Phaneroczoic isopach map (Courtesy of Grant Mossop) larger image [JPEG, 29.6 kb, 440 X 297, notice]

(Courtesy of Rob Fensome) larger image [JPEG, 109.3 kb, 440 X 298, notice]

To further the exploration effort within the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, a partnership including federal and provincial/territorial surveys has recently completed two major geological mapping projects: the Central Foreland NATMAP project (involving parts of BC, Yukon and NWT) and the Southern Alberta NATMAP project. In Alberta, two regional subsurface syntheses of petroleum-prospective strata have also been completed, and a new co-operative TGI project in Saskatchewan and Manitoba will focus on the architecture and hydrocarbon potential of the Williston Basin.

Figure 1 - Map of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin larger image [JPEG, 38.6 kb, 800 X 506, notice]

Rationale

Given the economic importance of conventional oil and gas reserves in western Canada, and the region's vast existing and future resource potential in oil sands, coal and coal gas, it is not surprising that the geoscientific fraternity in western Canada moves periodically to synthesize what is known about the three-dimensional geology of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The most ambitious and comprehensive basin analysis of the WCSB ever undertaken, albeit at reconnaissance scales (1:5M), was completed in 1994 with the compilation and public release of the Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It was a massive cooperative mapping endeavour.

Approach

The stated goal of the Atlas project was - "as a community of geologists in western Canada, to compile and produce a new atlas of the subsurface geology of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin". The two output objectives were - "1) to establish and release an electronic data base of consistently interpreted subsurface information; and 2) to produce a printed volume...".

Participants / Costs

Four project sponsors funded the Atlas compilation - the Alberta Geological Survey (project headquarters), the Alberta Department of Energy, the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (scientific home to virtually all of the project participants) and the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Data donors, whose gratis contribution of original data bases made the project manageable in digital terms, included government departments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia, and a number of private sector firms. Researchers/authors, some 102 in total, hailed from 21 different industry companies, six provincial agencies, seven universities, and the federal government through the GSC. The project began in 1986 with two years of feasibility study, followed by four years of compilation and two further years of production. Including the in-kind labour costs of contributors, the project was estimated to represent an investment of $12 million.

Outputs

In addition to the Atlas data base of systematic geological information on 12,000 wells (distilled from 193,000 input wells), the project resulted in the production of the printed Atlas tome - 510 large-format pages, three-quarters given over to illustrations and the rest to text and references. Most of the illustrations are in full colour - almost 500 maps (Figure 1), over 200 cross sections (Figure 2), and 275 related figures and data tables (e.g., correlation charts, reference logs, depositional models, oil and gas resource statistics).

Figure 2 - Cross-Sections of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin larger image [JPEG, 35.3 kb, 800 X 462, notice]

Outcomes

Ten years after its release, the Atlas is still utilized daily by industry resource explorationists, academics and students, environmental analysts and government scientists and planners, as a basic source reference for the r egional context upon which more specialized studies can be reliably conducted. In a recent survey of users, 93 percent agreed that, despite the $12-million price tag, the undertaking had been "worth it". Over 85 percent judge that the Atlas will have useful shelf life of 20-30 years.

Future Work

The WCSB Atlas is a start, but it remains broadly reconnaissance in scale (1:5M). Much more detailed subsurface mapping needs to be done.

More Information

Hard copy of the Atlas volume is no longer obtainable (3500 copies sold out in 1991), but it is available on line at the Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin web site.