Basement Controls on Red River Sedimentation and Hydrocarbon Production in Southeastern Saskatchewan L.K. Kreis and D.M Kent I Kreis, L.K. and Kent, D.M. (2000): Basement controls on Red River sedimentation and hydrocarbon production in southeastern Saskatchewan; in Summary of Investigations 2000, Volume I , Saskatchewan Geological Survey, Sask. Energy Mines, Misc. Rep. 2000-4.1. 1. Introduction 2. Regional Basement Features Discovery of significant oil reserves in Red River strata The origin and nature of the Williston Basin are in the Berkley et al. Midale 4-2-7-11 W2 well in unclear and their discussion is beyond the scope of this December 1995, together with Saskatchewan paper (for further infonnation see Stewart, 1972; government incentives such as reversion of deep rights Dickinson, 1976; Gerhard et al. , 1982; Kent, 1987; to the Crown in I 998 and reduced royalties for deep Crowley et al., I 985; Fowler and Nisbet, 1985; Green exploration and development wells, set the stage for et al., I 985a, I 985b; Green et al., 1986; Quinlan, 1987; recent hydrocarbon exploration activity targeting Red Gerhard et al., 199 I; Sims et al., 1991 ; Burwash et al., River rocks and, to a lesser extent, the Winnipeg 1993; Nelson el al., 1993; Kent and Christopher, 1994; Formation. Between December 1995 and December Baird et al., 1995; and Gibson, I 995). 1999, over 280 wells have been licensed to explore the Red River in southeastern Saskatchewan. More than Three major basement provinces are recognized from half of these were licensed to drill to the Precambrian; regional magnetic data in the Williston Basin area they have provided valuable new information about the (Green et al., 1985a, l 985b; Baird et al., 1995; Gibson, Precambrian basement surface, basement structure and 1995; and Kreis et al., 2000). Archean (>2.5 billion lithology, and relationship between basement and years) rocks of the Wyoming Province in the west and overlying strata. Oil exploration companies have taken the Superior Province in the east are separated by an cores in most of these wells, greatly contributing to our intervening collage of Proterozoic rocks belonging to understanding of deep formati ons. the Trans-Hudson Orogen (1.8 to 1.9 billion years) (Figure 2). The Trans-Hudson Orogen is considered by Prior to the Midale discovery, Red River production Lewry and Collerson ( 1990) to be a major component was restricted to l 6 wells widely distributed in the of the Early Proterozoic Pan-American orogenic Minton, Hummingbird, Lake Alma, Beaubier, Oungre, system, extending from South Dakota, across Hudson Bromhead, and Weir Hill areas near the American Bay, Greenland, and Labrador. Results from the border in southeastern Saskatchewan (Figure 1). Since COCORP deep reflection seismic transect in then, producing reservoirs have been discovered up to northeastern Montana and northern North Dakota 7 5 km northward into the Chapleau Lake area. suggest that the Trans-Hudson Orogen is probably Numerous seismic surveys covering large areas to the cored by an Archean crustal fragment that was caught north and west of these producing areas have been run up in the collision of the two Archean paleocontinents in recent years, holding the promise of further drilling (Baird et al., 1995). and more discoveries. Recently, a deep well test has been li censed to drill to the Precambrian basement in Mappable features that are spatially related to the Township 27 and Range 18 west of the second boundaries of the basement provinces (Figure 2) and meridian, some 125 km north of Chapleau Lake. In th e that are defined by thickness anomalies in various 38 years following the first discovery in 1957 until the Phanerozoic fo rmations or by geophysical mapping Midale discovery, oil production from Red River include the Birdtail-Waskada axis, a well known north­ reservoirs totaled just over 226 000 m3 from 16 wells. south lineament lying immediately east of th e In fewer than fo ur years between the Midale discovery Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. Characterized by and mid-September 1999, more than one million cubic numerous structural and stratigraphic irregularities metres of oil have been produced from 115 new wells. (McCabe, 1967; Dietrich and Magnusson, 1998), it directly overli es the boundary between the Trans­ This paper focuses on stratigraphic evidence for Hudson (Churchill) and Superior provinces. Andrichuk basement controls on Red River sedimentation and ( 1959), Kent ( 1960), Christopher ( 1961), Kendall hydrocarbon production in southeastern Saskatchewan, ( 1976), and Kreis ( 199 1) document thinning of various an area on the northeastern margin of the Williston Phanerozoic units in a north-south zone parallel to the Basin (Figures I and 2). It also d iscusses spatial Saskatchewan-Manitoba border in southeastern relati onshi ps and orientations of basement features and Saskatchewan. This area coincides with the Nelson lineaments. ' D.M Kent Consulting Geolog ist Ltd .. 