Applications of Ichnology to Petroleum Exploration: A Core Workshop

The field of ichnology (the study of animal-sediment relationships) is undergoing rapid expansion. Increased significance is being attached to trace fossils in environmental and diagenetic interpretations of rock units and in establishing basic stratigraphic frameworks. The subject, therefore, is of importance not only for ichnologists but also for invertebrate and vertebrate paleontologists, paleoecologists, sedimentologists, stratigraphers, and resource geologists. The main purpose of this workshop is: a) to introduce the basic concepts of ichnology; b) to learn how to recognize basic types of trace fossils in core; c) to place these structures in their appropriate paleontologic, sedimentologic, and stratigraphic content; and d) to integrate this data with other lines of evidence to aid in petroleum exploration.
The Sedimentology and Ichnology of the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Bluesky Formation in the Karr Area of West-Central Alberta Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 1992
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CitationW. H. Male, 1992. "The Sedimentology and Ichnology of the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Bluesky Formation in the Karr Area of West-Central Alberta", Applications of Ichnology to Petroleum Exploration: A Core Workshop, S. George Pemberton
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Abstract
Bluesky sandstones and shales occupy a transitional stratigraphic position between coastal plain sediments of the underlying Gething Formation and open marine shales of the Wilrich Member. The sedimentology and ichnology indicate that the Bluesky Formation in the Karr area consists of three subdivisions. The lower Bluesky preserves a disconformable ravinement surface formed by the initial transgression of the Moosebar sea over Gething coastal plain sediments. The middle Bluesky preserves shoreface to backshore facies within a high energy, northwest trending strand-plain that prograded into the Karr area from the west due to increased sediment supply. The upper Bluesky consists of a second disconformable ravinement surface, formed by renewed transgression as sediment supply diminished, overlain by shallow shelf sandstones and shales. A third transgressive ravinement surface occurs at the contact between upper Bluesky shallow shelf deposits and the Wilrich Member marine shale.