Tectonostratigraphic analysis case studies from British Columbia, Canada UAV photogrammetry and 3D seismic of Bohai Bay, China

This thesis covers two tectonostratigraphic analysis case studies for geoscience education and petroleum geoscience structural analysis, respectively. The first study involves development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) drone surveys to address gaps in field geoscience education. Four UAV surveys were conducted including a 378,200 m2 outcrop survey of the Taylor Creek Group in the South Chilcotin Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. We created a series of virtual field trip ‘video game’-style lab exercises from the UAV imagery that are PC, phone and tablet-accessible and do not require additional software. The second study involves the Dongying Depression, Bohai Bay, China, the second largest petroleum field in China. The region has been heavily faulted and has experienced multi-phase deformation including pure extension, transtension, and thermal subsidence. We interpret 20 extracted raster seismic cross sections from a 1600 km2 3D seismic volume and from a proprietary sequence stratigraphic framework. Isochron maps show that deposited sediments between 46 Ma to the Present within the Dongying Depression form a thickness of 1500 ms two-way-time (~4 km). Older depocenters are centered in the north near the master listric normal faults whereas younger sediments are deposited near the central depression. Tectonostratigraphic interpretation showed the following history: 1) between 64 to 44 Ma, active extension occurred along half-grabens bounded by listric normal faults; 2) between 44 to 24 Ma, extension continued but was punctuated by pulses of compression and inversion of the listric normal faults between 44 and 32 Ma. A regional angular unconformity formed at ~24 Ma; and, 3) from 24 to 0 Ma, widespread, minor extensional growth occurred that is attributed to thermal subsidence. The most significant period of fault reorganization that occurred between 44 to 32 Ma could be linked to changes in the plate tectonic boundary conditions (i.e. Pacific-Eurasia subduction).