86 Mctcallc Road. Regina. SK S4V 01 18. Saskatchewan Geological S urvey 21 -=~~~~=~~,--~---.:;:::--~1J--------,:----,,:,----------------- 23 51°00' "' 22 + '21 ._- ---~-:~i :: · -..... ·18 ~ ~ 17 c: ~ -· ·-· -······~ ·· ·- - · -.;· · ----c· 16 {=_ -+~· · 1-.,5 ··--+-·• + J14 • -· -·-tc · ,13 ~ t t ~ . · =- t • ~ ~ ~ ,.,,,.,_, - r-----,---~-r- 12 50°00' \ . """' l "\.;. ' "t . .... -~···· -~. .. , -t~ <( - +- ··+'t- co + 0 !::= + + I + + ~ . ++-+-· .; +- f-# :E + + + f -·· · -· · ---- · ·· i-·.·· ······· ··ca_yron•·;:·· - 6 - ··-+ __+ _:+-_ -- --~+. + + --- - .....• - -~ ·-- ·----· - --- - ------·------- ----- -----· -- ---- --- --- --- ~ + + + § ~ + ~++___ _+ - . +__ --· ;: -~c:, ~~ - .- _. - + -~+ ~--F --· 2~-ut,j~ ~ + . '[ffl ~· * :i" -it- · . - ·+-1( .L kiAlma 49°00' ~ "~ - + . .........a.-. ·- 6 5 4 3 ,,-,, 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 g_ ·05·00· 1os·oo· 104 ·oo· W1 ~ 2 C' c,, Range W MONTANA j NORTH DAKOTA + Well Locations "-' ...A. Areas of Red River + Lighting Creek Structure _2;;;:, ~ Production ...... Workman Structure i § "' Figure J - Study area showing areas of Red River hydrocarbon production in southeastern Saskatchewan and cross-section locations discussed. ... ·.. z ··.. 0 ·.. ~ .... ~ t) ~ _,z .....,' Q ~ ::::,~' ) en I / 0, 300km i 0 200Mi 11 WILLISTON BASIN OUTLINE IJU 1.4.EDGE-PRAIRIE EVAPORITE ANTICLINES ····•··•· EDGE-PALEOZOIC EDGE OF ARCHEAN CRATONS 11111111111111 NACP CONDUCTOR ZONE HEAT FLOW ANOMALIES BIRDTAIL-WASKADA AXIS , • ··,. ....... MISSOURI COTEAU STUDY AREA D 1,,,:._ ._ ,· -::b/ / / __ i·;'.I/_/ NELSON RIVER GRAVITY TREND .,,.,. LINEAMENTS .,,.,... 1.) BROCKTON- FROID - FROMBERG FAULT ZONE 2.) COLORADO - WYOMING FAULT ZONE Figure 2 - Map showing major Precambrian basement features and subsurface and suiface lineaments within and conterminous with the study area (modified from Kent, 1987; Majorowicz et al., 1988; and Baird et al., 1995). Saskatchewan Geological Survey 23 River Gravity Trend (Macdonald and Broughton, nomenclature) over the interval from 2315 to 2327. 7 m 1980) (Figure 2). which includes the lower Coronach, Lake Alma Anhydrite and "C" Laminated. The upper 7.1 m of the Two wells, Imperial Lightning Creek 16-7 -6-32 WI core have a typical Herald succession of burrow­ and Cherokee et al. Workman 2-34- l-32W1, in mottled limestone overlying a thin laminated dolostone southeastern Saskatchewan are located in a north-south all belonging to the Coronach. They rest upon a 3 m zone parallel to the nearby Birdtail-Waskada axis. thick evaporitic interval consisting of 1.6 rn and 0.8 m They show evidence of faulting which could be of interlaminated dolostone and anhydrite separated by attributed to basement movements within this major 0.6 m of laminated dolomicrite and oolitic-intraclastic paleotectonic zone (Figures 1 and 2). The evidence dolo-wackestone. The evaporitic interval is in contact includes Kendall's (] 976) observation that the Red with typical "C" Laminated rocks. A repeated sequence River interval is anomalously thick (more than 60 m of Lake Alma Anhydrite forms the next 5 .6 m of core. greater than normal) in the Lightning Creek well. He In addition, the interval from 2325 to 2325.7 m attributes this thickening to apparent repeated sections contains deformed dolomicrite with a dip of 40° to 45°. in geophysical well logs as well as repetition of Repetition of strata in both the Lightning Creek and Deadwood lithologies in well cuttings at a stratigraphic Workman wells suggests reverse or thrust faulting may level where Red River rocks would normally occur. He have occurred in these intervals. The Interaction also comments on the unusual thickness of dolomitized Renata Workman 3-27-l-32Wl well shows a rock in this well. This feature contrasts with the pronounced thinning of Red River strata over a partially dolomitized Yeoman sections in nearby wells basement high (Figure 4). The anomalous thinning and and indicates an unusual diagenetic history, possibly the faulting in this well suggest syn- and post­ related to faulting. The Workman well is cored in the depositional reactivation of the basement. Bighorn Group (see Figure 3 for stratigraphic The coincidence of the North American Central Plains electrical conductivity anomaly (NACP) with the Trans-Hudson Orogen S.E. SASKATCHEWAN NORTH DAKOTA implies a Precambrian basement KENDALL (1976) KOHM AND LOUDEN (1978) structural control to the feature (Figure 2). The presence ofhigh­ STONEWALL FM. STONEWALL FM. grade metamorphic rocks in drill core samples and of a narrower >- GUNTON MBR. zz~ . width of the Trans-Hudson zz. 01-~ segment in North and South I-~ LL STONY MOUNTAIN SHALE Dakota relative to the exposed 01-~ GUNN MBR. Cl) !-~LL segment in the Canadian Shield Cf) HARTAVEN MBR. suggest that compression during .. A.. z "A" ANHYDRITE MBR. '""> collision was greater in the oO REDVERS UNIT Williston Basin area (Baird et al., _JI- CORONArH ANHY. > "B" ANHYDRITE MBR. 1995). Majorowicz et al. ( 1986, 'B" LAMINATED MBR. 1988) and Osadetz et al. ( 1998) ~~ CORONACH MBR. 'B' BURROWED MBR discuss a heat flow anomaly that w 0:: -,. IQ LAKE ALMA ANHY. "C" ANHYDRITE MBR. is situated near Estevan, LL LAKE ALMA MBR. "C" LAMINATED MBR. immediately east of the NACP z along I 03°W (Figure 2).