Geoscience Publications

We want to share our knowledge.

Our geoscience and reservoir engineering experts are actively developing an understanding of the geology and oil and gas resource potential of our offshore. This includes:

  • understanding the tectonic forces that shaped our offshore area
     
  • understanding shelf and deepwater sediment delivery systems
     
  • improving the understanding of the key geological and reservoir risks associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production
     
  • optimizing the management and conservation of offshore oil and gas resources

While much of the above research is conducted internally, our team also actively work with fellow geoscientists from federal and provincial departments, agencies and universities. Our geoscience team also publish in peer-reviewed technical journals and publications, participate as editors in journals, share knowledge with students as adjunct professors at Dalhousie University, and often present at conferences. They are active members of the geoscience community and contribute to a number of national and international scientific programs and initiatives.

Each year, we update our Geoscience and Resource Management Studies Map to provide a forecast of the geoscience, resource assessment and resource management studies we plan to complete. These studies are designed to improve the understanding of the geology and oil and gas resources in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area.

To view the Geoscience and Resource Management Studies Map, click here.

Geoscience ReportsThese reports are authored by our geoscience and reservoir engineering staff describing the geology and hydrocarbon resource potential of the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area.

Year Title Author
2024 Quantitative petroleum resource assessment in the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Area (Scotian Shelf, Scotian Slope, and Sydney Basin)

Mark E. Deptuck, Kristopher L. Kendell, Carl Makrides, and Brian Altheim
2023 Sable Offshore Energy Project Resource Management Study. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 46p. Belghiszadeh, E., Kendell, K., Makrides, C. and Rhyno, S.
2022 Geology of the central Scotian Shelf and Slope – Call for Bids NS22-1. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Geoscience Open File Report 2022-001MF, 24p Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.
2020

Atlas of 3D seismic surfaces and thickness maps – central and southwestern Scotian Slope. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Geoscience Open File Report 2020-002MF – 2020-006MF, 51p. 

 Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.
2020 Deep Panuke Resource Management Study. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 122p. Belghiszadeh, E., Makrides, C. and Smith, B.
2020 Nova Scotia’s volcanic passive margin - exploration history, geology, and play concepts off southwestern Nova Scotia. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Geoscience Open File Report 2020-001MF, 32p. Deptuck, M.
2018 Exploration and Production History of the Nova Scotia Offshore Area. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 5p. Brown, D.
2018 Rift basins of the central LaHave Platform, offshore Nova Scotia. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Geoscience Open File Report 2018-001MF, 54p. Deptuck, M. and Altheim, B.
2017 Call for Bids NS17-1 - Regional exploration history, geological setting, source rocks and exploration potential of Sydney Basin, offshore Nova Scotia. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Geoscience Open File Report, 2017-001MF, 50p. Kendell, K., Brown, D. and Rhyno, S.
2016 Call for Bids NS16-1 - Exploration history, geologic setting, and exploration potential: Sable Subbasin Region.  Geoscience Open File Report, 2016-001MF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board,19p. Smith, B., Kendell K., Makrides, C. and Brown, D.
