ABSTRACT

Several parcels of land have recently been leased for petroleum development in the western Newfoundland offshore, where potential is recognized within the Carboniferous sediments of the Maritimes Basin and its associated subbasins. Recent research has involved the combined interpretation of geological mapping and onshore and offshore geophysical data in the Sydney Basin, the eastern Magdalen Basin, and the Bay St. George subbasin. We are interested in mapping sedimentary distribution and in studying the genesis of small, faultbounded subbasins within the overall Maritimes Basin area, especially those that appear to be related to fundamental transcurrent faults. This requires an understanding of the relations between such elements as the following: the deformation histories of slightly older Paleozoic rocks, fluid activity and associated diagenesis and mineralization during Carboniferous time, and the timing of movement on large-scale, lateral faults identified from various data.

We believe that such studies will lead to a better understanding of the distribution of reservoir and source rocks, and the prediction of traps that could contain significant petroleum accumulations.

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