Depositional Environment and Provenance of the Dina Formation, Provost Oil Field, East Central Alberta, and a Hydrocarbon Distribution Within

Abstract

The Dina formation, late Barremian to late Aptian, is the basal unit of the Mannville Group in east central Alberta, and the primary oil producing unit of the Provost oil field. In Section 23, Township 36 6W4 (part of the Belshill Lake paleo channel), well logs from two wells suggest the Dina formation is ~21 m thick. Physical and biogenic sedimentary structures preserved in cores from these two wells indicate the upper ~14 metres of the Dina formation were deposited in an estuarine environment, and lithofacies show an upwards increase in marine influence, grading upwards from marine influenced channel deposits on the bottom (of the cored interval) to moderately burrowed tidal flat (and channel) deposits on top. Oil stained sandstone beds in the two cores indicate oil distribution in the Dina formation is lithofacies dependent, and concentrated within channel sands of the upper lithofacies. The presence of accessory zircon, muscovite, and feldspar grains suggest a Canadian Shield provenance for the Dina formation.

Pages: 130 Supervisor: Grant Wach