Thrusted Mississippian carbonate rocks within the disturbed belt of the Alberta Foothills contain significant reserves of natural gas.  The majority of the fields in the northern foothills area are reservoired within the Turner Valley  Formation.  Although these accumulations are primarily structural in origin, there appears to be a geographic variation in overall reservoir quality and pay thickness that infers the operation of other primarily depositional controls.

This study maps the regional facies patterns at a number of levels within the Mississippian.  Production and reservoir quality appears to conform to an underlying depositional control modified somewhat by later diagenesis (primarily dolomitization) and fracturing.  Reservoir quality deteriorates to the north as a result of depositional thinning of a number of carbonate ramp cycles into equivalent basinal strata.  Palinspastic restoration of individual thrust sheets was undertaken in order to relocate each data point paleogeographically.

The study encompassed an area from Township 23 north to 65, and from just east of the disturbed belt to the Alberta/BC border.  This project area encompasses the Front Ranges of the Rocky mountains, the adjoining Foothills belt and a portion of the undisturbed Western Plains.  At the time of the study 864 wells penetrated the Mississippian in the study area, of which 418 were designated as study wells and 139 wells with cored intervals were logged at the AEUB Core Research Centre.

Click globe for map of study area.

• fully illustrated text (48 pages, 41 figures, 2 tables) documenting stratigraphy, depositional facies, geologic evolution, play types and exploration potential, core descriptions, and database;
• 4 restored regional stratigraphic cross sections;
• 28 maps including palinspastic isopach, facies and reservoir quality summary at 1:250,000 and 1:500,000 scales;
• stratigraphic picks, thrust sheet, displacement, azimuth and isopach values from Top Mississippian to Top Wabamun Grp., including Mt. Head Fm., Turner Valley Fm. (Upper, Middle & Lower Mbrs.), Shunda Fm., Pekisko Fm., Banff Fm., Exshaw Fm. and the Wabamun Grp.;
• 418 well database available in digital and hardcopy formats
• 139 cored well descriptions (5,700 metres) with internally consistent correlations