--> Abstract: Mapping Oil and Gas Potential in the Sahtu and Gwich’in Settlement Areas, Northwest Territories, by Leonard P. Gal; #90039(2005)

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

Mapping Oil and Gas Potential in the Sahtu and Gwich’in Settlement Areas, Northwest Territories

Leonard P. Gal
Northwest Territories Geoscience Office (NTGO), Yellowknife, NT

The NTGO is carrying out non-renewable resource potential mapping in the Sahtu and Gwich'in aboriginal settlement areas, in support of the Northwest Territories (NWT) Protected Areas Strategy. This mapping in the Mackenzie Valley region complements parallel ecological mapping; being done to identify potential protected areas representative of eco-regions. The resource potential mapping ensures an awareness of resource values when land use decisions are made.

This study is coarse-scale, comparative, qualitative, and knowledge-based. The basis of the methodology is the identification of conceptual and established exploration plays, primarily from existing literature. The plays are represented and mapped by known subsurface extent of possible reservoir rock. In effect, the reservoir is a proxy for the complete petroleum system(s).

Play maps are developed as polygonal themes in a GIS environment. The overlap of these play polygons, and whether plays are established or conceptual, determines relative potential. In simple terms, an area with three conceptual plays is more favourable than an area with only one conceptual play, all other factors being equal.

The areas with the highest potential for hydrocarbons in the Gwich'in and Sahtu settlement areas are in the Mackenzie Plain, the Keele Arch area of Colville Hills, and the Gwich'in portion of the Mackenzie Delta.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005