SEDIMENTOLOGY AND RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CARBONIFEROUS JOGGINS FORMATION, NOVA SCOTIA, ATLANTIC CANADA

Abstract

Reservoir characterization has experienced significant changes within the energy industry due to technological innovation and computerization, but challenges remain, particularly with understanding reservoir compartmentalization and fluid flow. These challenges impact energy diversification and security on the pathway to achieving carbon neutrality through secondary recovery, CCS, geothermal, and geostorage. The SPE Research & Development Committee has identified five challenges the energy industry must resolve for further advancement. This dissertation investigates three of the five challenges through integration of outcrop and subsurface data from the Late Carboniferous Joggins Formation: (1) higher resolution subsurface imaging, (2) increasing recovery factors, and (3) carbon capture, utilization, and storage. This research defines stratigraphy, geobodies, architectural elements, and baffles and barriers to fluid flow, using shallow subsurface geophysical techniques (GPR and lidar) for reservoir outcrops at the well to seismic scale. Methodology developed from analogous studies in geoforensics using GPR and subsequent 3D renderings allows the delineation of shallow subsurface objects and is transferrable to the high-resolution delineation of architectural elements within geobodies. This dissertation documents for the first time Late Carboniferous tidal rhythmite intervals in the Joggins Formation, providing support for a mid-Euramerican seaway connecting to the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and demonstrating deposition in a semi-diurnal tidal model with a lunar monthly tidal cycle. The identification of these tidal processes and depositional environments through high-resolution Fourier transform analysis is an example that delineates the fine-scale baffles and barriers to fluid flow for reservoir characterization studies. Well-log data identified spectral peaks in an interval of the Joggins Formation corresponding to the four main orbital periods (400 kyr, 100 kyr, 40 kyr, and 20 kyr) of Milankovitch cyclicity with a ratio of 18.99:5.15:2.02:1. The identification of cyclic occurrences influencing deposition can facilitate stratigraphic correlation and high-resolution reservoir characterization.