SUMMARY OF FIELD ACTIVITIES IN THE WESTERN LIARD BASIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA Filippo Ferri1, Margot McMechan2, Tiffani Fraser3, Kathryn Fiess4, Leanne Pyle5 and Fabrice Cordey6 ABSTRACT The second and final year of a regional bedrock mapping program within the Toad River map area (NTS 094N) was completed in 2012. The program will result in three– 100 000 scale maps of the northwest, northeast and southeast quadrants of 094N and with four 1:50 000 scale maps covering the southwest quadrant. Surface samples were also collected for Rock Eval™, reflective light thermal maturity and apatite fission-track analysis. Cuttings from several petroleum wells in the map area were also sampled for Rock Eval analysis and vitrinite reflectance. Composite sections of the Besa River Formation were measured in the southern Caribou Range and along the Alaska Highway, south of Stone Mountain. Approximately 170 m of the Besa River Formation were measured in three separate sections in the southern Caribou Range. Lithological, gamma-ray spectrometry and lithogeochemical data are similar to those observed in other sections of the formation, suggesting similar depositional conditions within the western Liard Basin. Changes in abundances of several trace elements, particularly, V, Mo, Ba and P, suggest variations in redox conditions during the deposition of the formation. Radiolarian and conodont fragments from the upper part of the section in the Caribou Range indicate a mid-Tournaisian age. Characteristics of the lower Besa River Formation observed along the Alaska Highway south of Stone Mountain are similar to the Evie member of the Horn River Formation. Ferri, F., McMechan, M., Fraser, T., Fiess, K., Pyle, L. and Cordey, F. (2013): Summary of field activities in the western Liard Basin, British Columbia; in Geoscience Reports 2013, British Columbia Ministry of Natural Gas Development, pages 13–31. 1Geoscience and Strategic Initiatives Branch, Oil and Gas Division, British Columbia Ministry of Natural Gas Development, Victoria, BC, [email protected] 2Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB 3Yukon Geological Survey, Whitehorse, YT 4Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, Yellowknife, NWT 5VI Geosciences Services Ltd., Victoria, BC 6Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France Key Words: Besa River Formation, Liard Basin, Horn River Basin, Toad River, regional mapping, shale gas, lithogeo- chemistry, gamma ray spectrometry, measured section, radiolarians, Caribou Range, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories. INTRODUCTION (GEM) Yukon Sedimentary Basins project. Examination of the Besa River Formation is in its third year and in 2012 The British Columbia Geoscience and Strategic Initia- was conducted as part of a multijurisdictional project be- tives Branch participated in two co-operative geosciences tween the governments of Yukon, Northwest Territories programs in the western Liard Basin during the summer of and British Columbia. This work was also supported by the 2012 (Fig. 1): 1) regional mapping within the Toad River GEM program through use of analytical laboratories at the map area (NTS 094N) and 2) examination of the Besa River Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Formation in the western and northern Liard Basin. The re- Besa River stratigraphy exposed along the western gional mapping program is in its second year (McMechan margins of the Liard Basin contains equivalents to the Horn et al., 2012) and is part of the Geological Survey of Cana- River Formation, currently being developed for its shale da’s (GSC) ongoing Geomapping for Energy and Minerals gas potential in the eastern Horn River Basin (Fig. 2; Ferri BC Ministry of Natural Gas Development 13 o YT NWT 60 4 6 3 Maxhamish 7 Lk. 5 11 2 10 c-86-F 94P d-28-B 94O 94N Fort Nelson R. Liard R. 9 d-34-K d-69-k/94-O-2 1 77 8 Kotcho Lk. oad R. o T 59 Fort Nelson 97 94I 94K 94J 97 50 km 124o 122o Cretaceous-Tertiary Penn.-Permian Cambro-Ordovician 2010 2011 Upper Cretaceous Mississippian Cambrian study area study area Middle Cretaceous Devono-Missi. Upper Proterozoic 2012 Besa River Fm Triassic Ordovician-Devonian Middle Proterozoic study areas Regional Mapping Slave Point Edge Program Liard Basin (tick on basin side) 9 Petroleum well cuttings sampled for Rock Eval Horn River Basin conventional analysis. See Table 1 for gas field gas fields details. Apache Corp. Ltd. Figure 1 discovery wells Figure 1. Regional geological map of northern British Columbia showing the location of the regional mapping project in the Toad River map area (094N) and stratigraphic sections of the Besa River Formation measured in the southern Caribou Range and along the Alaska High- way, southeast of Toad River. Geological database from Massey et al. (2005). The edge of Horn River Basin follows the Slave Point edge as defined by Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd. (2003). Well locations refer to data in Table 1. et al., 2011, 2012). The recent announcement