November/December Reservoir 2020

In This Issue...

Litho- and chemostratigraphic analysis of meterscale cycles in an ancient mixed siliciclasticcarbonate slope system, Windermere Supergroup, Southern Canadian Cordillera, B.C., Canada Go Take A Hike, Ethiopia #2

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 – VOLUME 47, ISSUE 6

MONTHLY SPONSORS...............................................................................................4 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR....................................................................................6 MESSAGE FROM THE CSPG FOUNDATION..........................................................7 FEATURE ARTICLE Litho- and chemostratigraphic analysis of meter-scale cycles in an ancient mixed siliciclastic-carbonate slope system, Windermere Supergroup, Southern Canadian Cordillera, B.C., Canada ..........................................................................8 Go Take A Hike – Ethiopia, #2.................................................................................14

UPCOMING EVENTS Technical Webinars .................................................................................................21 Division Talks...........................................................................................................22 GeoWomen Talk.......................................................................................................31

SOCIETY NEWS Digital Core Conference Wrap Up..........................................................................32 Breaking Barriers in a Changing World..................................................................33

FRONT COVER Mount Robson, British Columbia.

A thick Miaolingian to Furlongian (Late Cambrian) section is exposed on the north face of Mount Robson - the “King” of the Canadian Rocky Mountains whose summit towers over the Canadian Rockies at an elevation of 3,954 m. Resistant carbonates of the Lynx Group form the upper peak. Dip slopes of dolomitic carbonate of the Eldon Formation occur above Hargreaves Lake in the foreground.

Photo By: Margot McMechan

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

A

Tom Sneddon Professional Geologist (Alberta), Professional Geoscientist (B.C.)

retired recently as Director of Geoscience and Outreach for APEGA, has been a member of the CSPG for over 40 years, and has pursued a career in geoscience since his university days.

He has two degrees – both from Alberta: initially from the University of Calgary in 1969 (B.A. Geography), and from the University of Alberta (M.Sc. in Water Resources, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1981). His initial industry experience was with Amoco Canada in 196769 as a “Geophysical Professional Assistant” for seismic data management, processing, and seismic section preparations.

Tom has taken his broad geoscience experience – over 30 years of earth sciences experience, including experimental watershed research, hydrology, hydrogeology, environmental geology, oil and gas prospect development, drilling programs, and extensive field work in minerals exploration and development – in both government and industry, and applied it to the promotion of professionalism within the geosciences, through his role at APEGA. Readers of The RECORDER, The Source, the CSPG Reservoir, and The PEG have seen Tom’s numerous articles on the role of the professional geoscientist.

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s a golden October lingers into bleak November, COVID-19 lingers on. November arrives, masked and socially distanced. Geologists, the most social of the geoscientists, yearn for the great gatherings we all know and love. The annual December pre-holiday Reception is pretty well a non-starter for 2020, although we can all gather around our home office computers to enjoy the December webinar and raise a glass (of some form of fruit or grain juice) to each other. And to the Essential Workers who make it possible for a Virtual Event. And for a much-awaited break-through amongst our medical colleagues that will make inperson gatherings possible in 2021. Sigh.

Fortunately, we do have the Reservoir to enjoy for November and December 2020 to brighten these dark days. Your editorial and production staff are continuing the evolution of our favourite CSPG House organ from pure print to pure digital form.

The evolution will continue for some time, however in this edition we include another video for your enjoyment; the usual columns and message from your executive team (Michael Webb reports on the work of the Foundation) and a couple of world class technical works to stimulate your grey matter. In this regard, the second fieldwork research award article should get your thinking aligned in the correct space.

We also tease you with the early winter schedule of upcoming Technical Division e-talks and webinars.

While you are exercising your mind, may we direct you to this issue’s Go Take A Hike to also exercise your body!

We also will help you with your New Year’s resolutions with notices of virtual conventions, workshops and seminars that will be available to our community in 2021.

Specifically: The 2021 Core Conference is calling for abstracts and the 2020 Core Conference wrap-up.

Your Reservoir needs you. We would like to call for articles for our 2021 series on “Advances in Geoscience”; “Geoscience Technology” and “Governance and the Regulatory Environment”. The first article on the Governance issue will appear in your January/February Reservoir.

We are the Energy Geoscientists and want to include the energy industry in all its forms and manifestations related to all branches of geology.

That is all for the November/December issue. Thanks everyone for your support during this this difficult year and we look forward to great things happening in 2021.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

LETTER FROM THE CSPG FOUNDATION

MESSAGE FROM THE CSPG FOUNDATION There is no doubt that geoscience education and outreach are facing distinct challenges in 2020. However, the CSPG Foundation remains a steady and reliable partner with the CSPG, working to fund the activities that are able to proceed. On one hand, it is very unfortunate that some long-standing programs, such as the Student Industry Field Trip, have been cancelled in 2020. On the other hand, the world of online video conferencing has made new outreach opportunities possible and opens up CSPG content to a global audience. Some creative ideas have been discussed at our table this year, and it has been a pleasure to work with the talented and devoted volunteers who serve on the board of the CSPG Foundation. The CSPG Foundation Board of Trustees is currently comprised of Mona Enachescu, Jenn Martin, Nicole Hunter, Katie Romansky, Ken Wedemire (Accounting), Athyna Wolf (Legal), Keith Yaxley, and myself. We would also like to acknowledge tremendous support throughout the year from Kasandra Amaro in the CSPG office. If you get a chance, please show your appreciation to these volunteers for their efforts on behalf of the CSPG Foundation.

The CSPG Foundation is a Registered Charity with the Canada Revenue Agency that funds and supports petroleum geoscience education. It was founded in 1978 by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists to ensure sustainable funding

for its outreach activities. The CSPG Foundation helps to build our geoscience future by supporting educational outreach that inspires and advances education, fosters technical excellence, and encourages student and public awareness of petroleum geoscience.

Our programs include the Student Industry Field Trip, University Outreach (including University Lecture Tours, Undergraduate Awards, Student Field Trips and Student Event grants), Graduate Student Thesis Awards and Scholarships, GeoConvention Student Travel Assistance Program and Andrew D. Baillie Award, Earth Science for Society and Canadian museums. We also support CSPG Technical Awards such as the Medal of Merit, R.J.W Douglas Medal, Link Award and the Stanley Slipper Award.

We are consistently evaluating our funded programs to ensure they continue to deliver a quality program for the purposes of Energy Geoscience Education and looking to partner with new funding opportunities to ensure we meet the expectations of our donors.

Donating to the CSPG Foundation is quick and easy, and the deadline for a 2020 tax receipt is approaching soon. One option is to go to www.cspg.org/foundation and click the red “Donate Now” button.

Another option is to donate annually when you renew your CSPG membership. If you wish to make a major gift or a gift directed

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

Michael Webb Chair, on behalf of the CSPG Foundation Board of Trustees to a specific program, please contact the CSPG office.

Finally, we’d like to thank all our past donors for their support and look forward to continuing serving our donors. We hope you agree with the value of our mission to support quality educational outreach that inspires and advances education, fosters technical excellence, and encourages awareness of petroleum geoscience.

Sincerely, Michael Webb, Chair, on behalf of the CSPG Foundation Board of Trustees

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FEATURE ARTICLE

LITHO- AND CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF METERSCALE CYCLES IN AN ANCIENT MIXED SILICICLASTICCARBONATE SLOPE SYSTEM, WINDERMERE SUPERGROUP, SOUTHERN CANADIAN CORDILLERA, B.C., CANADA By: Jessie Kehew (B.Sc. student) and R.W.C. Arnott (thesis supervisor), Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa

Bill Arnott

Jessie Kehew

Abstract In the southern Canadian Cordillera, continental slope strata of the Neoproterozoic Isaac Formation (Windermere Supergroup) are superbly exposed in the Cariboo Mountains of east-central British Columbia. Although consisting mostly of siliciclastic rocks, a 195 m-thick mixed carbonate-siliciclastic unit, informally termed the first Isaac carbonate (FIC), crops out at Castle Creek. In part of that succession strata consist of a stack of cm- to several dm-thick, lithologically distinct stratal units, here termed packages 1, 2, and 3, which collectively make-up a “123” succession. Package 1 comprises fine- to coarse-grained siliciclastic, carbonate-cemented sandstone overlain abruptly by very thin- to thin-bedded siliciclastic and uncommon calcareous, upper division turbidites (package 2). This, in turn, is abruptly overlain by the very thinto thin-bedded calciturbidites of package 3. Significantly, the “123” successions repeat upward through the stratigraphy, indicating recurring changes in the texture and mineralogy of the sediment being supplied to deeper parts of the Windermere

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Fig. 1. (A) Map showing the distribution of rocks of the Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup in western North America (modified from Ross, 1991 by Cochrane et al. 2019). (B) Stratigraphic column of the Windermere Supergroup in the Cariboo Mountains, southern Canadian Cordillera. Red arrows indicate the position of the first and second Isaac carbonates (FIC and SIC, respectively) (Cochrane et al., 2019).

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 2. Castle Creek study area consisting of basin floor deposits (Upper Kaza Group) overlain conformably by slope strata (Isaac Formation).

Study area in the first Isaac carbonate (FIC) indicated by the white rectangle, which then is overlain sharply by Isaac channel complex 1 (ICC1). Note that strata are vertically dipping.

basin that may be controlled by rhythmic fluctuation of relative sea level related to high amplitude and frequency glacigenic and/or astronomical (i.e. Milankovitch) forcing.

