This paper was presented at the 1991 Annual AAPG Convention, Dallas Texas

Paleogeography of the Mesozoic Jeanne d'Arc Basin, Grand Banks, Newfoundland, Canada

MCCRACKEN, JOCK N., Mobil Oil Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The major stratigraphic sequences of the Jeanne d'Arc basin, Grand Banks, offshore Newfoundland,

Canada, and their relationship to the tectonic events involved in the opening of the North Atlantic are

summarized. This basin has been a major exploration area for Mobil and industry since 1971. This

activity has resulted in the shooting of over 300,000 km of reflection seismic lines and the drilling of 65

wells. Fifteen discoveries have been found in the basin to date by industry. The Hibernia project is

underway with production planned in 1996. Government basin analysis estimates for total ultimate

recoverable reserves in the Jeanne d'Arc basin range from 3.3 to 10 billion bbl of oil equivalent.

The major stratigraphic events from the Late Jurassic to the Early Eocene within the Jeanne d'Arc basin

are illustrated by six isometric paleogeographic reconstructions. These geological sequences are then

related on the stratigraphic column to the tectonics and coastal onlap curves. During the Late

Jurassic/Early Cretaceous syn-rift phase three regressive pulses of predominantly deltaic sediments

(Jeanne d'Arc, Hibernia, and Avalon formations) prograded into the Jeanne d'Arc basin from the

southwest with minor sediment contributions from the eastern and western perimeter highs. During

Aptian time the Grand Banks separated from the Galicia Bank of Iberia creating a major transgression

that flooded the basin and reworked the existing clastics (Ben Nevis Formation). At the end of Albian

during the breakup of the Flemish Cap and the Goban Spur, thermal subsidence initiated a prolonged

transgression that was only interrupted by local regressions. A relative drop in sea level in the lower

Eocene/Paleocene then triggered submarine fan deposition (Topsail and Mara Formations) sourced

from the west.

The major controls on Jeanne d'Arc basin deposition were the tectonics created as a result of the

northward propagation of the rifting of the Atlantic Ocean and its effect locally on the broad arch to the

south called the Avalon Uplift. This provided the major clastic source throughout the Mesozoic. Changes

in relative sea level then overprinted these tectonic events.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10,

1991 (2009)