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Detailed ground water picture of B.C.’s Peace region emerges from new reports

Vancouver – Two new reports published by Geoscience BC today provide new information about ground water resources in northeastern British Columbia’s Peace region.

The reports are part of Geoscience BC’s Peace Project, a three-year multi-disciplinary study providing baseline information about ground water in the Peace region. This new data and knowledge will enable sound, informed decisions to be made about the use and protection of ground water in an area where hydraulic fracking for natural gas occurs, said a news release from Geoscience BC, independent, non-profit organization that generates earth science information in collaboration with First Nations, local communities, governments, academia and the resource sector.

“First Nations, communities, governments, industry and concerned citizens want reliable research to better understand the impacts of oil and gas development on ground water in the Peace region,” said Geoscience BC Chief Scientific Officer Carlos Salas. “The Geoscience BC Peace Project provides the most detailed hydrological picture of the Peace region ever produced. Ground water resources in this region can now be assessed more accurately than ever before.”

In the report “Processing and inversion of SkyTEM data leading to a hydrogeological interpretation of the Peace River North Western Area,” Aarhus Geophysics and Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland used best-practice processing techniques to create two-dimensional slices and three-dimensional models of the northwest corner of the Peace Project area. These results can be used to predict the location of ground water down to 300 metres below the surface with more accuracy than ever before, the release said.

In the report “Peace Project Area – Comparison of resistivity gamma and geological logs with airborne EM inversions,” Mel Best and Vic Levson compared core samples and geophysical measurements obtained from an eight-well drilling program against geological models generated from the Peace Project’s 2015 airborne survey. Examining the sediments in these wells helps make more accurate predictions in areas where wells and drill logs are not available.

The Geoscience BC Peace Project is acquiring, interpreting, and sharing new baseline scientific information about ground water resources in the Peace region of northeastern British Columbia.

The reports are now available through Geoscience BC’s website or its Earth Science Viewer.