--> Abstract: Reservoir Quality Prediction in Alberta's Deep Basin Conglomerates; Assessing Diagenesis from Burial and Thermal History, by D. W. Clemenson; #90925 (1999)

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CLEMENSON, DEAN W., University of Calgary, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Abstract: Reservoir Quality Prediction in Alberta's Deep Basin Conglomerates; Assessing Diagenesis from Burial and Thermal History

The goal of this research is to characterize the diagenesis of conglomerates through a range of burial and thermal conditions. The conglomerates that will be used to characterize the diagenesis are part of the Cadotte and Falher members of the Spirit River Formation. These members contain shoreface conglomerates that were deposited in a series of stacked shoreline facies in Alberta's Deep Basin during the Early Cretaceous. Hydrocarbon reservoir potential of these shoreface conglomerates is variable because of the diverse impact of diagenesis. Therefore, it is important to be able to model conglomerate diagenesis in order to predict reservoir quality.

Diagenesis in conglomerates is a function of many variables, including original depositional mineralogy and texture, compaction during burial, and precipitation of pore occluding cements. In addition to this, the rate of burial, the thermal history, and the fluid flow regime are important underlying controls on post-depositional porosity loss. Preliminary studies suggest a strong relationship between diagenesis and depth of burial. Generally, the overall reduction in porosity as a result of compaction and precipitation of cements increases as a direct function of increased burial depth.

This study requires correlation of stratigraphy, thermal data, and diagenetic modelling to build a connection between the thermal and burial history of the Deep Basin, and the physical/chemical alteration of conglomerates. 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90925©1999 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid