Stratigraphy and Petroleum Prospects of the Labrador Shelf

Abstract

ABSTRACT A revised subdivision of the Labrador Shelf sequence is proposed. The succession, commencing with the pre-spreading Lower Cretaceous rift phase sediments and volcanic rocks, is as follows: Alexis Formation, Umpleby (1979), Neocomian, volcanic rocks Bjarni Formation, Umpleby (1979), Barremian to Albian, continental clastic rocks and thin coal seams Markland Formation, new name, Cenomanian to Lower Paleocene, neritic silty shale with nearshore tongues of sandstone (Freydis Member) Cartwright Formation, restricted from Umpleby (1979), mid-Paleocene to Lower Eocene, outer shelf and slope lutites (distal turbidites), with laterally equivalent sandstones (marine channels and turbiditic fans) known as the Gudrid Formation (revised from Umpleby, 1979) Kenamu Formation, new name, Middle to Upper Eocene(?), bathyal siltstone, shale and thin limestones shallowing upward to the arenaceous Leif Member Mokami Formation, new name, Lower Oligocene to mid-Miocene(?), neritic claystone and thinner shelly sandstone Saglek Formation, restricted from Umpleby (1979), Upper Miocene(?) to Pliocene, paralic unconsolidated sandstone, conglomerate and lutite Unnamed, Quaternary, bouldery glacial deposits Geochemical considerations suggest that the Bjarni coal-bearing molasse is likely to be gas-prone, but the Upper Cretaceous and especially the Paleogene marine shales may generate condensate and oil if covered by 3 to 4 km of strata.