The Canadian Geothermal Data Collection contains all available non-confidential subsurface temperature data collected by the former Earth Physics Branch (now the Geological Survey of Canada) prior to 1982 from boreholes of depths greater than 125 m within the Canadian permafrost region. These data were published by Taylor and Judge (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977), Judge et al. (1979 and 1981) and Taylor et al. (1982). Ground temperature logs from this collection are presented on this web site along with additional data collected by the GSC in deep wells after 1982. Further information about the data set may be found in the accompanying background document.

Accessing Data for Sites of Interest

An interactive map viewer is provided which allows the user to view data for the borehole of interest. Enlargements of the maps showing borehole location are accessed by clicking on the region of interest on the small scale map provided. The data may be viewed by clicking on the borehole number.

File Structure

The first section of the file contains a site description which gives the location and other data pertinent to the site. The following fields are included:

Site number
Well number
Site name
Industry name
Latitude (N) - given in degrees and minutes
Longitude (W) - given in degrees and minutes
Ground elev'n ASL - Elevation of the ground surface in metres above sea level (missing data indicated by 9999)
KB above ground - Height of the Kelly Bushing above the ground surface (if available)
Total depth TD (gnd) - The depth (metres) to the bottom of the borehole.
Date of drill start - Date on which drilling was started given in dd/mm/yyyy format
Date drilling end - Date on which drilling was terminated given in dd/mm/yyyy format
Date well abandonmt - Date on which the well was abandoned given in dd/mm/yyyy format

Following the site description, information is provided on the investigators and key references. The dates for the set of temperature measurements undertaken and other details of each log are given in the next section of the file. One line is provided for each log and contains the following information: site number, log number, type of log, accuracy of depth measurement, accuracy of temperature measurement, comments.

Temperature data for all logs is provided at the bottom of the file and includes the following fields:

Site number
Well number
Log number - this is keyed to the log description above and may be consulted for date of temperature measurement and other information about the temperature log
Measured depth - The depth of the temperature measurement (metres). Note that not all boreholes were drilled vertically.
Vertical depth - The corrected vertical depth of the temperature measurement (metres). Note that this will be the same as the measured depth if the borehole was drilled vertically.
Temperature - The measured temperature in °C

The values presented will not necessarily represent equilibrium temperatures because the drilling process disturbs the thermal equilibrium and several months to several years may be required for stabilization of temperatures (see background document for further details). Equilibrium temperatures have been calculated for boreholes for which sufficient data are available. A link to a table containing calculated equilibrium temperatures is provided where data are available.

Go to Database

References

Judge, A.S., Burgess M. Taylor, A.E., and Allen, V.S. 1981. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells 1978-80; Geothermal Series Number 12, Geothermal Service Canada, Earth Physics Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 190 p.

Judge, A.S., Taylor, A.E. and Burgess, M., 1979. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells 1977-78; Geothermal Series Number 11, Geothermal Service Canada, Earth Physics Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 188 p.

Taylor, A.E., Burgess, M.M., Judge, A.S., Allen, V. and Wilkinson, A., 1998. Canadian Geothermal Data Collection - Deep permafrost temperatures and thickness of permafrost; Global Geocryological Database, CAPS version 1, CD-rom. Published by the International Permafrost Association and the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, Boulder Colorado.

Taylor, A.E., Burgess, M.M., Judge, A.S., and Allen, V.S, 1982. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern Wells 1981; Earth Physics Branch, Geothermal Series 13, 153 p.

Taylor, A.E. and Judge, A.S., 1974. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells, 1955 to February 1974; Geothermal Series Number 1, Geothermal Service Canada, Earth Physics Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 171 p.

Taylor, A.E. and Judge, A.S., 1975. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells, 1974; Geothermal Series Number 3, Earth Physics Branch, Geothermal Service Canada, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 127 p.

Taylor, A.E. and Judge, A.S., 1976. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells, 1975; Geothermal Series Number 6, Geothermal Service Canada, Earth Physics Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 142 p.

Taylor, A.E. and Judge, A.S., 1977. Canadian geothermal data collection - Northern wells 1976-77; Geothermal Series Number 10, Geothermal Service Canada, Earth Physics Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, 194 p.

Background Document