The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin underlies 1.4 million square kilometres of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the so
The Leduc No. 1 discovery sparked the oil boom in 1946
Mine at the Athabasca Oil Sands
Drilling rig in the gas-bearing Greater Sierra field
Athabasca oil sands
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The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves
Western Canada Sedimentary Basin
…cubic metres (315 billion barrels), with remaining established reserves of almost 28 billion cubic metres (174 billion barrels) at year-end 2004. The Athabasca Oil Sands, the Cold Lake Oil Sands and the Peace River Oil Sands, which contain initial oil-in-place reserves of 260 billion cubic metres (1.6 trillion barrels…
Athabasca oil sands on the banks of the river, around 1900
Athabasca oil sand of the McMurray Formation as seen in drill cores.
Mining operations in the Athabasca oil sands. Image shows the Athabasca River about 600m from the tailings pond. NASA Earth Observatory photo, 2009.