Frances Hein - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Frances Hein

The Cap Enragé Formation, Cambro-Ordovician in age, is approximately 250 m thick and consists of ... more The Cap Enragé Formation, Cambro-Ordovician in age, is approximately 250 m thick and consists of coarse clastic sediments in association with classical turbidites. Sediments are divided into seven major facies: (1) coarse-grained conglomerate; (2) graded-stratified/cross-stratified fine conglomerate and pebbly sandstone; (3) graded-dispersed fine conglomerate and pebbly sandstone; (4) graded-liquefied fine conglomerate, pebbly sandstone and sandstone; (5) ungraded-cross-stratified fine conglomerate, pebbly sandstone and sandstone; (6) structureless sandstone; and, (7) classical turbidites, mainly sandstone. Rare shale beds also occur. Facies (7) beds follow the Bouma model and are interpreted as deposits from turbidity currents. Facies (5) beds are due to reworking of previous deposits by dilute flows associated with turbidity currents. Facies (1) to (4) and (6) record a two-stage process: i) grading patterns reflect segregation of clast sizes during main transport phases by turbity currents; and, ii) sedimentary structures and fabrics record transport and deposition from basal dispersions, which developed at the base of turbidity currents. Facies (1) beds have an a-axis flow-parallel bedding fabric, with a-axis upstream imbrication. Beds were deposited en masse from dispersions, in which there was strong grain interaction and high dispersive pressures. Grading patterns are interpreted in terms of decreasing applied shear stress and concentrations of sediment, as follows: upgraded → inverse → inverse-to-normal → normal grading. Coarse-grained Facies (2) beds have the same fabric as the Facies (1) beds and are interpreted as en masse deposits from dispersions, with dominant inertial effects. Stratification in both the coarse-grained Facies (2) and Facies (1) beds reflects pulsating depostition from the basal dispersions. Finer-grained Facies (2) beds have flow-parallel or bimodal a-axis bedding fabrics, with a-axis upstream or bimodal imbrications. Beds were deposited from waning turbidity currents under high velocity tractional flow conditions. Bimodal bedding fabrics reflect clast reorientation after initial deposition on the bed. Bimodal imbrications record deposition of clasts onto low-relief wave bedforms. Facies (3), (4) and (6) beds all have a-axis flow-parallel, bimodal or random bedding fabrics. Differences arise in imbrication patterns: Facies (3) have bimodal imbrications; Facies (4) have bimodal or unimodal imbrications; and, Facies (6) have unimodal imbrications. All beds are interpreted as being deposited from basal dispersion, in which viscous effects dominated. Apparent viscous effects were due to high concentrations of sand, such that the coarser clasts responded to the flow as if it were very viscous. Facies (3) and (6) beds may have experienced some syn- or post-depositional deformation into low-relief wave-forms, yielding bimodal imbrications. Facies (4) beds experienced some syn- or early post-depositional liquefaction, producing fluid escape features. Some Facies (4) beds also underwent syn-depositional or early post-depositional deformation similar to Facies (3) and (6) beds. The overall facies model suggests deposition within three main topographic levels: (i) main channels; (ii) bars within main channel networks; and, (iii) terraces above the main channel networks. Facies (1) beds are main channel deposits. Facies (2),(3) and (4) beds are bar-top deposits or marginal terrace deposits. Facies (6) are high terrace sediments. Facies (7) and shale were deposited on high 'distal' terraces, farthest removed from the main channel networks. Small scale ( < 1 m - 5 m ) fining/thinning-up sequences record the abandonment of channels; coarsening/thickening-up sequences represent the occupation of channel sites. Large scale (10's - 100 m) sequences reflect interactions between main channel networks and high terrace sites. Transitions from channels to marginal terraces are fining/thinning sequences; sequences from marginal terrace to high terrace are fining/thickening; and, transitions from high terrace to 'distal' high terrace are fining/thinning. Regional paleocurrent and facies trends within main channel networks suggest that sediments accumulated in a submarine braided valley system. Main channel networks were forced to swing parallel to the continental base-of-slope, perhaps by a small scale, uplifted continental block.

California has one of the largest reserves for heavy oil in the world, second only to Venezuela. ... more California has one of the largest reserves for heavy oil in the world, second only to Venezuela. Recent declines in conventional resources and reserves during the last decade have prompted other jurisdictions to examine their prospective unconventional resources, such as heavy oil and oil sands, in a more favorable technological and economic setting. However, this has not been done universally in the United States, where thermal enhanced oil-recovery technologies (mostly used to produce heavy oil) have experienced a decline in production, concomitant with the downturn in conventional production. In California, the seep and oil-sand deposits are mostly unconsolidated sands bound together by biodegraded bitumen. Source rocks for both modern seeps and oil sands and ancient heavy-oil deposits are mainly the Miocene Monterey diatomites and equivalent diatomaceous mudstones and organic shales. In California, most of the seeps and oil sands overlie or are updip from underlying heavy-oil re...