Introduction The Windermere Supergroup (WSG) is a succession of metasedimentary rocks that accumulated on the western margin of Neoproterozoic Laurentia. In outcrop it extends from northwestern Mexico to the Yukon-Alaskan border along the length of the North American Cordillera – a strike length of approximately 4000 km (Ross and Arnott, 2007) (Fig. 1A). The Neoproterozoic (1000-544 Ma) was a time of particularly dramatic global change that included the assembly and break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia, glaciations of possible global extent, and in its latter part the rise of metazoan life (Li et al., 2013). The rift and then drift of Laurentia (ancestral North America) from Rodinia between 720 Ma and 650 Ma resulted in the opening of the proto-Pacific Ocean and with attendant thermal subsidence created an extensive passive continental margin along the western margin of Laurentia (Ross, 1991; Ross et al., 1995). In the southern Canadian Cordillera (SCC) the several-kilometer-thick Windermere

Fig. 3. Drone image of the upper part of the first Isaac carbonate (FIC) overlain sharply by siliciclastic-filled channels of the > 200 m-thick Isaac channel complex 1 (ICC1) in the Castle Creek study area. CT 3 is the third calciturbidite horizon in the FIC, and 123-1 and 123-2 are the lower and upper 123 units described in the text, and respectively, are equivalent to TP 1 and TP 2 of Cochrane et al.

(2019). Location of the lower and upper units indicated by the red and yellow stars, respectively, and the red and yellow square brackets to the left of the Castle Creek South stratigraphic log from Cochrane et al. (2019).

turbidite system was deposited on this passive margin– the world’s largest ancient deep-marine turbidite system.

In the SCC the Windermere turbidite system occurs in the post-rift to drift part of the WSG and comprises an ~ 5 - 7 kmthick, upward-shallowing succession of mostly siliciclastic basin floor to shelf strata, which in the Cariboo Mountains of east-central B.C. make up the Kaza and Cariboo groups (Fig. 1B). In that succession two regionally extensive mixed carbonatesiliciclastic successions occur, which are informally termed the first (FIC) and second (SIC) Isaac carbonates (Ross and Arnott, 2007). At Castle Creek, the FIC is ~ 195 m thick and crops out on the vertically dipping limb of a regional anticline and is sharply overlain by siliciclastic strata of the > 200 m-thick Isaac channel 1 (ICC1) (Fig. 2). Recent deglaciation has exposed a continuous, superbly exposed section that is measured in kilometers perpendicular and parallel to bedding. In the FIC succession two distinctive units that range up to 45 m thick and comprise a repetitive stacking of coarse-grained sandstone (1) overlain by siliciclastic mudstone (2) overlain by calcilutite (3) crop out and were informally termed the 123s by Cochrane (2018). The aim of

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this study is to describe the lithological and geochemical characteristics of these strata, and ultimately interpret the origin of changes in the granulometry and mineralogy of the sediment supply and its manifestation in the stratigraphic record.

Six weeks of field work were completed by Jessie Kehew, assisted by Bill, and in the company of the other student researchers of the Windermere Consortium. Access to the study area was by helicopter with supply drops every 10-14 days.

We lived in tents and worked rain or shine, occasionally crossing the Castle Creek glacier or the very cold Castle Creek to access different parts of the study area.

Methods Previously reported by Navarro (2016) and Cochrane (2018), the 123s form two discrete units that in Castle Creek south are 45 m and 5 m thick and separated by an 18 m-thick succession of siliciclastic thin-bedded turbidites. In this study three stratigraphic sections, two in the lower unit and one in the upper unit, were described in cm-scale detail and sampled for petrographic and geochemical analyses – data from the two best exposed and most extensively sampled sections are described next (Fig. 3).

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 4. Photograph of Jessie Kehew cutting samples with a gas-powered rock saw, assisted by PhD candidate, Celeste Cunningham.

In this study three “123” successions were measured in cm-scale detail, two in the lower “123” unit and one in the upper unit as defined by Cochrane et al. (2019). These successions were chosen because each of the three stratal packages (i.e. package 1 to 3) were present and also were well exposed. With the use of a rock saw a 2 cm-thick sample was collected every 5 cm stratigraphically upward in each section (Fig. 4). However, not all samples that were collected were analyzed – instead, five equally spaced mudrock samples from package 2 and package 3 strata were analyzed using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine elemental composition. XRF results are presented as weight percentage of major elements in their oxide state and minor elements in ppm (Table 1).

For interpretation of the various major elements, oxide percent was multiplied by the mass percent of the major element to calculate element weight percentages.

Samples were also collected for δ13Ccarb.

Samples were first analyzed petrographically to ensure that the earliest calcite phase was being isolated for isotope analysis, and thereby the carbon isotope content of Neoproterozoic seawater was being estimated. Also, for comparative purposes one sample analyzed in a (Mesozoic) metamorphic carbonate vein – δ13Ccarb was -1.1‰. Seven of the δ13Ccarb samples and all of the XRF samples were also analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC)

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using an elemental analyzer. Note that rocks in this study have been subjected to low grade metamorphism and therefore the measured TOC represents residual carbon, suggesting that original buried organic content was approximately 2 - 4 times higher.

Litho- and chemofacies Package 1, present in both measured sections, forms the basal component in a 123 succession where it ranges from 10 - 30 cm thick and consists of up to ten beds (Fig. 5 A, B). Strata are distinctively scour-based, medium- to coarse-grained siliceous calcarenites composed of quartz sand grains, organic debris and metamorphic muscovite and chlorite (originally detrital clay minerals) enveloped in an orangebrown, iron-rich, calcite cement (product of the metamorphic recrystallization of detrital carbonate grains). Additionally, one bed contains abundant siliciclastic and carbonate mudstone clasts that are 0.2 - 1.7 cm thick and 2 - 42 cm long.

Traction structures are common and include planar lamination and ripple and dune cross-stratification; massive beds are also observed. Along depositional strike package 1 pinches and swells, and commonly pinches out locally. No geochemical analyses were conducted on package 1 samples.

Package 2 comprises a succession of very thin- to thin-bedded, siliciclastic and

Fig. 5. (A) Representative photo of a full 123 succession; lower and upper contacts indicated by the solid white lines, dashed white lines mark the sharp contact between each of the three constituent stratal packages. Photograph corresponds to figure 6A. (B) Poorly sorted, mixedmineralogy sandstone of package 1. Note the diversity of grain size ranging from mud to coarse siliciclastic sand mixed with sand to gravel size carbonate (orange-brown coloured patches) and mudstone intraclasts. Photograph corresponds to package 1 in figure 6A. (C) Light-grey, finegrained siliciclastic Tde turbidites of package 2.

Photograph corresponds to package 2 in figure 6A. (D) Dark brown to black, very thin- to thinbedded calcilutite Tde turbidites of package 6A. Photograph corresponds to package 3A in figure 6A. (E) Package 3B consisting of interstratified calcilutite and siliciclastic Tde turbidites.

Photograph corresponds to package 3B in figure 6B.

uncommon carbonate turbidites that in both measured sections change little in lithology or thickness across the study area (Fig. 5 A, C). Strata are dark grey to brown, range from 28 - 67 cm thick, and consist primarily of Tde siltstone turbidites with common interbeds of very finegrained sandstone Tade and Tbde turbidites.

Mineralogy is dominated by quartz silt with abundant muscovite and lesser chlorite, minor rutile, and organic material.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Strata of package 2 are enriched in hinterland proxies like Si, Al, Ti, Zr and Th. Conversely, strata are depleted in basin proxies like Ca, Mn and Sr, and depleted in TOC (Table 1). δ13Ccarb measured in a calcilutite and a calcareous silicarenite are -0.83‰ and +2.96‰, respectively.

6B, strata of package 2 show a consistent enrichment in terrigenous element proxies, suggesting that sediment was being principally sourced from the craton to the east and southeast of the deep-water Windermere basin (see also discussion of detrital zircon in Ross and Arnott, 2007).

Package 3 is divided into two endmembers (package 3A and package 3B) based on mineralogical composition.

Package 3A comprises very thin- to thin-bedded calcilutite turbidites (Fig. 5 A, D). Strata are dark brown to black and consist of calcilutites and uncommon calcareous silicarenite interbeds. Minor muscovite, chlorite and rutile, plus variable amounts of organic material, are also observed.

Beds are mostly calcilutite Tde turbidites with uncommon calcilutite Tbde and Tade turbidite interbeds. Like package 2, strata are laterally continuous but in terms of geochemistry are depleted in hinterland proxies. Strata are significantly enriched in basin proxies and TOC (Table 1). δ13Ccarb is consistently high, ranging from +2.6 - +2.86‰ and decreasing slightly stratigraphically upward.

Elements like Ca and Sr, on the other hand, are enriched in carbonate rocks – Ca being one of the main elemental components in carbonate minerals like calcite and aragonite, and Sr as a common replacement for Ca (Finch and Allison, 2007). Notably also, the Neoproterozoic is thought to have been a time when aragonite was the principal primary carbonate phase in the global oceans (Hardie, 2003) δ13Ccarb, Mn and TOC are proxies for evaluating primary productivity. Elevated Mn and TOC are reflective of high organic productivity and build-up of organic rich detritus on the seafloor (Calvert & Pederson, 1996). δ13Ccarb is a measure of the ratio between 13C and 12C. During photosynthesis organisms preferentially fix 12C, thereby depleting the seawater of 12 C and enriching it in 13C. Accordingly, when primary productivity is high, inorganic carbonate precipitating from the seawater becomes enriched in δ13C, which is recorded as higher, commonly positive δ13Ccarb values. In figure 6A and 6B, strata of package 3 are enriched in carbonate and paleoproductivity indicators and have elevated δ13Ccarb. This suggests that unlike package 2, a major source of sediment during deposition of package 3 was in fact from within the Windermere basin, namely on the continental shelf, which then became mixed with minor (package 3A) to significant (package 3B) amounts of terrigenous sediment and resedimented into deeper parts of the basin.

Package 3B is similar to 3A in terms of colour, bed thickness and dominance of calcilutite Tde turbidites, but contains significantly more siliciclastic Tde and uncommon Tade turbidite interbeds, in addition to uncommon calcareous silicarenite Tbde turbidites and rare calcilutite Tcde turbidites (Fig. 5 A, E). Strata of package 3B, like 3A, extend across the study area.

In terms of elemental composition, package 3B strata are intermediate between packages 2 and 3A in hinterland and basin proxies and TOC (Table 1). δ13Ccarb increases steadily stratigraphically upward and ranges from -0.06 - +0.93‰.

