--> Abstract: Sedimentologic and Stratigraphic Evaluation of the Taber-Cutbank Incised Valley System, Lower Mannville, Southwestern Alberta, Canada, by G. W. Ardies; #90931 (1998).

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Abstract: Sedimentologic and Stratigraphic Evaluation of the Taber-Cutbank Incised Valley System, Lower Mannville, Southwestern Alberta, Canada

ARDIES, GEORGE W., Queen's University, Department of Geological Sciences, Kingston, Ontario

The undifferentiated, Basal Quartz Formation (Lower Cretaceous) within the Taber-Cutbank Valley System, south-central Alberta, offers a unique opportunity for the detailed study of the relationship between accommodation space and patterns of erosion and deposition along the length of a single valley fill. These valley-fill successions consist of several depositional sequences, comprising a lowstand to transgressive sequence set, that changes northward and upward from fluvial to estuarine in character.

Along-valley delineation of the depositional sequences using wireline logs, core logs, petrologic studies, and summaries of production histories will allow the detailed depositional model of the incised-valley system to be developed. Valley gradient and architecture (size, shape, and fluvial stacking patterns), grain size, and other stratigraphic and sedimentologic features will be analyzed in order to (1) determine the interrelationship of accommodation space and depositional successions and (2) differentiate the tripartite division of the incised valley system. The latter will be deduced by analyzing the contemporaneous sedimentologic and stratigraphic changes within specific units along the length of the valley.

Subsequently, the Basal Quartz Formation will be subdivided into a number of proposed members by means of the uniqueness of the depositional units comprising this formation. This subdivision will enable greater recovery from the large number of heterogeneous reservoirs along the incised-valley system.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90931©1998 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid