maturity anomalies |
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| Author | Aviles, M A; Ardakani, O H ; Cheadle, B A; Sanei, H |
| Source | International Journal of Coal Geology vol. 203, 2019 p. 60-73, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2019.01.008 |
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| Year | 2019 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20180040 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Alberta |
| NTS | 82O; 82P; 83A; 83B; 83C; 83E; 83F; 83G; 83H; 83I; 83J; 83K; 83L |
| Area | North Saskatchewan River; Athabasca River |
| Lat/Long WENS | -120.0000 -113.0000 54.2500 51.5000 |
| Subjects | fossil fuels; geochemistry; Upper Cretaceous; sedimentary basins; petroleum resources; hydrocarbon potential; hydrocarbons; gas; production; hydrocarbon recovery; sedimentary petrology; pyrolysis;
thermal maturation; hydrocarbon generation; kerogen; maceral analyses; vitrinite reflectance; temperature; fluorescence analyses; anomalies; sulphur; organic geochemistry; wells; core samples; diagenesis; alteration; Western Canada Foreland Basin;
Second White Specks Formation; Belle Fourche Formation; Phanerozoic; Mesozoic; Cretaceous |
| Illustrations | location maps; geoscientific sketch maps; stratigraphic charts; stratigraphic correlations; well logs; tables; diagrams; plots; photomicrographs; bar graphs; profiles |
| Program | Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) Shale Reservoir Characterization |
| Released | 2019 01 25 |
| Abstract | The Second White Specks is an enigmatic unconventional shale play in the Western Canada Foreland Basin (WCFB). This play has an inconsistent production performance that has impacted exploration and
production risk, preventing extensive development. In this contribution, geochemical properties are studied with the purpose to identify possible geochemical factors that could contribute to the production variability of this unconventional petroleum
system. The studied succession consists of the Second White Specks (SWS) and Upper Belle Fourche (UBF) alloformations, which are part of the SWS shale play. Organic petrology and Rock-Eval pyrolysis were combined to characterize the organic matter
(OM), and assess OM richness, thermal maturity and hydrocarbon generation potential in the foredeep section of the basin. The results show that the OM richness and hydrocarbon generation potential in this area is good, and comparison with other
studies show that they do not exhibit major lateral variations. The kerogen is marine Type II and is dominated by liptinite, vitrinite, inertinite macerals, and solid bitumen. Alginite and bituminite are the most abundant macerals. Altered bituminite
provides evidence of anaerobic bacteria degradation. There is a modest contribution of inertinite that may be responsible for a dilution effect of the pyrolyzable carbon. The thermal maturity indicators in this study such as vitrinite reflectance,
Tmax, and alginite UV fluorescence color indicate that the controls on thermal maturity and hydrocarbon generation are not well understood. There are lateral short scale variations or maturity anomalies that require further investigation, to reduce
the exploration risk. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
Organic petrography and geochemical characterization of the Upper Cretaceous Second White Specks and Upper Belle Fourche alloformations, west-central
Alberta for analysis of local maturity anomalies was studied in this work. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 308208 |
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