Eagle Foreland Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element

Abstract Eagle Foreland Basin Tectono-Sedimentary Element (TSE) comprises two separate parts: a larger rectilinear sub-basin of Cretaceous age (Eagle Plain) and a smaller fault-bounded mid-Cretaceous to Paleogene sub-basin (Bonnet Plume) in the southeast, separated from Eagle Plain by an inlier of Ogilvie Platform TSE. Faulted remnants of NW Canada Riftogenic TSE are locally preserved beneath northern parts of Eagle Plain sub-basin. Eagle Foreland Basin initiated as a Cordilleran foredeep and was incorporated into the orogen during Late Cretaceous to Paleogene deformation. It preserves dominantly marine clastic strata >2500 m thick, with thickest preservation in the northwest. Thermal maturity data suggest that 2000 to 3000 m of deposits were removed by Paleogene erosion. Petroleum potential exists, with principal active sources lying within subjacent successions. Eagle Plain sub-basin is an early-mature to mature basin, oil and gas prone in the deeper basin and gas prone in younger units. Bonnet Plume sub-basin, known for its coal-bearing strata, is largely unexplored. It contains non-marine to marginal marine clastic strata and is considered to be a marginally mature to mature gas-prone basin. The total mean in-place potential is 19 million m3 of oil and 22.5 billion m3 of gas in Eagle Plain sub-basin and 2.3 billion m3 of gas is expected in conceptual plays in Bonnet Plume sub-basin.