Carbonate concretions and carbonate cements in black shales provide important information about depositional conditions and early diagenesis. This study will characterize carbonate isotope signatures of carbonates in the Frasnian Duvernay Formation in order to infer paleoredox conditions and explore implications for reservoir producibility.

The study proposed aims to explore concretion growth mechanisms within a chemostratigraphic and sedimentological context in order to better understand paleodepositional conditions. Carbonate isotopes will be used as part of a robust suite of redox proxies to identify traceable geochemical facies. A basin transect will provide important constraints on the stratigraphic and geographic variability of carbonate isotopes allowing a model for Duvernay deposition to be created. Samples will be taken from an extensive suite of modern core from southern Alberta that provide a basin center to margin transect.

This study will provide:
(a) Better understanding of the distribution of detrital versus authigenic carbonate which will have implications for depositional models and sea level interpretation
(b) new constraints on paleoredox conditions at or just below the sediment-water interface and
(c) characterization of the distribution of carbonate cement, with implications for mechanical properties.