The Mississippian section within the study area consists of five formations that are, in ascending order, Exshaw, Banff, Pekisko, Shunda and Turner Valley.  The Mississippian package may be viewed as one mega transgressive - regresssive cycle of sedimentation, with the Exshaw-Banff portion representing basin creation and initial infilling and the balance of the Rundle Group representing basin-fill.  Within this overall cycle of sedimentation numerous smaller scale transgressive-regressive cycles occur that subdivide it, at not only the formation scale, but also at the member level.

This study provides a regional framework of correlations within the Turner Valley Formation along its subcrop trend.  Within this framework depositional and diagenetic facies relationships, and the nature and distribution of reservoir quality, porosity and producing zones at the various stratigraphic levels are provided.

The study area is located in southern Alberta just to the east of Calgary and covers the Turner Valley subcrop belt from Townships 17 to 24 between Ranges 24W4 and 29W4.  At the time of the study, a total of 347 wells penetrated the Turner Valley Formation within the study area; of which, 324 wells were designated study wells.  A total of 82 cored intervals from the Turner Valley Formation were described at the AEUB Core Research Centre for this study.

Click globe for map of study area.

The study area covers 23 townships (2,160 square kilometres) and encompasses the Crossfield, Gladys, and Herronton fields:

• fully illustrated text (39 pages, 16 figures, 5 colour plates) documenting stratigraphy, depositional facies, geologic evolution, play types and exploration potential, core descriptions, and database;
• 5 regional stratigraphic cross sections (4 dip & 1 strike);
• 4 field level stratigraphic cross sections;
• 5 maps (4 isopach & 1 structure) at 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 scales;
• stratigraphic picks and isopach values from Base Cretaceous to Top Wabamun Grp., including Turner Valley Fm. (Upper, Middle & Elkton Mbrs.), Shunda Fm. (S1, S2 & S3 Units), Pekisko Fm., Banff Fm., Exshaw Fm. and the Wabamun Grp.;
• 324 well database available in digital and hardcopy formats
• 82 core descriptions with internally consistent correlations