the stratigraphy and structural history of the mesozoic and cenozoic ...

levee, submarine fan and turbidite deposits (Dolph et. al., 2001). Explorationists have
looked to other Atlantic-facing passive margins to help model the frontier Scotian Slope
petroleum system (Figure 1-2). The three primary analogs, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM),
offshore Brazil and offshore West Central Africa, all share common geologic history to
the Scotian Basin; a pull-apart margin followed by thermal sag and a prograding shelf
with a carbonate bank, major river delta and mobile salt substrate. However, these
analogs often fail to consider the finer details such as the number of basin sediment input
points and resulting impact on the basin development.
Improving the understanding of the regional Petroleum System of the Scotian
Slope requires both the detailed analyses of the Late Mesozoic and Tertiary depositional
history and the interaction of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic salt and subsequent sediment
deposition. A key technical challenge with respect to the construction of new
hydrocarbon plays is therefore the construction of predictive models of slope
sedimentation and coeval salt tectonics.
Within the central region of the Scotian Basin, the Sable sub-basin and adjacent
slope provide an excellent opportunity for analysis of the petroleum system of the Scotian
Slope. This central area lies in the axis of the important Mesozoic sedimentary system,
but is not overly complicated by salt structures.
A discrete study area has been defined within the central slope region
approximately 125 kilometers southwest of Sable Island. The area is approximately 120
square kilometres and contains five of the ten Scotian Slope exploration wells, three shelf
wells and 4 500 kilometres of 2D seismic data.
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