2016 Call for Bids NS16-1 - Exploration history, geological setting and exploration potential of the central Scotian Slope. Geoscience Open File Report 2016-002MF, Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 42p. Kendell, K., Deptuck, M., Smith, B. and Brown, D.
2015 Call for Bids NS15-1 - Exploration history, geologic setting, and exploration potential: Western and Central regions Geoscience Open File Report  2015-001MF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 49p. Deptuck, M., Brown, D. and Altheim, B.
2015 Call for Bids NS15-1 - Exploration history, geologic setting, and exploration potential: Eastern Region Geoscience Open File Report  2015-002MF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 32p. Smith, B., Makrides, C. and Kendell, K.
2014 Resource Assessment of Undeveloped Significant Discoveries on the Scotian Shelf. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board,182p. Smith, B., Makrides, C., Altheim B. and Kendell K.
2014 Seismic stratigraphic framework and structural evolution of the eastern Scotian Slope: geological context for the NS14-1 Call for Bids area, offshore Nova Scotia. Geoscience Open File Report  2014-001MF, Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 58p. Deptuck, M., Kendell, K., Brown, D. and Smith, B.
2013 Geological context and parcel prospectivity for Call for Bids NS13-1: Seismic interpretation, source rocks and maturation, exploration history and potential play types of the central and eastern Scotian Shelf. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 64p. Kendell, K., Smith, B and Brown, D.
2012 Contrasting salt tectonic styles on the western versus central parts of the Scotian Margin, offshore Nova Scotia, Geoscience Open File Poster 2012-001PF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.  Panel 1 and Panel 2. Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.
2012 Lower Cretaceous shelf-edge trajectories, shelf-indenting canyons and the potential transfer of coarser clastics into deeper water, Sable Subbasin, offshore Nova Scotia. Geoscience Open File Poster 2012-002PF, Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. Panel 1 and Panel 2. Kendell, K. and Deptuck, M.
2012 Potential for lacustrine source rocks in Triassic synrift basins offshore Eastern North America. Third Central & North Atlantic Conjugate Margins Conference, Dublin. Geoscience Open File 2012-002 PF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Panel 1, Panel 2 and Panel 3. Brown, D.
2011 Proximal to distal postrift structural provinces on the western Scotian Margin, offshore Eastern Canada: Geological context and parcel prospectivity for Call-for-Bids NS11-1.Geoscience Open File Report  2011-001MF. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 42p. Deptuck, M.
2008 Regional Geology of the Scotian Basin. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 13p. Brown, D.
2008 NS08-2 Call for Bids - Sub-regional geology and exploration potential for Parcels 1 and 2, Central Scotian Slope. Deptuck, M.
2008 Nova Scotia Conventional Offshore Resource Estimates. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, 2p. Smith, B.
2007 Nova Scotia Deep Water Offshore Post-Drill Analysis-1982-2004. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 181p. Kidston, A.G., Smith, B., Brown, D., Makrides, C. and Altheim, B.
2005 The Upper Jurassic Abenaki Formation Offshore Nova Scotia: A Seismic and Geologic Perspective. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Halifax, 165p. Kidston, A.G., Brown, D., Smith, B.and Altheim, B.
2002 Hydrocarbon Potential of the Deep-Water Scotian Slope. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Halifax, 111p. Kidston, A.G., Brown, D., Smith, B. and Altheim, B.
2000 Technical Summaries of Scotian Shelf Significant and Commercial Discoveries. Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, Halifax, 257p. CNSOPB

