• Technical Luncheons
• Tech Division Events
  • Basin Analysis and Sequence Stratigraphy Division
  • Core and Sample Division
  • Emerging Petroleum Resources Division
  • Environment Division
  • GeoFluids Division
  • Geomodeling Division
  • Heavy Oil / Oil Sands Division
  • International Division
  • Palaeontology Division
  • Reservoir Development Division
  • Sedimentology Division
  • Structural Geology Division
• Social Events
• Honorary Address
• Other Events

Tech Division Events

Structural Geology Division

For more information concerning this Division, please contact the Division Chair, Darcie Greggs at (403) 869-4840.

Division Profile

The Structural Division's mandate is to provide a forum for CSPG members who are interested in structural geology and tectonic processes, and to showcase what is new and current in structural geology. Topics are wide-ranging and include both compressional and extensional tectonics.

The division aims to provide informal brownbag talks every month from September to May. Talks typically average about 45 minutes followed by a short question/discussion period, and are currently located on the 17th floor of the Petro-Canada West Tower, 150 – 6th Ave. S.W. Speakers for the luncheons are sought from industry and academia, and new volunteers are always welcome.

The division also hosts at least one field trip per year. These trips are informal and are lead by volunteers within the structural community. They are designed to be low cost, and involve no more than one evening away from home.

If you are interested in joining the Structural Division e-mail listing which currently provides luncheon reminders and a few other notices of interest to the structural community, if you care to suggest a technical topic or present a talk to the division, or if you have a field trip idea, please contact Darcie Greggs at (403) 691-3111 or darcie.greggs@shell.com.

---

Division Talks

Earthquakes Distributed in Regular Patterns Linked to Hydrocarbon Sweet-spots in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Speaker
Jean-Yves,
Chatellier Talisman Energy

12:00pm - 1:00pm
Thursday, March 11, 2010

Room LPW-910, Livingston Place West
250 2nd St SW
Calgary, Alberta

Abstract
Alternate fault activity can be demonstrated using 4-D views of earthquakes in areas where seismic events are frequent. Examples studied and published by the author includes the December 26, 2004 Aceh earthquake that led to the infamous tsunami and the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the central part of the USA known for a sudden 90 degree change in river pattern in 1812.

For this subsequent study, the available government data that was used encompasses 11,800 earthquakes in Western Canada, 1,024 of which are located in Alberta.

In British Columbia (BC) many major west-plunging and south-plunging seismic planes are easily identified. A 3-D earthquake analysis in Eastern BC shows a series of large seismic trends of similar strikes but variable dips, and with similar directions to hydrocarbon trends from the Alberta Foothills.

In Alberta, the number of earthquakes recorded does not allow identification of any major plane encompassing many seismic events. However, 2-D and 3-D analyses covering Alberta, BC and part of Montana unraveled deep seated patterns of direct interest to the oil industry: many anomalous producers are perfectly aligned with seismicity trends.

Thus, in Alberta a different series of rules and methods had to be applied to unravel patterns of interest. Rule 1: as earthquakes are commonly at the crossing between faults, each earthquake site can be used to define two separate fault trends. Rule 2: regular spacing between faults can be used as a guide to define the structural grain in the Alberta Plains.

A map based approach and some outstanding results will be outlined with three selected structural directions common in Alberta, North 93, North 9 and North 72 degrees. The former corresponds to deep seated faults commonly reactivated in left lateral strike-slip, the other two directions are respectively the antithetic and synthetic Riedel shears. Examples of Hydrocarbon sweet spots linked to such earthquakes will be from Paleozoic carbonate and Cretaceous sandstone fields.

Biography
Jean-Yves Chatellier obtained a PhD in tectonics from Paris VI University and worked around the world for 18 years before setting down in Calgary. In the past 20 years he has studied earthquake patterns in Greece, Romania, South-East Asia, Australasia and Venezuela. Since 2003 he has focused his attention to North America while working at Tecto Sedi Integrated. He is employed as an explorationist by Talisman Energy in Calgary.

 

---

Information
Talks are free; please bring your lunch. If you would like to be on the Structural Division e-mail list, or if you'd like to give a talk, please contact Darcie Greggs at (403) 869-4840.