SASKATCHEWAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY’S 3D MODELLING PROGRAM: UNLOCKING SECRETS IN THE SUBSURFACE

The Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) collects geoscience information in order to facilitate a science-based approach to decision making related to the safe and responsible development of petroleum and mineral resources.

As technology has improved, through computing and software advancements, so have the products that can be delivered to clients. 2D maps are evolving into 3D models and this progression provides a clearer, tangible visualization and deeper understanding of the subsurface to a wider audience. These interactions with the geology in 3D lead to more informed decisions and enhanced education related to the resource distribution.

Over the past 18 years, the SGS has developed a number of 3D geological models, at local and regional scales. The common thread that unifies them is the ability to solve geoscience questions at both local and regional levels. Several projects currently being worked on include: the Athabasca Basin region model, improving on the previous model developed in 2010, to showcase our increased understanding of basin development through time and the mineral systems that are hosted therein; the Phanerozoic model, creating 85 structural surfaces from the Precambrian to surface, to provide a regional framework for hydrocarbon, pool-scale models; and project SPHALERITE, an investigation of the gold and base metal resources below Phanerozoic cover in the Fin Flon region.

These and other previous models help delineate and explain a variety of Saskatchewan’s buried resources, such as the high-grade, low tonnage uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin region; the laterally extensive, high grade potash deposits of the Prairie Evaporite; and impressive number of kimberlite pipes in the Fort à la Corne area. In the future, modelling could be expanded to help develop 3D mineral resource assessments in order to better inform aspects such as land-use planning and cumulative effects modelling. Visualization in 3D helps to determine or identify the relationships between subsurface resources and specific primary or secondary geological structures and to clarify the complex facets of geoscience that have permitted resources to exist and to be extracted in this province.