Regions: Sahtu Settlement Area
Tags: geochemistry, fossils, fracking
| Principal Investigator: | Gingras, Murray K (2) |
| Licence Number: | 15601 |
| Organization: | University of Alberta |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2015
2014
|
| Issued: | Feb 11, 2015 |
Objective(s): To characterize the sediment types present; to test the mechanical strength of rock samples to determine the level of effort required to conduct tracking operations with the rock types present; and to measure organic content and mineralogy of the rocks in support of mineral exploration.
Project Description: For the Mount Clark Formation, the primary goals are: (1) to use sedimentological and trace-fossil data to determine the sedimentary environment so that the distribution of sand bodies might be better understood; (2) to conduct petrographic investigations to understand the distribution of diagenetic cements and porosity; (3) to establish if there is a relationship between bioturbation and porosity/permeability; and (4) to test the mechanical strength of samples to assess the fracability of rock types. The Mount Cap Formation research goals are: (1) to establish the sedimentary environment; (2) to measure the organic content, assess the units’ mineralogy, and assess some compositional aspects of the unit; (3) to contextualize levels of high total organic content (TOC) within a sequence stratigraphic framework; and (4) to assess the fracability of rock types. Outcrop Description: Documentation of outcrop data will provide the fundamental dataset for both theses. Outcrop-logging will be used to describe the areas of interest. Later investigations depend on this phase. The Masters students will each log 4 outcrop successions within the study area. Sedimentologic analysis will concentrate on characteristics such as grain size, sorting, bed thickness, bedding contacts, primary physical sedimentary structures, and penecontemporaneous deformation structures. Ichnological observations will include identification of ichnogenera and their relative abundance, ichnofossil size, cross-cutting relationships and overprinting, assemblage diversity, diversity patterns and intensity of bioturbation (bioturbate texture). Core log data will be recorded, observations indexed to depth, incorporate well logs. During outcrop description, samples will be taken for petrography (thin sections), total organic content including permeability measurement. Results will be presented at the Yellowknife Geoscience Forum. Copies of publications resulting from this study will be provided to the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office (NTGO). The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from August 1, 2015 to August 22, 2015.