Geochemical trends

Sequence Stratigraphic Model of a 123 Succession

Geochemical data provide insight into the source of sediment in addition to the state of primary (organic) productivity.

For example, elements like Si, Al, Ti, Zr and Th are excellent proxies for evaluating terrigenous sediment input. Si, Al, Zr and Th are associated with both pristine and altered silicate rocks, and Ti with the mineral rutile, a common accessory mineral in igneous and metamorphic rocks (Lagrange et al., 2020). In figures 6A and

The Neoproterozoic was a time of significant global change, including episodes of widespread glaciation during what has been termed “Snowball Earth” (e.g. Hoffman et al.

1998). Like conditions during the PliocenePleistocene “icehouse” (Somme et al.

2009), eustatic changes during Snowball Earth would have been of high amplitude and frequency. The repetitive occurrence of siliciclastic-dominated sediments (package 1 and 2) overlain by carbonate-dominated

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strata (Package 3) in the “123” successions suggests the systematic and potentially rapid variation in the mineralogical make-up of the sediment supply, which quite possibly was related to high-frequency eustatic oscillations of possible glacigenic and/or astronomical (i.e. Milankovitch) origin (Fig. 7). More specifically, coarsegrained, mixed-mineralogy sandstone of package 1 is interpreted to represent the remobilization of relict, palimpsest and nouveau siliciclastic shelf sediment, in addition to detritus sourced from erosion of older deactivated shelf carbonates, which then were transported downslope by highenergy turbidity currents that bypassed most of their sediment into more distal parts of the basin. This condition most likely coincided with falling and lowstand conditions of relative sea level (RSL). During the ensuing RSL rise, coarse sediment became sequestered on the proximal shelf and further landward and was abruptly replaced by deposition of terrestrially sourced fine-grained siliciclastic sediment from dilute, low energy turbidity currents (package 2).

Additionally, uncommon calcilutite interbeds indicate the initiation of a shallow-water carbonate factory as water flooded over an expanding and progressively deepening shelf.

Nevertheless, low organic content and depleted δ13Ccarb (-0.8) suggest that organic productivity remained relatively low, which may reflect the deleterious effect of continental fine-grained sediment input and/ or limited areal development of a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate shelf. This was then succeeded by an abrupt change to calcilutitedominated strata of package 3. The dramatic change in the mineralogy of the sediment supply indicates that shelf carbonate production was now well established, which most probably coincided with an expansive shelf under late transgressive to highstand conditions of RSL. Moreover, geochemical proxies like high TOC (> 3% residual carbon, indicating > 6 -12% detrital carbon), elevated Mn content, and enriched δ13Ccarb (as high as +2.9) suggest that organic productivity was very high, and that these strata would represent not only exceptional hydrocarbon source rocks, but also be a significant repository of (buried) organic carbon. Each succession was then abruptly terminated by the next fall of RSL and the onset of the next several-dmto few-meter-thick 123 succession.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Fig. 6.

Measured stratigraphic log and accompanying geochemical trends of the lower (A) and (B) upper 123 successions. Elemental curves indicate relative values, with high values on right and low values on left; see Table 1 for data. Black boxes on vertical axes indicate XRF sample locations and red boxes indicate locations of δ13Ccarb samples. Coarse strata of package 1 strata (yellow) occur at the base of each succession and are overlain sharply by fine-grained siliciclastic strata of package 2 (grey coloured strata) overlain by fine-grained, carbonate-dominated strata of package 3A (blue coloured strata in (A)) or package 3B in (B) (blue intercalated with grey and yellow coloured strata).

Note that no geochemical data were collected in package 1 strata. See text for discussion of lithological and geochemical trends.

Fig 7. Schematic illustrating the lithological and geochemical evolution of an idealized 123 succession. The succession begins with the downslope resedimentation of a mineralogically mixed mélange of shelf-derived sediment (package 1) that coincided with falling stage and later lowstand of relative sea level (RSL).

During the ensuing RSL rise the caliber of the sediment supply was dramatically reduced and became dominated by terrestrially derived finegrained siliciclastic detritus (package 2). This, in turn, was replaced abruptly by a carbonatedominated sediment supply (package 3A or 3B) indicating sourcing from a now well-developed mixed carbonate-siliciclastic shelf that most probably relates to late transgressive to highstand conditions of RSL.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Package 2 Package 3A

Package 3B

Minimum Maximum Average Minimum Maximum Average Minimum Maximum Average

Si (%) 15.70 28.20 23.80 6.36 12.75 9.82 7.60 22.13 14.97

Conclusions In this study strata consist of a distinctive of coarse-grained mixed stacking mineralogy sandstone (1) overlain by siliciclastic (2) capped by carbonate (3) fine-grained t urbidites. Th e sy stematic and repetitive stacking of these lithologies, in addition to consistent changes in their geochemical composition, are interpreted to be related to fourth or fifth o rder eustatic cycles of possible glacigenic and/ or astronomical (i.e. Milankovitch) origin that controlled the granulometric and mineralogical make-up of the sediment supply to the deep-water Windermere basin.

Additionally, elevated organic content and enrichment of primary productivity proxies in package 3 indicates that these strata would be excellent hydrocarbon source rocks.

Acknowledgements Funding was provided by industry members of the Windermere Consortium (Anadarko/Occidental Petroleum, Husky Energy and Equinor) and NSERC. I would also like to thank the entire Castle Creek crew for two wonderful, laughter-filled summers.

References Calvert, S. E., and T. F. Pedersen. 1996.

Geochemistry of recent oxic and anoxic marine sediments: Implications for the geological record. Economic Geology, v.

91, p. 36-47.

Cochrane, D. 2018. Stratigraphic and carbon isotope evolution of an Ediacaran mixed siliciclastic deep-marine baseof-slope system, first Isaac carbonate, Windermere Supergroup, Canadian Cordillera, British Columbia. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of Ottawa, 229 p.

Al (%) 8.59 12.80 11.00 2.85 4.54 3.57 5.15 10.83 7.84

Hinterland proxies Ti (%) Zr (ppm) 0.282 85 0.584 224 0.461 158 0.110 22 0.177 44 0.138 32.5 0.207 73 0.554 186 0.374 130

Th (ppm) 7 40 19 0 20 9 0 33 12

Cochrane, D. J. W., L. Navarro, and R. W. C. Arnott. 2019. Sedimentological and geochemical evolution of an Ediacaran mixed carbonate-siliciclastic continental slope system, Windermere Supergroup, southern Canadian Cordillera, British Columbia, Canada.

Precambrian Research, v. 327, p. 47–67.

Finch, A. A., and N. Allison. 2007.

Coordination of Sr and Mg in calcite and aragonite Coordination of Sr and Mg in calcite and aragonite. Mineralogical Magazine, v. 71, p. 539–552.

Hardie, L.A., 2003. Secular variations in Precambrian seawater chemistry and timing of Precambrian aragonite seas and calcite seas. Geology 31, 785–788.

Hoffman, P.F., A.J. Kaufman, G.P. Halverson, D.P. Schrag. 1998. A Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth, Science, v. 281, p. 1342-1346.

Lagrange, M. T., K. O. Konhauser, O. Catuneanu, B. S. Harris, L. Playter, and M. K. Gingras. 2020. Sequence stratigraphy in organic-rich marine mudstone successions using chemostratigraphic datasets. Earth Science Reviews, v. 203, doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103137.

Ca (%) 0.62 8.05 2.40 22.17 29.35 25.26 5.07 24.77 15.17

Basin proxies Mn (%) Sr (ppm) 0.01 287 0.12 681 0.03 444 0.06 671 0.08 829 0.07 736 0.03 316 0.10 545 0.06 430

TOC (%) 0.04 1.21 0.20 5.63 8.66 6.90 0.20 7.79 4.32

Ross, G.M., 1991. Tectonic setting of the Windermere Supergroup revisited.

Geology, v. 19, p. 1125–1128.

Ross, G.M., J.D. Bloch, H.R. Krouse. 1995.

Neoproterozoic strata of the southern Canadian Cordillera and the isotopic evolution of seawater sulfate. Precambrian Research, v. 73, p. 71–99.

Ross, G. M., and R. W. C. Arnott. 2007.

Regional geology of the Windermere Supergroup, southern Canadian Cordillera and stratigraphic setting of the Castle Creek study area, Canada, in T. H. Nilsen, R. D. Shew, G. S. Steffens, and J. R. J. Studlick, eds., Atlas of deep-water outcrops: AAPG Studies in Geology 56, CD-ROM, 16 p.

Somme, T., W. Helland-Hansen, and D. Granjeon. 2009. Impact of eustatic amplitude variations on shelf morphology, sediment dispersal, and sequence stratigraphic interpretation: Icehouse versus greenhouse systems. Geology, v. 37, p. 587-590.

Li, Z., D. A. D. Evans, and G. P. Halverson.

2013. Neoproterozoic glaciations in a revised global palaeogeography from the breakup of Rodinia to the assembly of Gondwanaland. Sedimentary Geology v.

294, p. 219–232.

Navarro, L. 2016.

Stratigraphic architecture, depositional processes and reservoir implications of the basin floor to slope transition, Neoproterozoic Windermere turbidite system, Canada.

Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Ottawa, 328 p.

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FEATURE ARTICLE GO TAKE A HIKE – ETHIOPIA, #2 The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela Philip Benham and Wondale Demssie Trailhead: Route is from St. George Church in central Lalibela to Asheton Maryam Monastery.

Distance: About 12 km return. The advisable choice is to hire a car or tuk tuk to take you to the end of the road near the top of the peak, shortening the trek to 8 km assuming you walk all the way back down to the rock churches within Lalibela on the same day. There are also shortcuts on foot through scenic countryside and farmlands. There are multiple routes and a guide is strongly advised. The guide can also facilitate the fee payments for access to the various churches.

Elevation Gain: 600 m to get to Asheton Maryam Monastery near the peak of the mountain at 3,100 m.

Figure 1: St. George Church during morning prayer.

