Abstract

The geology of the Laurentian Fan and the Scotia Rise is analysed largely from geophysical surveys conducted in 1972 and 1973 for Imperial Oil Limited. The basinward portion of the rise is an area of mappable oceanic crust with little or no structure in the sedimentary cover. Shelfward from identifiable oceanic basement is a highly structured wedge of thick sediments that has been identified by previous investigators as the “ridge complex”. This zone is characterized by detached structures in the form of shallow, Early Tertiary slump features, deep Lower Cretaceous anticlines, and salt and shale diapirs that probably originate from Lower Jurassic evaporites. Cenozoic submarine canyons that carve channels in rocks as old as Eocene have been recognized. There is a Mesozoic depositional centre south of Sable Island, while the Cenozoic depositional centre is close to the modern Laurentian Fan.

Six seismic sections and five maps are the principle documentation of the geology of the area.

The best hydrocarbon prospects are in Lower Cretaceous anticlines, where the play is deeper than 20,000 ft and in water depths in excess of 10,000 ft.