--> Abstract: Application of Satellite and Airphoto Remote Sensing to Map Fracture Zones and Faults in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Weyburn CO<SUB>2</SUB> Monitoring and Storage Project, Canada, by Lynden A. Penner, Jason I. Cosford, and Jack D. Mollard; #90039 (2005)

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Application of Satellite and Airphoto Remote Sensing to Map Fracture Zones and Faults in the International Energy Agency (IEA) Weyburn CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project, Canada

Lynden A. Penner1, Jason I. Cosford2, and Jack D. Mollard2
1 J.D. Mollard and Associates Limited, Regina, SK
2 J.D. Mollard and Associates Limited,

The IEA Weyburn CO2 Monitoring and Storage Project builds on Encana's commercial enhanced oil recovery project located approximately 120km southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The main objectives of this project are to assess the environmental, geological and economic feasibility of sequestering CO2 in a Mississippian-age carbonate reservoir at a depth of approximately 1400m.

The 200x200km IEA Weyburn regional study area is characterized by systematic NE-SW and NW-SE oriented remotely sensed lineaments and lineament zones and minor N-S and E-W trends. Viewed in satellite and airphoto imagery, surface lineaments in this young glaciated landscape appear as discontinuously aligned linear escarpments, valleys and smaller surface drainage depressions that vary in length and relief. In some locations, subtle linear tonal features can be identified in the soil and natural vegetation. Clusters of colinear individual lineaments that are aligned in the same direction within narrow tracts define longer lineament zones. A heirarchical relationship exists between individual lineaments and lineament zones.

An integrated approach was used to identify those satellite lineament zones more likely to overlie locations with higher fracture permeability in the subsurface. Faults mapped from approximately 600km of 2-D seismic data, combined with structural features inferred from 28 isopach maps, form the basis of this correlation. The 28 formations range from Mesozoic to Devonian in age, and from approximately 100 to 2300m in depth below ground surface.

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