Worshippers gather inside, around, and above the church as space permits to join in prayer. Descent to the ground level is through a narrow culvert and tunnel that serves both as a well engineered drainage outlet and a symbolic journey.

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Ethiopia was one of the earliest states to adopt Christianity (in 333 AD). Its roots reach back even further to the Age of the Apostles when, on the road to Jerusalem, St. Philip met and baptized the eunuch treasurer to the Ethiopian queen (Friedlander and Friedlander, 2015). The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church follows the Oriental Orthodox miaphysite practice of a perfect unity of the divine and human natures of Christ, as compared to the two-natured belief held by the Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox churches. Before the schism, created during Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, the churches shared communion. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church carries on traditions rooted in those early years of Christianity and that living practice is open for travellers to observe and participate in the amazing rock-hewn churches at Lalibela (Figure 1). Rock-hewn churches dating from the 7-13th centuries AD are fairly common in Ethiopia but they are most spectacularly seen in Lalibela where there are 11 churches in three clusters in town and one nearby mountain-top monastery. This monastery (Asheton Maryam) was one of the first UN World Heritage Sites and was established in 1978. The churches were constructed in a 24-year period during the decades-long reign of King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (1189-1227 AD). While hagiographies of the king recount that the monolithic churches were constructed by angels, they clearly also had the help of engineers. The church locations made careful use of landscape and geological features.

The church monoliths were constructed with sufficient space to allow for drainage ditches and connecting tunnels, each carefully designed, often with a biblical message in mind. One tunnel entrance is carved in the shape of the eye of a needle to remind of the gospel that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Another 35 m underground passage, representing Hell and Purgatory, must be traveled in complete darkness. Just as one nears the end of the blind journey, as the faint light (salvation) blooms, you risk smacking your shin on a lava bomb sticking out of the tunnel wall – reminding you to keep true to your practice or one misstep will lead you to Hell. The major buildings are symbolic representation of Jerusalem, and even the River Jordan has been carved. It serves as an important drainage point but also as the focal point for a number of services on holy days.

GTAH

Strata exposed in Lalibela and extending to the nearby mountains are part of a series of flood basalts (Traps), mostly extruded between 30 and 29 Ma. A mix of massive, vesicular, and scoriaceous basalts (cinders), welded tuff, volcanic ash, minor sediments, and paleosols make up the rock column (Figure 3). Variably weathered, scoriaceous basalts fill in a narrow east-west paleo-valley at Lalibela, creating a geographically restricted opportunity for King Lalibela’s crew to design and carve down 30-40 m to the massive and much harder flood basalts that form the bases of all the churches. The first construction stage was to cut a trench down to that base. Outside sculpting occurred as the rock was excavated, resulting in built-in water spouts and sculpted patterns. In the next phase, windows and doors were carved into the monolithic block, so that work could begin to carve out the building’s interior. During this phase the sizes and shapes of windows and the internal support columns, arched ceilings, and stone benches were all carefully designed and executed for symbolism and to reflect architectural styles common to the Kingdom of Axum to the north. All of this was done with wood and stone tools, the scrapes of which can be seen on some of the unpainted walls (Figure 10b). In the final stages walls were finished with plaster and painted with biblical moral tales.

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Lalibela Jegoley Ecocamp

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Mount Asheton Asheton Maryam Monastery

Figure 2: Map view of the hiking route. P marks the spot your rented tuk tuk can reach on the mountain (access road is yellow dashed line). The marked trail (red line) leads down partly along the road, then cuts west across scenic farmland, past Jegoley Ecocamp, and descends northwest down a ridge before meeting the main road into Lalibela.

This article is the second of a series of Go Take a Hike articles all set within or on the margins of the Ethiopian Rift Valley, in this case focusing on the laterally extensive flood basalts and associated deposits formed during the earliest phases of the East Africa Rift. Later articles will focus on defining features within the rift itself. Rift basins provide favourable settings for hydrocarbon accumulation and these will be addressed in an accompanying article in the series.

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FEATURE ARTICLE 3

Figure 3: (a) Map of the NW Ethiopian Plateau showing extent of flood basalts, location of the main post-flood volcanic centres, and the western escarpment of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. This uplifted plateau is one of the most extensive high regions in Africa. Lalibela sits at 2,500 m ASL and nearby Abuna Yosef reaches nearly 4,200 m. (b) Geological map of Lalibela displaying the distribution of key strata. Figure modified from Merla et al. (1973) by Sani et al. (2012).

GTAH

Lalibela is situated 80 km west of the seismically active western escarpment of the Ethiopian Rift Valley, part of the East African Rift (EAR). See Benham et al., (2020) for an overview of the EAR. The region (Figure 3a) contains the Trap Series: an uplifted and heavily dissected platform of Oligocene flood basalts, more restricted Mio-Pliocene lava flows and shield volcanic centres, and even more restricted Quaternary volcanic deposits. The flood basalts presently cover 600,000 km2 and are about 350,000 km3 in volume, though would have been much larger prior to erosion (Mohr and Zanettin, 1988). The Trap Series is the youngest and best preserved example of a major volcanic plateau in the world. The association with ongoing rifting allows for study of the evolution of the Afar mantle plume.

Four sequences local to Lalibela (Figure 3b) display the plateau-wide trend from early tholeitic (iron- and silica-rich) basalts to more alkalic lavas (sodium- and calcium-rich) in time (Kieffer et al., 2004). They consist of, from older to younger, the: 1. Ashangi Basalts (Oligocene or older), the basal 200-1,000 m thick fissure-generated, flood package consists of olivine basalt, with minor agglomerates, tuff, lacustrine deposits, and lignite; 2. Amba Aiba Basalts (Oligocene-Miocene), laterally extensive, up to 2 km thick package of 15-50 m thick jointed flood basalt with rare tuffs and scoria; 3. Amba Alaji Rhyolites (Late Oligocene-Early Miocene) a 500 m thick succession of rhyolites (as ignimbrites and pyroclastic flows), ash deposits, and flood basalt that are sourced more from the regional volcanic centres and can be correlated for great distances; and 4. Termaber Basalts (Early to Middle Miocene), the collective name for the alkalic lavas that issued from the nearly 100 shield volcanoes in the region.

The churches at Lalibela townsite were excavated in a narrow area of the Amba Aiba Basalts, where weathered and relatively soft, iron-rich scoria (or cinders), ash, and volcanic bombs filled in an ancient valley (Figure 10b). Differentially weathered basalt clasts and lava bombs stand out both in the natural and manmade exposures (the latter because of the difficulty to carve through them). The bases of the churches are dark gray, un-weathered basalt – the contact between it and the overlying scoria can be seen in the monolithic pedestals. By contrast, the access to the nearby mountaintop monastery of Asheton Maryam (Figures 1116) is via a narrow staircase and deep trench carved though ash and ignimbrite of the overlying Amba Alaji Rhyolites.

The ancient engineers made important decisions during planning and construction that contributed to the longevity of the buildings. These decisions include the number and width of internal supporting columns, the use of arched ceilings, limiting the size of external openings while still allowing sufficient light and ventilation, and the incorporation of ceiling water spouts and interconnected drainage channels to avoid flooding and water damage (Figures 8, 9). They were built to a plan that appears to have been adhered to over the years of construction required in each project. With each church constructed they got better at design with the last perhaps being the pinnacle of construction: Bete Giyorgis (St. George’s Church). Unfortunately the ravages of time cannot be held back and both erosion and stress re-orientation are playing havoc with the structures. Aquifer flow through the rocks, replenished by seasonal rains has resulted in the chemical weathering and transformation of plagioclase and magnesium minerals into the water-sensitive swelling clay montmorillonite. This has been accentuated by pedogenic processes, salt-related efflorescence, lichen growth, and the formation of alveolar erosional structures in some horizons with preferential water flow (Figure 6) (Delmonaco, 2009).

The engineers had enough applied knowledge of geomechanics to judge how much load the roofs and walls could bear, but in the hundreds of years since construction there have been a few catastrophic collapses of walls or roofs. Some spalling has occurred from ceilings and fractures formed in the walls. Fractures take three forms: those associated with natural faults, sub-vertical fractures connecting structurally weaker points in the building (doors and windows), and subhorizontal fractures as (unloading-driven) parting surfaces along crude bedding within the scoria unit of the Amba Aiba. The rapid removal of the vast volume of rock around the monolithic churches has re-oriented the natural stresses (Figure 4). No longer does the surrounding rock buffer the horizronal stress, allowing the walls to bow slightly outwards. The natural weaknesses in the rocks and the ongoing weathering result in slow degradation. This was compounded in the recent past by some drainage ditches being filled with refuse, natural seismic events, and ongoing man-made seismic disturbance in the form of passing trucks and the growing town. Furthermore, some well intended, early restorative efforts have caused as much harm as good. These include the driving of ‘stabilizing’ iron bolts into the walls of some churches, cement jobs, and roof coverings that ruin the ambiance and provide questionable protection from the elements.

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FEATURE ARTICLE 4

5

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Figure 4: Map (4a) and cross-sections (4b, 4c) of the churches of the Eastern Group showing chambers connecting churches, different levels, staged construction requiring deeper excavation, and addition of new drainage routes. Arrows mark the direction of drainage. The large volume of rock removed resulted in decompression and stress reorientation. Figure from Sani et al., 2012.

Figure 5: A deeply cut drainage ditch winds its way around Bete Maryam Church (Northern Group). Besides roof top views of the rock-hewn churches and gathering for prayer, at your feet is the weathered profile of the scoria (Figure 7).

Figure 6: Above some square-carved niches that have served as monks’ living quarters or burial recesses, is an alveolar or tafoni-type weathering structure in a porous section of wall where rainfall, aquifer movement, heat, and chemical processes have resulted in the grain by grain spalling off the carved surface. These recesses formed in less than 1,000 years of exposure.

Figure 7: Hard lava bombs stand in relief on the weathered exposure of the scoria at an overlook of the Bete Maryam Church.

