The Cardium Formation is a

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostrati ...

unit of

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

in the

Western Canada Sedimentary Basin The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) underlies of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. This vast sedimentary ...

. It takes the name from the fossilized heart-shaped cockle shells in the family

Cardiidae A cockle is an edible marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Cardiidae Lamarck, 1809. Accessed through: W ...

(from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''kardiā'', "heart") present. It was first described along the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

banks by

James Hector Sir James Hector (16 March 1834 – 6 November 1907) was a Scottish-New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon who accompanied the Palliser Expedition as a surgeon and geologist. He went on to have a lengthy career as a government employe ...

in 1895.as reported in Whiteaves, J.F. 1895, Some of the Cretaceous fossils collected during Captain Palliser's explorations in British North America in 1857-60. Proc. and Trans.,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

, 2nd Ser., vol. 1, pp. 110. It is present throughout western

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and in northeastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and it is a major source of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

Lithology

The Cardium Formation is composed primarily of beds of massive, fine-grained to conglomeratic

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, which are separated by thick layers of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. The formation is subdivided into the following members from top to base: *Sturrock Member (sandstone) *Leyland Member (shale) *Cardinal Member (sandstone) *Kiska Member (shale) *Moosehound Member (shale) *Ram Member (sandstone) In central Alberta, the formation is divided into the Pembina River Member and Cardium Zone.

Distribution

The Cardium Formation was deposited during the

Turonian The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded by t ...

and

Coniacian The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by t ...

stages of the

along the western edge of the Alberta Foreland Basin. It extends northward from the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

border to northeastern British Columbia near

Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...

, and eastward from the foothills of the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

into the plains of

southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

. Beyond there, the sandstones grade into shale. Thickness of Cardium sand varies between 5 and 30 meters in Alberta, Canada.

Relationship to other units

Due to its large areal extent, the Cardium Formation falls within different stratigraphic groups in different regions ( Alberta Group,

Colorado Group Colorado is a geologic name applied to certain rocks of Cretaceous age in the North America, particularly in the western Great Plains. This name was originally applied to classify a group of specific marine formations of shale and chalk kn ...

, and

Smoky Group The Smoky Group is a Stratigraphy, stratigraphical unit of Late Cretaceous Geochronology, age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the Smoky River, and was first described in outcrops along the banks of the Smoky Rive ...

). It is conformably overlain by the

Wapiabi Formation The Alberta Group is a stratigraphical unit of Cenomanian to early Campanian age in the Lewis overthrust in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It takes the name from the province of Alberta, and was first described in outcrops along the High ...

and underlain by the Blackstone Formation. The formation is partly equivalent to the Kaskapau Formation.

Hydrocarbon production

Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

is produced from the Cardium Formation in the

Athabasca River The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') is a river in Alberta, Canada, which originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is pro ...

area and the foothills in western Alberta, and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

is produced in the

Pembina oil field The Pembina oil field is one of the largest and most prolific conventional oil fields in the province of Alberta, Canada. The mature field is centered on Drayton Valley and is named for the Pembina River, which crosses the region from southwest to ...

. The sandstones of the formation have good storage potential and stratigraphic traps are formed by the thick overlying

s of the

and Muskiki Formation, while the underlying black shale of the Blackstone Formation and Kaskapau Formation are good

source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been depos ...

s. The Cardium Formation had an initial established recoverable

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

of 305 million m³, with 220.9 million m³ already produced as of 2008.

Gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

reserves totaled 88.3 million e³m³, with 30.8 million e³m³ already produced. Drilling for oil in the Cardium Formation rebounded in 2009 when horizontal drilling and multi-stage

fracturing Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

technology increased the oil recovery factor. Driven by technology, drilling in the four decades old

increased, re-launching the field to the center of Alberta's oil economy.

Hydraulic fracturing in Canada

Massive hydraulic fracturing has been widely used in

since the late 1970s. The method is currently used in development of the Cardium, Duvernay,

Montney Montney is an unincorporated locality located in British Columbia about north of Fort St. John, near Beatton Provincial Park. It lies at an elevation of , along the BC Rail tracks. The settlement gives the name to the Montney Formation, a gas ...

and

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

formations in

, Bakken formation in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and

Horn River The Horn River is a river in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a major tributary of the Mackenzie River. The river gives the name to the Horn River Formation, a shale deposit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The Horn River ...

formations in

Public companies

The year 2009 saw consolidation, with land sales, corporate transactions, and public companies with Cardium assets acquired by those intending to apply newer recovery-techniques to improve field economics. Oil-and-gas companies participating in this activity include: * PetroBakken (, through its acquisitions of Berens Energy, Result Energy and Rondo Petroleum) * Daylight Resources Trust (, through its acquisition of Highpine Energy and merger with

West Energy West Energy Ltd. is a Canadian energy exploration company that operates mainly in Western Canada. West is notable for its focus on the Nisku Nisku is a hamlet and an industrial/business park in Alberta, Canada within Leduc County. It has an eleva ...

, ) * PennWest (, with a large land base) *

Paramount Resources Paramount Resources Ltd. is a Canadian petroleum company, founded in 1976. The company is involved in the exploration, development, production, processing, transportation and marketing of natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or sim ...

( through its acquisition of Profound Energy) * Bonterra Energy * Crescent Point Energy (, through its acquisition of TriAxon Resources) and the smaller Bellatrix (), Delphi Energy (), Peyto Energy Trust (). Dozens of other companies have land leases in the Cardium fairway, but have not employed horizontal drilling in the Cardium. Exxon Mobil recently started testing the Cardium Formation.

References

{{Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Northwest_Plains=yes, Central_Plains=yes, Canadian Rockies=yes Stratigraphy of Alberta Stratigraphy of British Columbia Upper Cretaceous Series of North America Coniacian Stage Santonian Stage Turonian Stage Sandstone formations of Canada Shale formations Reservoir rock formations