Ryer, Mihaela Stefan¹, Robert A. Sullivan¹, Jim Dyess¹, Carl B. Kaupp¹, Saverio Spagnuolo¹ 
(1) Marathon Oil Company, Houston, TX

ABSTRACT: Integrated Stratigraphic Framework of Cretaceous Strata, Offshore Sable Island, Scotian Basin - Eastern Canada

The deep-water component of the Scotian Basin is located south of a relatively mature petroleum province, the Scotian Shelf, where a significant volume of hydrocarbons have been discovered in the fields around Sable Island. These fields produce primarily from Cretaceous shallow- and marginal marine reservoirs deposited by a long-lived fluvio-deltaic system. It is hypothesized that at times this system bypassed the shelf depositing a significant amount of sand prone sediment into the deep water. This new deep-water play constitutes the focus of exploration in recent years. The Cretaceous strata of the Scotian Basin, off Sable Island, were studied using an integrated sequence stratigraphic approach, with the goal of understanding and predicting the stratal architecture and depositional environments along the shelf-slope-basin depositional profile. The study utilized a database consisting of high resolution biostratigraphy, well logs, cores, 2D and 3D seismic data. The Cretaceous section in the study area comprises five transgressive-regressive cycles bounded by key surfaces with regional significance. These key surfaces were defined on the basis of distinct biostratigraphic events, abrupt shifts in facies recognized in core and well logs, changes in stacking patterns and seismic reflection terminations. Special emphasis was placed on understanding the basin-margin paleogeography during times of maximum regressions. This has important implications regarding mapping of sediment fairways into the basin and predicting the quality and distribution of sand-prone deep-water depositional systems.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90026©2004 AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 18-21, 2004.