Sedimentologic and diagenetic evolution of Upper Ordovician reefs (Red Head Rapids
Formation) on Southampton Island
Project Responsible:
Denis Lavoie (Geological Survey of Canada)
Project Participants:
Ariane Castagner (M.Sc. candidate, Ottawa University)
André Desrochers (Professor, Ottawa University)
Location: Southampton Island, locality at 40 km to the west of Coral Harbour (see map)
Time frame: Field survey, August 3 – 9, 2015. M.Sc. thesis expected to be completed by
September 2017.
The proposed Hudson Bay - Ungava Phase 2 - Geoscience Programme for Energy and Minerals
(GEM-2) includes a research component aimed at understanding the geological evolution of the
Hudson Bay basin and its potential for oil and gas. Understanding potential hydrocarbon
reservoirs is essential in order to achieve the knowledge of its economic potential.
The objectives of this project are, through field work and laboratory research to understand the
sedimentologic and diagenetic evolutions of Upper Ordovician reefs and to understand the
evolution over time, of their primary and secondary porosity. The final summary will evaluate
the potential of these reefs to have form porous structures to accumulate hydrocarbons.
To achieve these objectives, various successive activities are required including field survey (one
week; August 2015; helicopter-based in and out of Coral Harbour on a daily basis) on one or
more of these reefs on the island of Southampton. The field survey aims to describe
sedimentary facies, characterize the geometry and the stratigraphic architecture, and evaluate
the visible porosity of these reef structures. A suite of samples of sedimentary facies and
diagenetic phenomena will be collected for laboratory research. In the laboratory petrographic
analysis of sedimentary facies in order to specify the style of reef growth and its temporal
evolution, and the petrographic analysis (in polarized light and cathodoluminescence) and
geochemical signature (stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen) of various cement phases.
The project forms the main part of a master's thesis conducted at the Earth Science Department
at the University of Ottawa. Interim reports after field work and first year of research are
expected to be delivered to the GSC research responsible for public release as GSC open File
reports