Figure 8: Steeply carved drainage channel and access route to Bete Maryam Church Figure 9: Co-author enters the eye of the needle, an architectural expression of a moral tale.

Figure 10: (a) Fracture gauge installed in 1968. It displays perhaps 1 mm of left-lateral strike-slip related to deformation of the walls of the Bet Gabriel Church. (b) Close-up of the scrape marks of a nearby unpainted pillar in the same church. While the surface is rugose it is also remarkably planar.

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FEATURE ARTICLE Mount Asheton

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12 13 5 cm

14 Figure 11: View of Mount Asheton, on the outskirts of Asheton Maryam Monastery. The strata exposed are part of the Amba Alaji Rhyolites series. The blue dotted line separates dark grey, columnar-jointed basalt flows (above) from pale gray, rhyolitic ignimbrite and ashfall-dominated strata (below). The arrow points to access point to the monastery through steps and a deep trench carved into the soft ash.

Figure 12: Priest in Asheton Maryam Monastery displaying a handwritten and painted parchment bible.

Figure 13: The monastery is carved from the relatively soft ignimbrite composed of ash, tuffaceous fragments (white arrows), isolated feldspar crystals, and obsidian shards (red arrow) in this close-up.

Figure 14: East-looking viewpoint from Asheton Maryam with step-like erosion profile of the Trap Series containing flood basalts, volcaniclastic strata, and paleosols that can be correlated for great distances.

Figure 15: Cliffside path leading to Asheton Maryam is carved into soft volcanic ash containing some silicified logs. Above it are poorly jointed, thin basalt flows with chill margins at their contacts(dotted line).

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Figure 16: Soft, recessive, highly weathered cinders (in some places developed into a reddish paleosol) are overlain by a resistant basalt with vesicles (gas bubbles) stretched by flow of the cooling lava. The dashed line marks the boundary. These exposures are in the middle part of the 1 km thick Amba Aiba Basalts, as one descends the ridge overlooking Lalibela just downhill from Jegoley Ecocamp.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

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20 Figure 17: Bete Maryam (House of Mary) Church, with scaffolding and a tarpaulin-like cover that was erected in 2008 by UNESCO as a temporary solution to the deterioration of the buildings. They are locally considered an eyesore and not compatible with the religious nature of the site. They were the subject of protests in 2018. So far the coverings remain in place as other potential solutions are investigated. The church once held the Ark of the Covenant, which now resides in Axum.

Figure 18: View of ceremony and biblical readings within Bete Maryam. The walls of the churches may be bare, sculpted with symbolic false windows, or painted. As in this photo, the access to holy chambers, accessible only by priests, are often draped by brilliantly coloured fabrics.

Figure 19: Bet Gabriel-Rufael. This church used to be accessible to the brave by a single-log bridge across a 10 m deep carved chasm. Unlike other churches, it is not orientated east-west and the chambers are restricted to the upper floor. Some speculate it may have served as a fortified residence for Axumite royalty. To gauge the stability and health of this and other churches a network of deformometers (Figure 10a) and fracture gauges was installed to determine if active slip is occurring along fracture faces. The integrated of geomechanics and architectural analyses follows practices more typically applied in underground excavations (mines) (Sani et al., 2012).

19 The first author, being a practicing geologist, and the second author, being a practicing priest, had many interesting discussions over three days at Lalibela on religion, geology, engineering, and history. We came to an agreement on discrepancies in geological vs. biblical ages of the Earth as follows: given that the Genesis creation narrative specifies God’s Creation took place over seven days, these were perhaps very long days.

Figure 20: Schematic diagram of a section of the Bete Gabriel-Rufael Church showing bedding parallel decompression fractures (solid lines) and subvertical fractures (dashed lines) connecting with zones of structural weakness (windows, door frames). Image from Sani et al., 2012).

REFERENCES • • • • • • • • •

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Benham, P., Mulugeta, E., and Pfeiffer T., 2020 (in press); Go Take a Hike: Geology of the Ethiopian Rift Valley; CSPG Reservoir.

Beccaluva, L., Bianchini, G., Natali, C., and Siena, F., 2009; Continental flood basalts and mantle plumes: a case study of the Northern Ethiopian Plateau; Journal of Petrology, v. 50, p. 1377-1403; https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egp024.

Delmonaco, G., Margottini, C., and Spizzichino, D., 2009; Analysis of rock weathering and conservation strategies for rock-hewn churches of Lalibela (Ethiopia); In: Mazzolani (ed.), Protection of Historical Buildings; Taylor and Francis Group, London; ISBN 978-0-415-55803-7.

Fauvelle-Aymar, F., Bruxelles, L., Mensan, R., Bosc-Tiessé, C., Derat, M., and Fritsch, E., 2010; Rock-cut stratigraphy: Sequencing the Lalibela churches; Antiquity, v. 84, no. 326, p. 1135-1150; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00067132.

Friedlander, M-J. and Friedlander, B., 2015; Hidden treasures of Ethiopia: A guide to the remote churches of an ancient land; I.B. Tauris, London, 352 p.; ISBN 978-1780768168.

Kieffer, B., Arndt, N., Lapierre, H., Bastien, F., Bosch, D., Pêcher, A., Yirgu, G., Ayalew, D., Weis, D., Jerram, D., Keller, F., and Meugniot, C., 2004; Flood and shield basalts from Ethiopia: Magmas from the African Superswell; Journal of Petrology, v. 45, p. 793-834; https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egg112.

Sani, F., Moratti, G., Coli, M., Laureano, P., Rovero, L., Tonietti, U. and Coli, N., 2012; Integrated geological-architectural pilot study of the Biet Gabriel-Rufael rockhewn church in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia. Italian Journal of Geosciences, v. 131, p. 171-186; https://doi.org/10.3301/IJG.2011.26.

Merla, G., Abbate, E., Azzaroli, A., Bruni, P., Canuti, P., Fazzuoli, M.,Sagri, M., and Tacconi P., 1979; A geological map of Ethiopia and Somalia (1973) 1:2,000,000 and comment with a map of major landforms; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Italy, Firenze; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800035871.

Mohr P. and Zanettin, B., 1988; The Ethiopian Flood Basalt Province; In: Macdougall J. D. (eds) Continental Flood Basalts; Springer, Dordrecht; Petrology and Structural Geology, v. 3, p. 63-100; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7805-9_3.

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

*Access Video Transcript

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

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ENFORCEMENT OF THE AUTHENTICATION STANDARD Starting Nov. 1, 2020, the revised Authenticating Professional Work Products practice standard will be enforced. The updated standard outlines new digital procedures, outsourcing protocols, the expectations of members and permit holders, and more.

Review the revised standard and training materials to ensure your compliance at www.apega.ca/authentication and in the Member Self-Service Centre.

@APEGA _ AB

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www.apega.ca

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

TECHNICAL WEBINARS

Clean Energy from Old Oilfields SPEAKER Grant Strem | Proton Technologies

November 18, 2020 11:00 am-12:00 pm Mountain Time Technical Webinar The GoToWebinar link will be emailed two days in advance of the webinar.

CSPG member: $30+gst Non-member: $45+gst Please note: Registration closes November 17th at 12:00pm Mountain Time

ABSTRACT Proton Technologies developed a costeffective hydrogen production process which combines existing methods in a new way.

More than 500 projects worldwide have oxidized oil fields with intentions of thermally reducing oil viscosity and/ or partially upgrading the oil thereby increasing oil flow rate and quality. While economic results were variable, all of these projects produced hydrogen within associated gas production.

The largest contributions of hydrogen in these chemically complex settings are thought to be from gasification, and water gas shift reactions.

Using downhole hydrogen filters allows species-specific selection (hydrogen),

which drives the slightly exothermic water gas shift reaction to the right, therefore using a downhole filter to extract only hydrogen is expected to produce more hydrogen within the system.

Key questions to be briefly explored are; CO2 storage mechanisms through project life, cap rock integrity, process efficiency, cost structure, density stratification of gases, and societal implications.

The technology has been developed and implemented at Proton’s wholly owned field site in Saskatchewan, leading to recent significant investments and large international projects are underway.

Given the enormous resource base of highcost and/or late-life oilfields in Canada, the significant existing infrastructure and labour force, Proton plans to first supply the existing market through blending into existing fuel streams. Proton Canada plans to scale up to supply 10% of the world’s energy by 2040 through large-scale H2 exports.

BIOGRAPHY Born and raised in Calgary, Grant Strem has a B.Sc. in Geology and an M.Sc. in Reservoir Characterization, both from the University of Calgary. He considers himself an Explorationist, and worked for various producers including Paramount, Burlington Resources, ConocoPhillips, Total E&P, and Husky. Grant also worked as a Reserves Evaluator for GLJ Petroleum

RESERVOIR ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020

Consultants, and was a Research Analyst at TD Securities covering the oil sands sector prior to staring his own oil company; which focussed on light oil, helium, and geothermal resources domestically and internationally within fractured granite systems.

Grant’s focus changed in 2015 when he cofounded Proton Technologies with one of his friends and former professors; Dr. Ian Gates, who was then Department Head for the Petroleum & Chemical Engineering faculty.

Grant believes it is possible to produce H2 at far lower cost per joule of energy than diesel & gasoline, without emissions.

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Pe r s e v e r a n c ei st h ef i r s t s t e pi nb r i n g i n gs a mp l e sb a c k f r o m Ma r s —wi t ht h eu l t i ma t eg o a l o f f i n d i n go u t i f l i f ee v e re v o l v e do u t s i d eo f t h eEa r t h .

Regi st erf ort hi sexci t i ngt al kt oday!

