Fan-delta and interdeltaic shoreline sediments of Middle Devonian Granite Wash and Keg River clastics, Red Earth field, north Alberta basin, Canada

Conference · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5969963

Sabry, H

A detailed sedimentological investigation of over 4000 ft of core and 500 well logs of the Middle Devonian granite wash and Keg River clastics in the Red Earth field, North Alberta basin, Canada, has led to the recognition of a granite wash subaerial fan-delta system that is laterally continuous with a Keg River subaqueous delta component along an eastern shoreline of the ancestral Peace River arch. The subaerial fan delta includes alluvial fan facies, sheet wash and mud flows, and playa lakes. The subaqueous delta component includes lower shoreface, upper shoreface, beach-foreshore, eolian sand dunes, lagoon, washover sands, tidal channels and flats, and supratidal carbonates and anhydrites. Within this system, six mappable units are defined. A conceptual depositional model for the sequence depicts four main events. (1) Erosion of Peach River arch uplifted fault blocks, which produced coarse-grained fan-delta sediments in an adjacent fault-bounded margin. Subsequent fluvial reworking resulted in the deposition of thick, lenticular, wedge-shaped alluvial fans of granite wash. (2) Progradation of alluvial fans seaward into the Keg River Sea. (3) Transgression by Middle Devonian seas from the east, which reworked alluvial fans and led to deposition of discontinuous linear sand bodies represented by the Keg River regressive shoreline sediments. (4) Restriction of the sea by the Presqu'ile barrier reef to the north, which deposited evaporites of the Muskeg Formation over the whole sequence. Modern analog to this fan-delta system is the coastal fans of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. Red Earth field contains over 27 million bbl of recoverable oil, related to a combination structural-stratigraphic trap.

• Research Organization: Mobil Oil Canada, Calgary, Alberta
• OSTI ID: 5969963
• Report Number(s): CONF-890404-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 73:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ALBERTA
CANADA
CONGLOMERATES
DEVONIAN PERIOD
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOLOGY
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS