Petroleum Plays in the Intracratonic Hudson Bay Basin, Northern Canada: Insights From Seismic Reflection Data

The Paleozoic Hudson Bay Basin in northern Canada is one of the largest, yet least explored intracratonic basins in North America. Petroleum exploration in the basin, undertaken more than 25 years ago, included the acquisition of marine seismic reflection data. Although this older vintage seismic data is of limited quality compared to modern data, select parts of the dataset provide important insights into the geology and petroleum potential of the Hudson Bay Basin. Seismically imaged petroleum play types include basement fault blocks, fault-bounded sags, reefs, and salt-dissolution features. Hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs associated with fault sags represent a highly prospective, untested play type in the basin.