ABSTRACT

The East Georges Bank Basin covers one million hectares and is undrilled. The geological interpretation is almost entirely based on 16,000 km of seismic data over the basin. Pertinent well control is limited to en wells on the United States portion of Georges Bank (West Georges Bank Basin) and two wells on the Scotian shelf. Seismic-stratigraphic analysis of this data has led to a structural and stratigraphic model for the basin. The basin formed during the Triassic when the landmass of Pangea began separating along rift zones. A prominent Paleozoic basement high, the Yarmouth Arch, separated the East Georges Bank Basin from the West Georges Bank Basin and had a dominant influence on sedimentation until the Middle Jurassic. Early synrift sequences consist of lacustrine clastics and shales. Marine incursions began in the Late Triassic, resulting in massive salt deposits that reflect the restricted extent of the basin and the arid Triassic and Early Jurassic climate. Further continental separation during the Early Jurassic resulted in deposition of carbonates and evaporites followed by deposition of Middle Jurassic continental shelf carbonates and deltaic sands. During the Middle Jurassic, major growth faulting and halokinesis was initiated by progradation of the deltaic sands. Post Middle Jurassic continental spreading in combination with changing climatic conditions resulted in a steady decline of carbonate sedimentation and dominance of clastic deposition throughout the remaining history of the basin. The basin has been intensely structured by growth and block faults and by salt tectonics.

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