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2.2 A Billion Dollar Reef

2.2 A Billion Dollar Reef. Chapter 2: A Tropical Alberta. Objectives. Learn the geology of the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Periods Study Alberta when it was submerged under warm, tropical seas Use the locations of Alberta’s oil and gas to study the surrounding geology

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2.2 A Billion Dollar Reef

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  1. 2.2 A Billion Dollar Reef Chapter 2: A Tropical Alberta

  2. Objectives • Learn the geology of the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Periods • Study Alberta when it was submerged under warm, tropical seas • Use the locations of Alberta’s oil and gas to study the surrounding geology • Interpret drill-core data to create diagrams of subsurface rock formations • Learn how geologists use seismic waves to search for petroleum

  3. Wealth From Ancient Seas Cambrian Period - life on Earth was aquatic Ordovincian Period • life moved from water onto land • First fish with backbones • First terrestrial plants • Most of Alberta was under a tropical sea that supported LARGE reefs of coral and sponges • These reefs become the “containers” for the life that becomes our present day petroleum

  4. Making Petroleum Silurian Period • Sponges and reefs continued to spread on the sea floor • Primitive plants were colonized • First land-dwelling animals are become part of the fossil record Devonian Period • Reef building reached its max

  5. Making Petroleum • For 200 million years organic matter fell to the bottom of the sea • When the bacteria decomposed the organic material, all oxygen and nitrogen was removed and carbon and hydrogen was left behind • For another 380 million years, as the carbon and hydrogen was covered by sediment and exposed to heat and pressure the carbon and hydrogen matter turned into liquid hydrocarbons and was compressed into the holes of the reefs

  6. Making Petroleum • The rock layers above and below the hydrocarbon saturated reef were impermeable shale creating a • “Petroleum Trap”

  7. Finding Petroleum • In Alberta, the Devonian rock containing petroleum was found 1 km below the surface of Earth • Drill Core Samples • provided info on the type of rock below the surface • Age of rocks if fossils are present • Environmental conditions

  8. Seismic Waves • Waves that can travel through Earth and are reflected off each boundary between the rock layers • Geophones detect the seismic waves and converts them into signals • Seismographs process these signals and make a seismogram • Seismograms are used to identify possible traps that are then verified by drilling

  9. Summary of Geological Time Scale Microscopic marine organisms become the source of Alberta’s Petroleum 1st land dwelling animals 1st animals with backbones 1st land plants Burgess Shale Cambrian Explosion – aquatic life

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