Provenance and Mineralogy of Sediments from the Early Cretaceous Bluesky Formation, Peace River Oil Sands, Alberta, Canada
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2018-09-12
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The provenance of sediment in the McMurray Formation of the Athabasca Oil Sands has been widely studied, while the Bluesky Formation of the Peace River Oil Sands which holds significant deposits of heavy oil, has not been studied to the same extent. Mineralogy of the Bluesky Formation is also relatively poorly understood in the area and is important to evaluate due to steam-assisted gravity drainage methods used to optimize production. U-Pb geochronology ages from four samples were collected from the McMurray Formation and the Bluesky Formation. McMurray samples yielded similar results of sediment provenance determined in past studies, while the Bluesky Formation showed similarities and new date populations in comparison to previous data. The lower PR-1-Lagoon facies yielded age ranges of detrital zircons distributed from east-southeast-to-northwest and northwest-to-southeast drainage systems, while the lower secondary PR-1-Wave facies resulted in age ranges that changed to a more local southeast-to-northwest drainage system and northwest-to-southeast system from the Western Cordillera to a reintegration of the east-southeast-to-northwest and northwest-to-southeast drainage systems in the upper secondary PR-1-Wave facies due to transgressions and regressions of the Boreal sea and basin partitioning between the Assiniboia and Edmonton channels. Mineralogical assemblages of the Bluesky Formation was also studied using a combination of qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures including SEM, XRF and XRD, which determined that there is a complex mineralogy in comparison to the McMurray Formation. Kaolinite was the largely dominant clay type that fills pore space due to its vermicular form, while dawsonite was also abundant in large clusters that limits porosity. Quantitative results of XRD and XRF should be used together to evaluate mineral weight percentage as XRF shows a more reliable yield in data that isn’t effected by surface area of grains as much as XRD. Fractured framework grains and development of intragranular porosity suggests mechanical and chemical weathering and grain alteration, which are characteristic of faults in the area and hydrothermal fluid influx. Oil wells producing with the aid of steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) techniques should be monitored as porosity-decreasing dawsonite and kaolinite can form at temperatures up to and over 200ᵒC, which will impact overall production and operation of the well.
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McKinnon, L. (2018). Provenance and Mineralogy of Sediments from the Early Cretaceous Bluesky Formation, Peace River Oil Sands, Alberta, Canada (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/32927