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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
DOI: 10.1306/05051413193
Determination of the 
stable
isotope composition and total dissolved solids of Athabasca oil sands reservoir porewater: Part 2. Characterization of McMurray Formation waters in the Suncor–Firebag field
stable isotope composition and total dissolved solids of Athabasca oil sands reservoir porewater: Part 2. Characterization of McMurray Formation waters in the Suncor–Firebag field
Benjamin R. Cowie,1 Bruce James,2 Michael Nightingale,3 and Bernhard Mayer4
1University of Calgary, Department of Geoscience, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4; present address: Harvard University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138; [email protected]
2Suncor Energy Inc. 150 6 Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3Y7; [email protected]
3University of Calgary, Department of Geoscience, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4; [email protected]
4University of Calgary, Department of Geoscience, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4; [email protected]
ABSTRACT
A new stable isotope approach was used to determine the total dissolved solids concentration and stable isotope composition for oil sands drill core extracted porewater at the Suncor–Firebag oil sands field in northeastern Alberta, Canada. A stable isotope
mixing approach was used to correct for contamination by drilling fluids in the porewater samples. The mean isotopic compositions of oxygen (
) and hydrogen (
) in water for fluid samples from 12 wells at Firebag were −20.5 ± 1.4‰ and −157 ± 11‰, respectively. The mean total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration of the reservoir formation water in 12 sampled wells was 1100 ± 400 mg/L (1σ). These results suggest that the McMurray Formation water at Firebag is primarily derived from Holocene groundwater recharge, and that the water within the bitumen reservoir is similar to groundwater well samples obtained within the McMurray Formation at Firebag. The results obtained in this study are consistent with regional trends and previously proposed local hydrogeological flow conditions.
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