Growth faulting and syntectonic casting of the Dawson Creek Graben Complex: A North American craton-marginal trough; Carboniferous-Permian Peace River Embayment, western Canada

Conference · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:6093343

Barclay, J E; Utting, J ^[1]; Krause, F F; Campbell, R I ^[2]

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1. Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)
2. Calamity Resources, Calgary, Alberta (Canada)

The Dawson Creek Graben Complex was a 150 {times} 300 km, craton-perpendicular trough near the western North American craton margin. Sedimentary infill spanned 100 million years, and this tectonically controlled basin provides a comparison with other craton-marginal troughs or aulacogens, such as the Big Snowy, Uinta, Delaware, and Southern Oklahoma. The authors suspect that the graben complex was controlled by outboard, Antler-like orogeny and perhaps some strike-slip control. This syntectonic graben infill model provides a basis for developing new structural-stratigraphic plays in this mature basin. This extensional trough rests on a former basement arch and is centered in the broadly downwarped Peace River embayment. Sediment infill records several graben casting stages beginning with westernmost down-dropping, which then extended eastward and was accompanied by an increase in growth-type block faulting. Subsidence and faulting decay was followed by a retreat to western areas and tectonic stabilization. The complex was an arcuate half-graben, steep to the north, that widened asymmetrically and increased in depth to the west through time. The complex contained a principal half-graben with neighboring satellite grabens; throughout the complex are numerous kilometer-scale horst and graben blocks. The horsts subsided slower than neighboring grabens. This differential subsidence along block-bounding syn- and postdepositional growth-type normal faults controlled formation and bed thickness, as did inter- and intraformational unconformities.

• OSTI ID: 6093343
• Report Number(s): CONF-9107109-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Vol. 75:6; Conference: American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Rocky Mountain Section meeting, Billings, MT (United States), 28-31 Jul 1991; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
58 GEOSCIENCES
ALBERTA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
STRATIGRAPHY
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
MATURATION
PERMIAN PERIOD
TECTONICS
CANADA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580000 - Geosciences