After the Second World War, hydrocarbon exploration discovered petroleum occurrences in some of Canada’s offshore frontier basins along its coasts, resulting in several producing oilfields in the Atlantic offshore.
The need to understand the geology of offshore basins potentially containing petroleum became pressing, and in the 1960s, the Geological Survey of Canada began basin research in cooperation with industry. This included stratigraphic frameworks determined by drilling and seismic studies, local environment assessments on sea-ice hazards, potential blowouts, protection of wildlife, and more.
Beginning in 1974, Survey scientists led the Beaufort Sea Project, which laid the groundwork for how to investigate offshore basins anywhere. The project included more than 60 research topics, many with industry partners. As the project developed, the decision was taken to make the findings available in atlases, with pictorial presentation of vast amounts of data.
The project produced two volumes titled Atlas of marine science: one on Sediments (1984) and the other on Geology and Geophysics (1987), and the Geological Atlas of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Area (1996). Of lasting value, these atlases are acclaimed for the discovery of widely applicable research methods, their environmental and hazards insights, and for providing a foundation for further thematic studies.
Category: Publications
Decade: 1980s
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