 

Other PublicationsThese publications are authored by our geoscience staff on the geology of the onshore and offshore basins of eastern Canada. This section also includes a number of extended conference abstracts and presentations by geoscience staff.

Year Title Author
2014 Lacustrine source rock potential in the Middle Triassic – Early Jurassic Chignecto Subbasin, offshore Eastern Canada. Geological Association of Canada / Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick. TEXT. Brown, D.
2014 Lacustrine source rock potential in the Middle Triassic – Early Jurassic Chignecto Subbasin, offshore Eastern Canada. Geological Association of Canada / Mineralogical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick.FIGURES. Brown, D.
2011 Potential shelf sources for deepwater reservoirs along the southwestern Scotian Margin, and the impact of a hybrid ‘bypass-ponded’ slope on reservoir distribution, Seminar delivered at the AAPG International in Milan, Italy. Deptuck, M.
2010 The ‘slope detachment zone’ on the western Scotian Slope, offshore Nova Scotia: structural style, timing, and implications for margin evolution. North American Conjugate Margins, Lisbon, Portugal. Deptuck, M. 
2010 Salt evacuation history and depositional corridors in the Annapolis and Crimson region - Do these wells really provide an accurate test of sand presence in Nova Scotia’s deepwater. American Association of Petroleum Geologists- Annual Conference and Exhibition, April 11-14, 2010. New Orleans, Louisiana. Kendell, K. and Deptuck, M.
2010 Volcanic and non-volcanic margins segments along the South Atlantic and North Atlantic margins: the continent-ocean boundary structures. The Meeting of the Americas – American Geophysical Union Meeting, Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, Abstracts and Programme, Abstract #T24A-06. Mohriak, W.U., Brown, D. and Tari, G.C.
2009 Complex deepwater fold-belts in the SW Sable Subbasin, offshore Nova Scotia. CSPG CSEG SWLS Convention, Calgary, Alberta.  Deptuck, M., Kendell, K. and Smith, B.M.
2008 Central and South Atlantic conjugate margin pre- and post-salt successions – Implications to rift models and petroleum systems. American Association of Petroleum Geologists International Conference & Exhibition, Cape Town, Program & Abstracts, Abstract #30081. Brown, D., Mohriak, W.U., Jabour, H. and Tari, G.C.
2008 Syn-rift evolution, salt tectonics and crustal structure offshore Morocco and Nova Scotia. American Association of Petroleum Geologists International Conference & Exhibition, Cape Town, Program & Abstracts. Tari, G.C., Jabour, H., Einarsson, D., Louden, K., Yue, W., and Brown, D.
2007 The Early Jurassic Heracles Sequence, Scotian Basin, Canada:  Recognition of latest stage synrift tectonism and correspondence to structures offshore Morocco. First Moroccan Association of Petroleum Geologists International Convention, Conference & Exhibition, Marrakech, Abstract Book, p.17. Brown, D., Dehler, S.A., Louden, K. and Wu, Y.
2005 Facies Heterogeneity in Lacustrine Basins: The Transtensional Moncton Basin (Mississippian) and Extensional Fundy Basin (Triassic - Jurassic), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Field Trip Guidebook FT-A5, Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada, Joint Annual Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 100p. Keighley, D., and Brown, D.
2004 Integrated Hydrocarbon Risk Assessment of Deepwater Scotian Slope, Eastern Canada: A Petroleum Systems Approach. AAPG International Conference & Exhibition Technical Program, Cancun, Mexico, Abstract #A91170. Mukhopadhyay, P., Bowman, T., Faber, J. and Brown, D.
2004 Lithostratigraphy I, Jeanne d’Arc Basin Cross Sections A-A’ and B-B’, In Moir, P. N., McAlpine, K.D., Edwards, A., Deptuck, M., Bell, J. S., Wielens, J. B. W., Wade, J. A., and Jauer, C. D. East Coast Basin Atlas Series: Grand Banks of Newfoundland - Lithostratigraphy. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 4640; 4 sheets. McAlpine, K.D., Deptuck, M., Wielens, J.B. W., Jauer, C.D., and Moir, P.N.
2004 Lithostratigraphy II, Jeanne d’Arc/Flemish Pass Basins Cross Section C-C’, In Moir, P. N., McAlpine, K.D., Edwards, A., Deptuck, M. Bell, J. S., Wielens, J. B. W., Wade, J. A., and Jauer, C. D. East Coast Basin Atlas Series: Grand Banks of Newfoundland - Lithostratigraphy. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 4640; 4 sheets. McAlpine, K. D., Deptuck, M., Wielens, J.B. W., Jauer, C. D., and Moir, P. N.
2003  Petroleum Systems of Deepwater Scotian Basin, Eastern Canada: Challenges for Finding Oil versus Gas Provinces.  Offshore Technology Conference Houston 2003, OTC Paper No.15304, 10p. Mukhopadhyay (Muki), P.K., Brown, D., Kidston, A.C., Bowman, T.D., Faber, J., and Harvey, P.J., 
2003 Post-rift geology of the Jeanne d’Arc basin, with a focus on the early Paleogene submarine fans and insights from modern deep-water systems. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 369p. Deptuck, M. 
2000 The Mara turbidite system in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin:  Architecture, evolution, and modern analogues.  Abstract #679, GeoCanada 2000 Convention: Program with Extended Abstracts (CD-ROM), 4 p. Deptuck, M. 
1998 Classic Carboniferous Sections of Minas and Cumberland Basins in Nova Scotia – With Special Reference to Organic Deposits. Field Trip Guidebook, The Society for Organic Petrology, Annual Meeting, Halifax, NS, 29-30 July 1998, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Open File Report ME1998-5, 86p. Calder, J.H., Boehner, R.C., Brown, D., Gibling, M.R., Mukhopadhyay, P.K., Ryan, R. J., and Skilliter, D.M.
1998 Lithostratigraphic correlation of the Upper Sydney Mines Formation in Sydney Basin (Donkin to Point Aconi), Northeastern Nova Scotia. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3673. Shimeld, J. and Deptuck, M.
1992 Fundy Basin rift tectonics and sedimentation. Field Excursion A-3 Guidebook, Geological Association of Canada/Mineralogical Association of Canada, Joint Annual Meeting, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, 57p. Brown, D. and Grantham, R. G.

