New Insights on the Evolution of the Amerasian Basin and Circum-Arctic: The Case for Focused Acquisition of New Data

Steven Bergman, Peter Winefield, Gary S. Steffens, Dan Worrall, Cees van Oosterhout, Edith Hafkenscheid, Michael DiMarco, Malcolm Ross, Mario Wannier, Andrew Bishop, Thomas X. Homza, and Robert C. Scheidemann
Shell, Houston, TX.

The Circum-Arctic region (north of 60° latitude) spans almost 1/6th of the Earth's surface, over half of which is underlain by continental shelves, and is anomalous relative to the rest of the world oceans. The region also contains numerous poorly understood sedimentary basins and physiographic features. In particular, the origin and timing of the Amerasian (Canada) Basin remains the most controversial aspects of Arctic geology and a singularly robust tectonic reconstruction has eluded geologists for decades. These issues have a significant impact on the paleogeographic and paleoclimatic evolution of the entire Arctic region and in turn important implications for mineral and hydrocarbon exploration.

Potential fields datasets for the central Amerasian and Makarov Basins provide some constraints on the opening geometry of the Greater Canada Basin and also the nature of the underlying crustal types although key uncertainties remain in terms of the actual timing of opening, the age of transition from synrift to drift basin phases along the margins of the Canada Basin and composition of the basement. In addition, the precise age and nature of the Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge and its potential association with the formation of the High Arctic Large Igneous Province remain an enigma. Further afield, the nature and timing of the opening of Baffin Bay has important implications for tectonic restorations of Greenland and also for our current understanding of petroleum source rock development in this region. Focused data acquisition targeted at these key uncertainties will provide the opportunity to significantly advance our understanding of the evolution and resource potential of the Circum Arctic region.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90130©2011 3P Arctic, The Polar Petroleum Potential Conference & Exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 30 August-2 September, 2011.