| Summary: | Degree: Master of Science Abstract: The presence of natural oil seeps, abandoned well sites (generally containing light oil), and high quality source rocks along the coast of western Newfoundland has refocused interest on the region as an area for potential petroleum exploration and development. Most of the oil seeps and old well sites are located in the Cow Head and Port au Port Peninsula areas. These areas lie in the Humber Zone, located on the eastern margin of the Anticosti Basin - the structural front of the northeastern Canadian Appalachians. The current study aims to characterize source rocks and oils in this active petroleum system. The geologic history of the area is complex, and has important implications for the petroleum system. Neoproterozoic continental breakup was followed by the development of a passive continental margin containing coeval shelf carbonates and continental slope and rise deposits of the Humber Arm Allochthon. During the Taconian (Ordovician) and Acadian (Devonian) orogenies, westward thrusting imbricated continental slope and rise deposits, creating thrust sheets that repeat Lower Paleozoic strata. This underlying geology created an active petroleum system with potential reservoirs in the overridden platform carbonates, which are time-equivalent to slope deposits of the Cow Head Group, containing source rocks. Other potential reservoirs can be found in shelf proximal carbonate conglomerates associated with debris flows. The connection between the identified source rocks and produced hydrocarbons is not well understood. In the present analysis, I show that high-quality source rocks were deposited during two distinct periods: the Cambrian Series 3 to Furongian Series, and the Ordovician Floian stage. These late Cambrian to early Ordovician deep marine gravity flow deposits contain viable type I/ II and type II/III source rocks. Total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations of up to 9.45 wt% and hydrogen index values as high as 841 [mg HC/g TOC] demarcate the Middle Arm Point Formation ...
|
|---|