by Apache carbonate and shale sequences of the Western Canada Sedi- Canada Ltd. of initial, average one-month production of mentary Basin (Fig. 2). Ferri et al. (2011, 2012) summarize 21.3 million cubic feet (mmcf; 6.03 × 105 m3) per day from the regional geological setting and stratigraphic framework a well within the central Liard Basin (d-34-K; Figure 1) of these rocks. underscores the potential for shale sequences in this area to hold significant potential. This well was drilled to a depth of 3800 m and laterally almost 900 m into the upper Besa TOAD RIVER MAPPING PROJECT (094N) River Formation. Apache Canada Ltd. estimates ultimate production of 17.9 billion cubic feet (5.06 × 108 m3) from This is the second year of a regional mapping program this well and suggests a net resource of 48 trillion cubic within the Toad River map area, spearheaded by the GSC. feet (1.36 × 1012 m3) on its 430 000 acre (174 021 Ha) land A summary of the geological setting, and stratigraphic and holdings (Apache Corporation Ltd., 2012; Macedo, 2012). structural framework, together with initial interpretations, can be found in McMechan et al. (2012). Rocks of the Besa River Formation represent western shale equivalents of Middle Devonian to Early Mississippian Two weeks were spent collecting field data within the Toad River map area (094N) from base localities in Fort 14 Geoscience Reports 2013 Liard Basin Horn River Basin Platform Permian Fantasque Formation Fantasque/Belloy Formation U Kindle Taylor Flat M Formation Fm Penn. L Mattson Mattson Kiskatinaw U Fm Fm Stoddart Gp Fm Golata Fm? Golata Fm? Golata Fm M Debolt Fm Debolt Formation Rundle Rundle Rundle Group Group Shunda Fm Group Shunda Formation (Prophet Fm) Pekisko Fm Pekisko Formation Mississippian Carboniferous L Banff Banff Formation Fm Banff Formation Exshaw Fm Exshaw Formation Exshaw Formation Fa Kotcho Fm Kotcho Formation Tetcho Fm Tetcho Formation Trout River Fm Trout River Formation Fort Fort Kakisa Fm Kakisa Formation Simpson Simpson Red Knife Upper Mbr Upper Fm Jean Marie Mbr Formation Formation Frasnian Fort Simpson Formation Muskwa Fm Muskwa Fm Muskwa Formation Besa River Formation Slave Point Fm Otter Watt Mtn Fm Devonian Park Otter Park Fm Fm Sulphur Point Fm Upper Keg Muskeg Fm Horn River Gp Horn River Gp Givetian Evie Fm Evie Fm River Fm Middle Dunedin Fm- Keg River Fm Lower Keg River Fm Ei Nahanni Fm Chinchaga Fm Chinchaga Fm L Em Stone Fm Sandstone Shale Carbonate Evaporite Chert Figure 2. Stratigraphic chart showing the relationship of the Besa River Formation to other shale units and carbonates within the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Figure 2 Nelson and at the small community of Liard River. A to- approximately 75 samples were collected for fossil iden- tal of 260 field stations were added during the 2012 field tification (unit age determination), thermal maturation via season, resulting in a total of nearly 1200 localities (Fig. reflective light microscopy, Rock Eval analysis and apatite 3). This includes BC Hydro coverage from the early 1980s fission track analysis for low-temperature thermal model- along the Liard River corridor and published and unpub- ling (i.e., burial and uplift history; Fig 3b). lished GSC data from the 1940s and late 1990s. In addition, BC Ministry of Natural Gas Development 15 o a) 60 BESA RIVER FORMATION This is the third year of a detailed stratigraphic and lithogeochemical examination of the Besa River Formation within the western Liard Basin (Ferri et al., 2011, 2012). In 2012, this project was carried out as part of a cooperative Liard River undertaking between the British Columbia Geoscience and Strategic Initiatives Branch, the Yukon Geological Survey Ft. Nelson and the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office. Because Besa River rock types occur in all three jurisdictions, an ap- Liard River River 97 proach using data from throughout this area would not only T oad River present a more complete picture of this emerging shale gas succession, it would also highlight the economic potential within all three regions. During the 2012 field season, all three organizations o combined efforts and measured sections of the Besa River 59 Formation, or its equivalent, in each jurisdiction (Fig. 4). Muncho Lake 0 5 10 20 kilometers This report will summarize initial results from 2012 inves- 126o 124o tigations within British Columbia and include a summary o of lithogeochemical data from 2011 sampling of the Besa b) 60 O94N/13 O94N/14 O94N/15 O94N/16 River Formation in the Stone Mountain area, just east of Toad River (Ferri et al., 2012; Fig. 1). The reader is referred to Fraser et al. (2013) and Fiess et al. (2013) for a sum- mary of 2012 activities within the Yukon and Northwest O94N/12 O94N/11 O94N/10 O94N/9 Territories, respectively. In addition, this report summarizes Liard River data collected along a section of the lowermost Besa River Formation that was measured by the senior author along the Alaska Highway, south of the section described by Ferri et Ft.