Quantitative Basin Analysis of Peace River Arch Area, Canada

S. Cao, S. Bachu, S. O'Connell, B. Hitchon, J. Underschultz, G. Dix

The Peace River arch area, covering approximately 165,000 km², is located in northwestern Alberta-northeastern British Columbia and is one of the most active petroleum exploration areas in the Western Canada sedimentary basin. A thickness of up to 4,000 m of sedimentary rocks, ranging from Cambrian to Tertiary, covers the Precambrian basement composed of supracrustal and granitic rocks. The Peace River arch, formed during the early Paleozoic, extends cratonward from the Cordillera in an east-northeast direction and is a major crustal anomaly in which Precambrian rocks are uplifted about 1,000 m above the regional trend of the basement. Petroleum has been found in units ranging from Devonian to Cretaceous.

Computer-based basin analysis is providing a useful tool for obtaining a better quantitative description of the basin evolution. The present-day stratigraphy, lithology, and hydrogeological and geothermal regimes were studied using data from core analyses, drill-stem tests, bottom-hole temperature measurements, and analyses of formation waters performed at some 27,000 wells drilled in the Peace River arch area. Both one- and two-dimensional models for basin analysis were applied to study the evolution of the area and its potential for hydrocarbon generation and accumulation. The extensive data control allowed a good calibration of the models. The results of the study are helpful for increasing our knowledge about the evolution of the area and associated processes and providing a tool or developing an exploration strategy in undeveloped and underdeveloped plays of the area.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.