 

Peer-Reviewed PublicationsThese are externally-reviewed geoscience publications authored by the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board geoscience staff. These publications cover a broad range of geoscience subjects and reflect the breadth of expertise of our geoscience staff.

BROWN, David E.

Year Title Author
2013 Conjugate Divergent Margins.  Geological Society of London Special Publication 369, London. ISBN: 978-1-86239-349-3. Mohriak, W.U., Danforth, A., Post, P.J., Brown, D.E., Tari, G.C., Nemčok M. and Sinha, S.T.
2012 The conjugate margins of Morocco and Nova Scotia. In: D.G. Roberts & A.W. Bally (eds), Regional Geology and Tectonics: Phanerozoic Rift Systems and Sedimentary Basins – Volume 1C – Passive Margins. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p.265-300. Tari, G.C., Brown, D., Jabour, H., Hafid, M., Louden, K.and Zizi, M.
2008 Program & Extended Abstracts. Central Atlantic Conjugate Margins Conference – Halifax 2008, CD-ROM and website, ISBN: 0-9810595-2, 494p. Brown, D.
2008 Sedimentary Basins in the Central and South Atlantic Conjugate Margins: Deep Structures and Salt Tectonics. Central Atlantic Conjugate Margins Conference – Halifax 2008, Program & Extended Abstracts, p.89-102 (Conference CD, ISBN: 0-9810595-1). Mohriak, W.U., Brown, D. and Tari, G.C.
2003 Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Orpheus Graben, Scotian Basin, offshore Eastern Canada: Analogies to the Fundy Rift Basin.  In:  LeTourneau, P.M., and Olsen, P.E. (eds.) The Great Rift Valleys of Pangea in Eastern North America – Volume 2 – Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Paleontology.  Columbia University Press, New York, 59-68. Tanner, L.H. and Brown, D.
1999 The Upper Triassic Chedabucto Formation, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia: depositional and tectonic context.  Atlantic Geology, vol.35, p.129-138. Tanner, L.H. and Brown, D.
1997 The Geology and Hydrocarbon Possibilities of the Triassic-Jurassic Fundy Basin, Eastern Canada. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geology, CSPG-SEPM Joint Convention 1997, Program and Abstracts. Wade, J.A., Brown, D. and Fensome, R.A.
1996 The Triassic-Jurassic Fundy Basin, Eastern Canada: regional setting, stratigraphy and hydrocarbon potential.  Atlantic Geology, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 189-231. Wade, J.A., Brown, D., Fensome, R.A. and Traverse, A.

 

DEPTUCK, Mark E.