DIVISION TALKS

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY TECHNICAL DIVISION Post-Eocene kinematics of faults that host thermal springs and potential geothermal systems in southeastern British Columbia SPEAKER Theron Finley, formerly University of Alberta (MSc), now at University of Victoria (PhD)

November 5, 2020, 12:00 pm Mountain time E-Technical Division Talk ABSTRACT In this talk I will discuss some of the research I conducted for my MSc thesis in the geothermics research group at the University of Alberta. In the Canadian Cordillera, thermal springs are spatially associated with regional-scale faults, which likely act as conduits for ascending thermal fluid. The specific structural and tectonic conditions that localize spring outlets along these faults are not well understood. I will present new data from detailed structural mapping along the Columbia River, Purcell Trench, and Southern Rocky Mountain Trench faults in the southeastern Canadian Cordillera. These faults were historically regarded as Eocene normal faults. However, my dataset of nearly 700 kinematic indicators, as well as the observation of several cross-cutting relationships and piercing-point offsets, indicate a younger, post-Eocene phase of dextral slip. Furthermore, the focal mechanisms of small (< M5) crustal earthquakes in the study area are dominantly strike-slip, with dextral nodal planes oriented subparallel to the strikes of the Columba River, Purcell Trench, and Southern Rocky Mountain Trench faults. This correlation suggests that dextral strain is currently being accommodated on these faults, which is key to understanding the localization of active hydrothermal systems along them.

Placed in the context of ongoing dextral strain, I identify the structural settings most conducive to hydrothermal upwelling; these include fault tips, restraining bends, and fault intersections. I suggest that

FIGURE 1: a) Strain ellipse for approximate SHmax orientation in southeastern BC and corresponding predicted modes of brittle deformation on faults and fractures. Average orientations of the SRMT fault, Purcell Trench fault, Columbia River fault, and Slocan Lake fault, are shown for reference. b) Schematic map of fault kinematics in this study. Stereoplot shows density contours for P-axes for all valley-parallel dextral faults measured in this study (N=236). stress concentration in these settings results in higher fracture permeability, encouraging hydrothermal upwelling, as has been observed in other geothermal systems around the world. On a broader scale (i.e., the entire Canadian Cordillera), thermal springs correlate to regions with active seismicity, which highlights the importance of active strain in maintaining crustal permeability. There is interest in the development of geothermal energy resources in the Canadian Cordillera and the identification of these favourable structural and neotectonic settings may aid in the discovery of previously unidentified “blind” geothermal systems.

BIOGRAPHY I received my BSc from the University of Victoria in 2017, and recently defended my MSc at the University of Alberta. I have now returned to the University of Victoria for a PhD. I have seven seasons of experience conducting geological fieldwork in various capacities (government surveys, academic research, and mineral exploration). I am

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primarily a structural geologist, but often dabble in various geophysical methods. I am most interested in ongoing geological processes including active tectonics and subsurface fluid flow and have published peer-review papers and reports on these topics.

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DIVISION TALKS

GEOTHERMAL TECHNICAL DIVISION Geothermal Projects and the Second Law of Thermodynamics Part Two: A Discussion on Thermal Losses and their Mitigation SPEAKER George Brindle

November 12, 12:00 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk BIOGRAPHY George Brindle is an internationally experienced independent consulting engineer with 32 years of broad background in upstream facilities, production treatment and new technology. He is an industry leader and consulting engineer in project and technical reviews, technical mentoring, oversight, education, and audit services. He provides services as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in general facilities design, operations, troubleshooting of process plants primarily in all aspects of oil and gas.

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His engagements are often as a specialist in new technology deployment and commercialization including first implementations in particular. George is experienced in project performance and design analysis where he focusses in the creation of results-based project comparators and metrics and can effectively apply value engineering principles. His background includes many CSS, SAGD and international heavy oil projects as well as a broad spectrum of upstream facilities.

Past clients include Exxon, ConocoPhillips, BP, PTTEP, CNRL, Chevron, Seven Generations, Pembina, AEC, PDO, Premier Oil, Suncor, L3Harris, Nexen, Worley, IPF, Ausenco, Devon, MEG Energy, Shell and many others.

family and other technical interests. He declares that he is "Keenly and forever interested in oil & gas and geothermal developments” and always looking to engage on technical challenges.

This year he physically retired from the EPCM grind to make more time for his

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DIVISION TALKS

PALAEONTOLOGY TECHNICAL DIVISION Main presentation: Where the Wild Things Are: Palaeontology and Partnership in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan SPEAKER Dr. Emily Bamforth, Royal Saskatchewan Museum

November 20, 2020, 7:30 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk Brief presentation: Tyndall Limestones in Your Neighborhood SPEAKER Tako Koning, Professional Geologist and APS member

ABSTRACT Fossil Tourism is certainly not a new concept. As early as the 17th century, holidaying gentry would flock to the south coast of England to collect ‘curios’, such as ‘snakestones’ (ammonites), ‘devil’s toenails’ (a type of bivalve) and ‘verteberries’ (fossils of fish and ichthyosaurs). Today, people are still drawn in their thousands to places like Dinosaur Provincial Park to see, and sometimes to collect, fossils of charismatic animals such as dinosaurs in their natural habitat. While fossil tourism provides unparalleled opportunities for scientific outreach, public education, and the raising of awareness for fossil resources, it also has a more problematic site. Increased visitation to paleontologically significant areas can lead to the unintentionally damage of fossils, their illegally collection or intentional vandalism. Nowhere has the question of how to balance conservation with visitor experience been more evident than in Canada’s provincial and national park systems.

Grasslands National Park (GNP) in southern Saskatchewan, along with its partners and stakeholders, has been striving to find that balance. GNP was established in 1981 to protect the native grassland ecosystem. The East Block

Figure 1: A vista known as ‘The Million Dollar Viewpoint’ in the East Block of Grasslands National Park, overlooking deposits of the latest Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing Frenchman Formation and the earliest Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation. of GNP in particular is an area long known for its fossil resources. Geologist George Mercer Dawson collected the first dinosaur fossil in Canada from what is now the East Block in 1879. Since then, the latest Cretaceous dinosaurbearing rocks known as the Frenchman Formation have yielded fossils of T. rex, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, several dromaeosaur species, Thescelosaurs, pachycephalosaurs, ornithomimids, and the giant caenagnathid ‘terror chicken’, Anzu. Microvertebrate fossils from GNP’s Frenchman Fm include sixteen species of turtle, twenty-one species of fish, freshwater sharks, salamanders, frogs, lizards, crocodiles, champsosaurs, marsupial and eutherian mammals, and an endemic species of toothed bird called Brodavis. GNP also contains one of the best and most extensive exposures of the

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Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) Boundary, the geological signature of the dinosaur mass extinction, in North America. The boundary contains amber inclusions with rare insect fossils, the first of this age to be found in the country. Above the boundary, the earliest Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation contains exquisitely wellpreserved fossil leaves, a signature of plant recovery and a treasure trove of paleoclimate information following the extinction. The East Block also features fossil-bearing early Miocene-aged rocks, very rare in Canada, known as the Wood Mountain Formation.

Despite the scientific significance of its fossil deposits however, the first two decades of GNP’s existence saw very little paleontology research conducted, largely because of concerns that fossil collection

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DIVISION TALKS

References: 1.

Parks Canada Mandate from Parks Canada 2013-14 Report on Plans and Priorities, Pg. 3 2. Parks Canada, Guiding Principles and Operational Policies, Part II, Section 3.2.8

BIOGRAPHY

Figure 2: Participants in Grasslands National Park’s ‘Fossil Fever’ program, run in partnership with the Royal Saskatcehwan Museum. would disrupt the delicate ecosystem.

It was not until the 2000s that a renewed effort by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) and McGill University to explore and document the palaeontological resources in GNP brought the Park’s fossils back into focus. Attaining permits to collect the fossil material led to discussions with Parks Canada about the need to collect palaeontological resources in order to protect them, as well as how the ecological impact of collection could be minimized. These discussions led to the establishment of a GNP Paleontology Team, comprised of members from Parks Canada GNP, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM), McGill and other outside institutions, to discuss issues related to paleontology in the Park. In 2014, a formal Memo of Understanding was established between the RSM and GNP, establishing guidelines about how palaeontological resources in the Park were to be dealt with.

Since 2010, visitation numbers in Grasslands National Park have skyrocketed, largely due to increased public awareness and to a new campsite and visitor centre being built in the East Block. The new focus on paleontology – a type of fossil

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tourism - in GNP has been significant and greatly beneficial. In partnership with the RSM, it has led to the development of a hugely successful public program known as ‘Fossil Fever’. Additionally, more fossils are being found by knowledgeable amateurs in the backcountry, who report their findings. However, with the dramatic increase in number of people visiting the backcountry, sensitive fossil sites previously protected by their remoteness are now being discovered and sometimes disturbed. In 2017, the vandalism and partial poaching of a high-profile fossil from the Park brought the issue to a head.

The GNP Paleo Team is now working to mitigate these issues by providing more education, information and signage about fossil collection legislation, more site monitoring, and more public awareness about the importance of leaving fossils in their original geological context.

Dr. Emily Bamforth is a vertebrate paleontologist with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM), working out of the RSM’s T. rex Discovery Centre in Eastend, SK. Dr. Bamforth’s research in Eastend focuses mainly on palaeoecology, involving the study of fossil plants and animals, as well as sedimentology and paleoclimatology, to understand ancient ecosystems. Dr. Bamforth received a BSc in evolutionary biology from the University of Alberta in 2005, with an undergraduate thesis on 38 million-year-old fossil snake hibernacula from Wyoming. She went on to do a MSc in Precambrian Invertebrate Paleontology at Queens University with Dr. Guy Narbonne, exploring Ediacaran taphonomy and paleoecology at Mistaken Point in Newfoundland. In 2008, she began her PhD at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Hans Larsson, exploring pre-extinction biodiversity trends immediately prior to the K-Pg extinction in Saskatchewan. She received her doctorate in 2014, the same year she began working for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Dr. Bamforth has published numerous papers and conference abstracts of Ediacaran and Cretaceous paleontology. She is the recipient of several academic, teaching and community engagement awards, including the Regina YWCA’s 2019 Women of Distinction Award for Science.

Grasslands National Park provides an excellent example of how professional and amateur paleontologists, government organizations and the general public can work together to help balance research, visitor experience and protection of valuable fossil resources on protected lands.

