Sedimentological Interpretation of Shallow Seismic Profiles of a Wave-Dominated Beach: Waterside Beach, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada

Richardo White¹, Shahin E. Dashtgard², Karl Butler¹, Murray Gringas², and Peter Simpkin^3
1 University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB
² University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
³ IKB Technologies Limited, Bedford, NS

Waterside Beach, New Brunswick, Canada is a coarse-grained transgressive beach composed of sand- and gravel-dominated zones including multiple, large, wave-generated gravel bars. Three distinct depositional phases have been inferred from surficial and seismic geological studies: (i) a glacial-outwash delta; (ii) salt-marsh deposits; and (iii) paleo and modern beach deposits. Waterside Beach is considered to be an analogue for conglomerate reservoirs in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

A combination of high-resolution seismic profiles acquired at high tide and detailed mapping of surface sediments at low tide are employed in the three-dimensional reconstruction of Waterside Beach. A reconnaissance seismic survey employing a Seistec sub-bottom profiler with a boomer source and single channel receiver of the area was executed in 2003. This lead to a second expedition in 2004 where two Seistec systems towed side by side 12m apart in order to collect a pseudo-3D seismic dataset around the gravel bars. The stratigraphic interpretations of high resolution seismic profiles of the data from these two expeditions are presented and provide valuable insight into the formation of features found both at surface and in the subsurface of a high-energy beach depositional environment.

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