Year Title Author
2017 Submarine fans and their channels, levees, and lobes, In: A. Micallef, S. Krastel, A. Savini (Eds) Submarine Geomorphology. Springer Geology, p. 273-299. Deptuck, M. and Sylvester, Z.
2017 Chapter 13: A review of Mesozoic salt tectonics along the Scotian margin, eastern Canada, In: J. Soto, J. Flinch, and G. Tari, (Eds), Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and Central Atlantic: Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Potential, Elsevier, p. 287-312. Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.
2015 Seismic stratigraphic framework and depositional history of a large Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic depocenter off southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 65, p 22-42. Campbell, D.C., Shimeld, J., Deptuck, M. and Mosher, D.C.
2012 Alternating bottom current dominated and gravity flow dominated deposition in a lower slope and rise setting – insights from the seismic geomorphology of the western Scotian margin, Eastern Canada, In: Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, Edited by: B. Prather, M. Deptuck, D. Mohrig, B. van Hoorn, and R. Wynn, SEPM Special Publication 99, p. 329-346. Campbell, D.C. and Deptuck, M. 
2012 Widespread erosion and mass failure from the ~51 Ma Montagnais bolide impact off southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 49, p. 1567-1594.  http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/toc/cjes/49/12. Deptuck, M. and Campbell, D.C.
2012 Pleistocene seascape evolution above a ‘simple’ stepped slope, western Niger Delta, In: Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, Edited by: B. Prather, M. Deptuck, D. Mohrig, B. van Hoorn, and R. Wynn, SEPM Special Publication 99, p. 199-222. Deptuck, M., Sylvester, Z. and O’Byrne, C.
2012 Erosional and depositional features of glacial meltwater discharges on the eastern Canadian continental margin, In: Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, Edited by: B. Prather, M. Deptuck, D. Mohrig, B. van Hoorn, and R. Wynn, SEPM Special Publication 99, p. 61-80. Piper, D.J.W., Deptuck, M., Mosher, D.C., Hughes-Clarke, J.E. and Migeon, S.
2012 Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, In: Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, Edited by: B. Prather, M. Deptuck, D. Mohrig, B. van Hoorn, and R. Wynn, SEPM Special Publication 99, p. 5-9. Prather, B.E., Deptuck, M, Mohrig, D., van Hoorn, B. and Wynn, R B.
2012 Seismic stratigraphy of a shelf-edge delta and linked submarine channels in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, In: Application of the Principles of Seismic Geomorphology to Continental Slope and Base-of-slope Systems: Case Studies from Seafloor and Near-Seafloor Analogues, Edited by: B. Prather, M. Deptuck, D. Mohrig, B. van Hoorn, and R. Wynn, SEPM Special Publication 99, p. 31-59. Sylvester, Z., Deptuck, M., Prather, B., Pirmez, C. and O’Byrne, C.
2011 Linking onshore-offshore sediment dispersal in the Golo source-to-sink system (Corsica, France) during the Late Quaternary, Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 81, p. 118-137. Somme, T.O., Piper, D.J.W., Deptuck, M. and Helland-Hansen, W.
2010 Upper Cretaceous mass transport systems above the Wyandot Formation chalk, offshore Nova Scotia, In: Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences, Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, Edited by: D. Mosher et al., Kluger-Springer Bookseries, v. 28, p. 605-616. Smith, B.M., Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K. 
2008 Dimensions and architecture of late Pleistocene submarine fan lobes off the northern margin of east Corsica, Sedimentology, v. 55, p. 869-898. Deptuck, M., Piper, D.J.W., Savoye, B. and Gervais, A.
2007 Along slope variations in mass failures and relationships to major Plio-Pleistocene morphological elements, SW Labrador Sea, In: Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research: Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences, Edited by: V. Lykousis, D. Sakellariou, J. Locat, Kluger-Springer Book Series, v. 27, p. 37-45. Deptuck, M., Mosher, D. C., Campbell, D C., Hughes-Clarke, J.E. and Noseworthy, D.
2007 Migration-aggradation history and 3-D seismic geomorphology of submarine channels in the Benin-major Canyon, western Niger Delta slope, Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 24, p. 406-433. Deptuck, M., Sylvester, Z., Pirmez, C. and O’Byrne, C.
2003 Revised Upper Cretaceous and lower Paleogene lithostratigraphy and depositional history of the Jeanne d’Arc Basin, offshore Newfoundland, Canada. AAPG Bulletin, v. 87, p. 1459-1483. Deptuck, M., MacRae, R.A., Shimeld, J.W., Williams, G. and Fensome, R. 
2003 Architecture and evolution of upper fan channel-belts on the Niger Delta slope and in the Arabian Sea, Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 20, p. 649-676. Deptuck, M., Steffens, G.S., Barton, M. and Pirmez, C.
1997 Fine-grained turbidites of the Amazon Fan:  facies characterization and interpretation. In: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results Leg 155, Edited by: R.D. Flood, D.J.W. Piper, A. Klaus, and L.C. Peterson, p. 79-108. Piper, D.J.W. and Deptuck, M.

 

KENDELL, Kristopher L.

Year Title Author
2017 Chapter 13: A review of Mesozoic salt tectonics along the Scotian margin, eastern Canada, In: J. Soto, J. Flinch, and G. Tari, (Eds), Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and Central Atlantic: Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Potential, Elsevier, p. 287-312. Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.
2012 Variations in salt expulsion style within the Sable Canopy Complex, central Scotian Margin. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 49, p. 1504-1522. Kendell, K. 

 

SMITH, Brenton M.

Year Title Author
2010 Upper Cretaceous mass transport systems above the Wyandot Formation chalk, offshore Nova Scotia, In: Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences, Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, Edited by: D. Mosher et al., Kluger-Springer Book Series, v. 28, p. 605-616. Smith, B.M., Deptuck, M. and Kendell, K.