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DIVISION TALKS

OPERATIONS GEOLOGY DIVISION The Role of Operations Geology in Physics-Based Drilling Practices to Maximize Performance (Cut Cost) SPEAKER

BIOGRAPHY

Fred E. Dupriest, Texas A&M University

Fred Dupriest retired in 2012 as the Chief Drilling Engineer after 35 years with ExxonMobil.

During his career Fred developed new drilling practices to improve performance that are now taught and used across the industry, including the Limiter RedesignTM performance management workflow. After retiring eight years ago, Fred became a Professor of Practices at Texas A&M University where he has taught classes in physics-based high-performance drilling practices. He also continues to work with operators to move their organizations toward those same physics-based, limiterredesign practices, some of which he’ll be discussing today. Fred is a recipient of the SPE International Drilling Engineering Award, a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and an inductee in the American Association of Drilling Engineers Hall of Fame.

November 25th, 2020, 12:00 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk ABSTRACT Physics-based, Limiter RedesignTM workflow is now a familiar performance management process in many drilling organizations, and operations geology has a major role to play in its implementation.

The workflow ensures the performance limiter is identified in every foot of hole and that a real time or engineering response is implemented based on the fundamental physics of how that limiter really works – not prior empirical experience. This shift toward deterministic, physics-based training and practices has consistently yielded more than a 30% reduction in drilling times, as well as superior borehole quality and higher certainty in achieving geologic objectives.

There are many critical pieces to Limiter Redesign workflow, but in the end the remarkable performance gains are primarily due to simply teaching people how things really work. For example, a driller thinks very differently when he learns higher weight on bit, in itself, doesn’t wear a modern PDC bit faster. For our purposes, the question is what are the drilling performance limiters operations geologists typically need to understand differently?

We’ll discuss your specific role in increasing ROP when it’s limited by instability, hole cleaning, vibrational damage, high borehole friction, data acquisition rates, and formation damge. In each case I think there’s some physics that work differently than you think, and possibly different than your drilling organization thinks.

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T.I.H. Consulting Ltd. Geologic Well-Site Supervision

1602 – 5th St N.E. Calgary, AB. T2E 7W3 Phone: 403-233-7729 www.tihconsulting.com e-mail: tih@shaw.ca

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DIVISION TALKS

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY TECHNICAL DIVISION Presentation 1: Multimineral Petrophysical Analysis to Solve for Complex Lithologies: A Case Study from The Duvernay Shale in Alberta, Canada SPEAKER Rafael Becerra, University of Alberta

December 3, 2020, 12:00 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk Presentation 1 Abstract The complex lithology of the Upper Devonian Duvernay formation requires a complete set of geophysical logs, including advanced wireline logs in order to solve for key mineral and fluid volumes through a conventional petrophysical analysis.

However, advanced wireline datasets are not always available, especially in a number of wells that were logged when these technologies were not in the market, which forces the geoscientist to either discard these wells or to end up with the development of over-simplified models.

A case study is presented to show how by applying a multimineral petrophysical analysis (which determines the mineral composition of the formation by iterating the wireline tool responses with the geology and the matrix parameters), and a basic quad-combo wireline dataset, one can overcome the challenge of lack of advanced logging technology. The mineral model

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obtained as a result showed very good match with laboratory data and advanced wireline logs in wells where these were available.

This approach allowed to model the complex lithology of the formation without the need of advanced wireline datasets, and to determine how the mineral composition affects the geomechanical properties that are critical for selecting the landing zones of the horizontal wells and for hydraulic fracture stimulation design in ultra-low permeability formations like the Duvernay Shale.

BIOGRAPHY Rafael is a petrophysicist with 8 years of combined experience in the industry and the academia. He started his career as a wireline field engineer with Schlumberger, working in 5 countries. He earned a Masters in petroleum geoscience from the University of Alberta, where he also worked as a research assistant, focusing on petrophysics and well log analysis. He has been awarded several times at international conferences for his work on this topic in Canada, the US and the U.K.

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DIVISION TALKS

Presentation 2: Shear slip fault reactivation and induced seismicity associated with hydraulic fracturing in the Duvernay Formation, Fox Creek area, Alberta: insights from 3D reservoir geomechanical modeling Multimineral Petrophysical Analysis to Solve for Complex Lithologies: A Case Study from The Duvernay Shale in Alberta, Canada SPEAKER Elena Konstantinovskaya, University of Alberta Elena Konstantinovskaya1, Qiuguo Li2, Alexey Zhmodik2, Charles Ibelegbu2, Ryan Schultz3, Todd Shipman4 1.

E arth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

2.

reelance consulting on reservoir and F geomechanical modeling, hydraulic fracturing, Calgary, AB, Canada

3.

epartment of Geophysics, Stanford D University, CA, USA

4.

Alberta Energy Regulator, AB, Canada

An increase of formation pressure (Pp) related to hydraulic fracturing may cause a decrease in effective stresses and induce a shear slip on optimally oriented faults. A linear N-S zone of induced earthquakes (up to 3.9 Mw) was recorded in May-June 2015 during hydraulic fracturing of the Devonian Duvernay Formation in the Fox Creek area in the Alberta Basin. The aligned seismic events that hosted the 3.9 Mw event are located at 450-550 m east of the injection horizontal well and up to 400 m above the Duvernay Formation.

The analysis of ant-tracking attribute of 3D seismic data revealed a presence of a 1.4-km long linear discontinuity that may represent a fault zone aligned with the linear zone of seismicity. The inferred fault extends vertically for ~680 m from the Precambrian basement to the top of

the Ireton Formation. Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) was introduced to 3D structural model in the Duvernay interval.

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) and formation pressure buildup were simulated in the shale reservoir along two horizontal wells closest to the linear zone of induced seismicity, respecting field management history data. The initial Pp in the Duvernay Formation is ~52-59 MPa (gradient 16-17 kPa/m). Maximum bottomhole pressure during HF reached 79-80 MPa (~23 kPa/m) during wells treatment. The simulation results show that HFs grow parallel to the orientation of present-day maximum horizontal stress (N43°E), interacting with DFN. The pressure increase by ~20 MPa propagates along the HFs and reaches the fault zone.

The 3D one-way coupled reservoir geomechanical modeling was conducted to analyze changes in horizontal stresses and fault shear instability as a result of Pp increase by 20 MPa in the fault zone. Plastic shear strain in fault elements indicates that dextral shear slip occurs at the depth interval of the Duvernay and Lower Ireton Formations. It is likely that Pp increase associated with fracturing stimulation was the main cause of the induced earthquakes.

This study helps to quantify the parameters that control fault reactivation during HF, assisting in mitigation of future risks of induced seismicity associated with HF of the Duvernay Formation.

interpretation and supervise capstone projects. Before that I had a career both in academia and consulting industry, having worked at Schlumberger as Moscow Team Leader of geomechanics engineers, as research scientist at INRS-ETE, Quebec City, and Geological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and as invited professor at CNRS-University Montpellier II. I obtained BSc Degree in Geology with Honors at Lomonosov Moscow State University and PhD Degree at Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.

My interests involve structural geology and tectonic evolution of orogenic belts and sedimentary basins, analog modeling of fault kinematics, fault architecture and influence of natural and hydraulic fractures and faults on the distribution and state of stresses, pressure regimes, and permeability of flow units in subsurface reservoirs. My recent research focuses on predictive models of faults hydraulic behavior and fault shear reactivation potential and topseal breaching under the in situ stress and pore pressure changes caused by depletion or injection operations.

BIOGRAPHY I joined University of Alberta in 2017 as Associate Director of Integrated Petroleum Geoscience Program to teach reservoir geomechanics, seismic reflection

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DIVISION TALKS

PALAEONTOLOGY TECHNICAL DIVISION The St. Mary River Formation and its fossils SPEAKER Georgia L. Hoffman, Professional Geologist and APS member

December 11, 2020, 7:30 pm Mountain Time E-Technical Division Talk ABSTRACT In June of 2019, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Palaeontological Society members participated in a field trip to outcrops of the early Maastrichtian St. Mary River

Formation below the St. Mary Reservoir dam and spillway near Cardston, Alberta.

This talk will review the geological setting of the formation, discuss some of the plant fossils that have been found there, and describe the dinosaur tracks that were found during the field trip. The outstanding Quaternary vertebrate remains, trackways, and paleo-Indian artifacts from the nearby Wally’s Beach locality will also be discussed.

BIOGRAPHY

western Canada where she has worked in exploration for coal and soil sands, as well as base and precious metals. She became interested in plant fossils while working in the coal industry. In 1995, she earned a M.Sc. from the University of Alberta for her work on a late Paleocene fossil flora from the Paskapoo Formation. She continues to work on paleobotanical projects as time permits, most recently focusing on Paleocene plants from the Blindman River locality.

Georgia Hoffman received her Bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970 and then came to

GUSSOW 2021

March 10-11, Online Conference

Innovation Technology Geoscience 3UR¿WDELOLW\ Back to Black: Revisiting Mannville Heavy Oil and Oilsands

Back to Black Revisiting Mannville Heavy Oil and Oilsands March 10-11, 2021 CSPG Online Conference Revisit the geology of the Mannville Group and investigate the innovations that changed how heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs are produced.

From continental-scale depositional systems to the grains of sand impacting completion design, the conference will explore the play at all scales with a focus on understanding how geoscience can improve profitability. Speakers will present the most recent results from academic research and practical case studies from thermal oil sand operators, making this event a must-attend conference!

Registration opening soon. www.cspg.org/gussow

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GEOCOMMUNITY

GEOWOMEN TALK The intersection of geothermal, the energy transition and the petroleum geoscientist; reflections from an early Pivoter.

SPEAKER Jeanine Vany | Eavor

November 17, 2020 | 12:00 - 1:00 pm (Mountain Time) ABSTRACT Globally an energy transition is occurring, global investment in upstream oil and gas decreased by ~32% since 2019, hit extremely hard in part due to COVID crisis. Albertan unemployment rates are very high at 12% up from 7% in 2019 as there is downward pressure on the oil and gas markets through over supply and lack of route to market (+COVID).