Global bitumen and heavy-oil resources are estimated to be 5.6 trillion bbl, with most of that oc... more Global bitumen and heavy-oil resources are estimated to be 5.6 trillion bbl, with most of that occurring in the western hemisphere. In the past decade, significant advances in the development and production of these resources have occurred by way of the critical integration of geology, geophysics, engineering, modeling economics, and transportation. Bitumen and heavy-oil deposits are mainly unconsolidated sands bound together by bio-degraded bitumen. In the case of the world's largest oil-sand and heavy-oil deposit, located in western Canada, the oil sands occur in deposits of low sedimentary accommodation on the distal side of a foreland basin. Hydrocarbons were derived from Mississippian Exshaw and/or Mesozoic source rocks. The hydrocarbons migrated eastward several hundred kilometers to accumulate and become biodegraded on the shallowly buried, low-temperature, northeastern margins of the basin. The hydrocarbons accumulated in tidally influenced fluvioestuarine sediments, mid...

Principles, Methods and Application of Particle Size Analysis, 1991

Sedimentary Geology, 1987

... Earth-Sci. Rev., 13: 1-34. Duke, WL, 1985. Hummocky cross-stratification, tropical hurricanes... more ... Earth-Sci. Rev., 13: 1-34. Duke, WL, 1985. Hummocky cross-stratification, tropical hurricanes, and intense winter storms. ... Hamblin, AP and Walker, RG, 1979. Storm dominated shallow marine deposits: the Fernie-Kootenay (Jurassic) transition, southern Rocky Mountains. Can. ...

Natural Resources Research, 2006

$Research paper thumbnail of Mixed ("Multi") fractal analysis of Granite Wash fields/pools and structural lineaments, Peace River Arch area, northwestern Alberta, Canada: A potential approach for use in hydrocarbon exploration$

This paper presents a synthesis and statistical analysis of published hydrocarbon-field and pool ... more This paper presents a synthesis and statistical analysis of published hydrocarbon-field and pool data on the Granite Wash as well as data on lineaments, both within the Peace River area and, more regionally, in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). Numerical correlation within each data set suggest compellingly that for both types of data there is a fractal/mixed ("multi") fractal property. Hydrocarbon pools and fields in the Granite Wash play appear to be somewhat fractally distributed, but not in a totally scale-invariant manner, indicative of a "multifractal" property to the distribution of pools and fields within the Granite Wash. Faults in the area of the Peace River Arch appear to show a fractal influence at all scales, and for different ages of faulting, including Devonian or older and Carboniferous. Fractal analysis allows one to combine data from fault-networks of different ages to assess the cumulative spatial and size distributions of faults wit...

Marine Geology, 1985

Hein, F .J., 1985. Fine-grained slope and basin deposits, California continental borderland : Fac... more Hein, F .J., 1985. Fine-grained slope and basin deposits, California continental borderland : Facies, depositional mechanisms and geotechnical properties. Mar. Geo!., 67 : 237-262.

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 1982

Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 1996

Geoscience Canada, Jun 6, 1991

Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, Sep 1, 1996

Can J Earth Sci, 1977

The Kicking Horse River is a gravelly, braided stream characterized by very low winter discharge,... more The Kicking Horse River is a gravelly, braided stream characterized by very low winter discharge, a peak spring flood (70 m 3 s-1 in 1973), and summer diurnal discharge fluctuations (from 18 to 44 m 3 /s-1 in 1973) related to daily melting on the glaciers that supply the river. The reach studied , near Field, B.C. , is characterized by abundant braid bars, and was subdivided into three parts . · The upstream reach is characterized by only one major channel, with few unit bars within it. Clas! movement takes place at peak flood stages, and the clasts move in 'diffuse gravel sheets' on the channel floor. These sheets are only one to two clast diameters in thickness , and when the clasts stop rolling , the sheet becomes a coarse lag . By contrast, in the midstream and downstream reaches, the channel is more anastomosing, and there are many in-channel bars , mostly transverse and diagonal unit bars . The diagonal bars mostly lack foreset slopes at their downstream margin , and it is suggested that massive to crudely horizontally stratified gravels would be deposited. Transverse bars normally have a foreset slope, giving rise to cross-stratified gravels.

Geo Mar Lett, 1989

Pisces submersible dives within Baffin Island fjords have revealed the common occurrence of pits ... more Pisces submersible dives within Baffin Island fjords have revealed the common occurrence of pits on the sea floor, at water depths between 40 and 326 m. The size of these pits are in the decimeter to meter range. Through indirect evidence (by comparison of morphologic features to pits or gouges of known origin) they are believed to be feeding traces of narwhal, beluga, or bowhead whales. If so, they are the deepest mammalian feeding traces yet reported. Bioerosion by large foraging mammals may be a more common sea floor process than previously thought.