Book Description

The Colorado Group is the thickest and most regionally extensive succession of Cretaceous rocks in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Colorado Group shales contain proven source rocks and hydrocarbon reserves, yet the details of their origin, composition, distribution, and maturity are largely unknown. This report presents research undertaken to address this knowledge gap and to identify distinct shale units in the studied interval, evaluate the depositional & facies controls on shale composition, and provide quantitative mineralogy & bulk chemical properties that may be used for wireline calibration and source rock & reservoir characterization. The research consisted of a basin-scale multidisciplinary study that refines the Cretaceous shale stratigraphy and provides a regional basis for further detailed exploration & exploitation of Colorado Group hydrocarbon & mineral resources. The study integrates geochemical, biofacies, and sedimentological data to identify discrete shale formations within the previously undifferentiated Group. Detailed geochemical and facies analyses provide new information on source-rock distribution and maturity. Results are also presented from pyrolysis & mineralogical studies, paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and identification of diagenetic processes.