Major IOC’s are either greenwashing or making real attempts to pivot from oil and gas production to power generation or some combination thereof. From big oil’s wind farms in the north sea to solar installations in Asia, what is the overall capital investment in renewables and is there a market pull for geothermal technology today? What could this mean for the petroleum geoscientist?

and Total. She joined GLJ Petroleum Consultants in 2012, where she led the geoscience aspects of in-situ reserves and resource evaluations in addition to working deep basin unconventional plays. With a passion for people, projects and technology development, Ms. Vany led GLJ’s first oil sands technology panel, created and taught GLJ’s InSitu Resource and Reserves course for industry professionals and spearheaded new business initiatives for the firm in unconventional resource plays. Jeanine holds an Honours B.Sc degree in Geology and Environmental Studies from Saint Mary’s University and a Business Essentials Certificate from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary.

The energy transition, retooling of skill sets and current geothermal technology will be discussed in context to the Petroleum Geoscientist.

Talk to conclude with a brief reflection on Jeanine’s career transition.

BIOGRAPHY Jeanine Vany is Executive Vice President Geosciences at Eavor Technologies Inc. She is an APEGA registered professional geologist with a career spanning over 15 years in the oil and gas industry.

Her experience ranges from reservoir characterization, drilling and operations to full field delineation strategies, asset management, and acquisition. Ms. Vany has spent her career at foremost E&P companies such as EnCana, Devon

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SOCIETY NEWS

DIGITAL CORE CONFERENCE WRAP UP By: Tom Plumridge, P. Geo Senior Geologist, Rife Resources Ltd., Christa Williams, P. Geo Senior Geologist, Independent Consultant Greetings everyone, It’s a challenge to try and summarize a single event like Core Conference in a small article, given the incredible time and effort that the committee and CSPG gave to maintain the essence of Core Conference.

Creating a Digital Event, with no previous precedent to calibrate to, was not an easy task. However, despite the unprecedented challenges that 2020 has brought the members and our peers, the first ever Digital Core Conference was successful!

All be-it with a few minor technical glitches. We cannot thank our members and sponsors enough, in supporting the CSPG Digital Core Conference, as we sought to pave a new path forward in such uncharted territory. While this was not the event we imagined at the beginning of this year, we saw tremendous support from our members, with 174 registrants who tuned in over the three days of presentations. Each day we saw over 150 people registered, with well over 90% of those identifying as geoscientists. It is this dedicated support from our fellow geologists, geophysicists, academics and senior leaders that keeps our committee coming back year after year, striving to bring you valuable and actionable research that has become the hallmark of the CSPG Core Conference.

This event has always been one of the highlight events for the CSPG, and it is what helps keep everything moving forward. It is your support each year, that is pivotal in ensuring the CSPG endures the challenges our industry is facing.

The credit of success of this conference is based on solid technical content, and we are grateful to all our presenters in sticking with us as we navigated the magic of core conference to a digital interface. Our presenters persevered with us as we determined how to record the presentations, engage the audience with some live Q&A, conduct polls, and compile the first digital abstract book, all the while trying to maintain the same enthusiasm that comes with presenting live, to now

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talking to your computer. To you Carolyn Currie, Alec Pollard, John Lake, John Noad, Godfried Wasser, Qi Chen and Lauren Eggie, we thank you for having patience and bringing an enthusiasm that is sorely needed in times like these. As well, a special congratulations to Lauren Eggie for taking home the inaugural Pemberton Award, in recognition of being the best overall presentation, and to Qi Chen, for receiving the Baille Award for best student presentation.

Last, but far from least, we want to acknowledge our amazing industry partners who helped us achieve our goals and stuck with us despite the limitations that the Digital Core Conference had. Our title sponsor Tourmaline has always been a stalwart supporter of Core Conference, and this year proved no different, and their contribution for this year was critical to the success of the conference. The Alberta Energy Regulator or AER, were nothing short of brilliant in working alongside the committee and CSPG, despite the pandemic related challenges, to ensure presenters and our other industry partners Enersoft and Digitcore could access core, ensuring we had the best possible content.

To our industry partners Enersoft and Digitcore, thanks to your efforts and inkind contributions, we ensured that all presenters had access to high quality core imaging for their presentations and core walk-throughs. Without these images and digital interfaces, we could not have hoped to replicate the true Core Conference experience. Lastly, to our Digital abstract book sponsor AGAT, thank you for your continuing support of the CSPG Core Conference, as well as our digital abstract book sponsors: Schlumberger, Canadian Discovery, Petrocraft Products and Storage and RPS Group. We could not have done it without you.

who dedicated their time, including Brent Kuntz, Kelsea Pedersen, Carson Renaud, Liese Mclaren, Rob Paul, and Maureen Stonehouse. I also want to give particular shout-out to my co-chair Christa Williams, who has sat with me through all of this, and handled more than her fair share of challenges, frustrations and moments of panic as we attempted to navigate these troubled waters. Finally, as we begin looking to next year’s conference, we are excited to pass along the torch to Maureen Stonehouse, who will take over for Christa and I as chair of the CSPG Core Conference in 2021. We are excited to see her lead the charge and help define the direction for Core Conference for the future.

CSPG would like to thank Tom Plumridge and Christa Williams the Core Conference Co-Chairs for their outstanding contribution to CSPG and the Core Conference Committee over the past three years. Their leadership and technical knowledge led to three successful annual conferences. We will remember their 50th conference year look back in history fondly. They brought fresh ideas to the conference such as the initiation of speaker awards in 2020. Tom and Christa stepped up to the challenge this year when asked to pivot from the in-person Core Conference to a Digital platform. They brought their dedication, passion, and professionalism to the task and achieved excellent results.

Your Core Committee Co-Chairs, Tom Plumridge, P. Geo Senior Geologist, Rife Resources Ltd. Christa Williams, P. Geo Senior Geologist, Independent Consultant

The CSPG Core Conference has always been a labor of love for the committee who volunteers their time and expertise, and this year’s event has truly shown that. Christa and I are eternally grateful to everyone

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SOCIETY NEWS

BREAKING BARRIERS IN A CHANGING WORLD By: Maureen Stonehouse, Co-Chair Core Conference 2021 Call for Abstracts – Hybrid Core Conference June 17-18th 2021 Submit by: January 15th, 2021 Email: coreconference@cspg.org.

Geology is the bedrock of oil and gas exploration, and geologists are constantly finding twists in the earth below our feet that prompt us to refine our thoughts.

New technologies are being applied to old plays, development of analogues change the way we interpret details in previously understood environments, and new work methods are becoming best practices. We are fortunate to be in a community that shares and celebrates each other’s research.

We are delighted to share that there will be an opportunity to showcase your work at the 2021 CSPG Core Conference. The planning is underway. While the advances in core photography and digital platforms impressed us all in the 2020 digital event, we know everyone is wondering if they will get to see the rocks live this year? The current plan for the Core Conference is a hybrid event, with both an in person and digital component. The thought of groups socially distanced around core tables exchanging witty interpretations about sedimentary features brings great joy. It is also exciting that we will be able to share some time socializing with our geology family. The 2021 CSPG Hybrid Core Conference will take place June 17-18th, immediately following to the GeoConvention which is scheduled for June 14-16th.

We are looking forward to kicking off the hybrid format for the Core Conference.

Due to event guidelines during the Covid19 pandemic, only small groups will be able to attend the core facility simultaneously for live core viewings. As everyone is aware industry conferences are currently restricted until Phase 3 of the Alberta Relaunch Strategy. Phase 2 started June 12, 2020 as has continued well into the fall. Within phase 2 we can host gatherings of 50 people that are socially distanced

and wearing masks. We will work around these guidelines to provide in person core viewings and mini networking events.

There are several options of what this could look like, and the most likely scenario is a staggered group approach.

The planning committee is excited about the theme this year “Breaking Barriers in a Changing World”. In this June’s event, we will celebrate and share geologic knowledge that has the potential to contribute to break-throughs in the energy industry.

We are looking to include examples from various formations, environments, and basins. Core Conference will work with you to take advantage of learnings from 2020 digital conference, to bring in cores from abroad utilizing digital photos if physical core transfer isn’t feasible.

in a Changing World”, and to connect with fellow geoscientists.

We look forward to bringing together geologists, through a shared love of rocks.

The best geologist is the one who sees the most rocks. We hope to see you there.

Your 2021 Core Conference Committee coreconference@cspg.org

Short abstract submissions are now being accepted until January 15th 2021, and we look forward to seeing content from all geoscientists who wish to present their unique ideas and perspectives. If you wish to submit an abstract, the committee asks that you provide a small paragraph or two explaining the subject matter of your talk, some indication of the location of your core (Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, NWT etc.), as well as the names of the author(s). As always, we ask that all submissions have a focus on an accompanying well core, strat test, or mining core, totalling a length of no more than 60m (split between two tables).

The long abstract deadline is March 1, 2021.

All submissions can be coreconference@cspg.org.

made

at

Please visit the Core Conference website for abstract guidelines cspg..org/ coreconference To view past abstracts, please www.cspg.org/coreabstracts.

visit

We are so excited for this upcoming year’s conference on June 17th & 18th 2021, as we gather to celebrate “Breaking Barriers

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Dedicated to supporting its members since 1927, the CSPG continuously offers new opportunities to enhance their skills and enrich their experiences, from events to publications to receiving grants to awards and much more. Join CSPG, and:

Be part of the science.

Be part of the legacy.

Be part of CSPG.

• Benefit from member discounts on all conferences, luncheons and webinars • Enhance your technical skills through our revamped educational program • Attend more than 20 free technical talks offered every year • Have fun checking out rocks through our field trips • Engage with specialised CSPG communities • Advance your technical knowledge through peer reviewed papers in the Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology and articles in the digital Reservoir magazine • Learn new skills and expand your professional network by volunteering with any of CSPG’s programs • Share your experiences through CSPG’s upcoming mentorship program • Build your professional brand through our communications opportunities • Receive grants and awards for your distinguished work

Join today! www.cspg.org