A Stratigraphic Model for the Labrador Margin, Offshore Eastern Canada: Integrating Paleoenvironmental Interpretations, Biostratigraphy and Seismic Data

Abstract

The offshore Labrador margin developed during rifting and opening of the North Atlantic Ocean as Greenland separated from the North American plate. Rifting of the margins in the Labrador Sea-Baffin Bay region began in the Early Cretaceous with complete breakup occurring by Chron 27 (mid-Paleocene) and seafloor spreading ending by Chron 13 (late Eocene). Our study aims to use the rich set of seismic and well data along the Labrador margin to build a regional stratigraphic model to assist with the interpretation of Baffin Bay where these data are lacking. We integrate three key interpretations to build our model: paleoenvironmental (sedimentological) interpretations; existing and new biostratigraphic results (palynology and microfossils); and seismic interpretations on a regional dataset. Paleoenvironmental assessments of the Labrador Shelf wells involved sedimentological and ichnological analysis of available sedimentary Mesozoic and Cenozoic conventional cores from 15 wells offshore Labrador. These interpretations provide a baseline for understanding the non-marine, brackish and fully marine depositional environments within some of the major lithostratigraphic units (Bjarni, Markland and Gudrid formations). Core interpretations were incorporated into assessments of the entire well for all 28 wells in the area using well history reports, biostratigraphic reports, cuttings descriptions and geochemical analyses. New biostratigraphic results from the studied core intervals shed light on important Cretaceous and early Paleogene rocks across the study area. Palynological samples obtained from cuttings of Pothurst P-19, Corte Real P-85, and Roberval C-02 also provide new age constraints on Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic sections with hiatuses identified in Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene strata. These data are tied to the regional seismic grid and allow for identification major regional sequences and surfaces in both the Cretaceous and Cenozoic sections.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90259 ©2016 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 19-22, 2016