Research Portal

Geoscience » Source Rock & Depositional Environment

Microbial Genomics for De-Risking Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration in Nova Scotia

April 2016 – March 2021

The purpose of this $6.5M project is to develop, validate and deploy different genomics-based bioassay tools for offshore prospecting on the Scotian Slope.

Geoscience » Source Rock & Depositional Environment

Sequence stratigraphy, titania diagenesis and relationship to petroleum systems modeling

October 2018 – January 2021

This project examines different forms of titania (TiO2) minerals to confirm the relationship between late diagenetic titania (i.e., titania minerals transformed under the heat and pressure of sedimentary processes) and hydrocarbon migration and thus assess the use of titania polymorphs as “pathfi

Multi-Scale Turbulence Measurement in the Aquatron Laboratory

July 2018 – July 2019

This project has two primary objectives - to characterize the flow and turbulence in the Aquatron facility pool tank using turbulence sensors calibrated against a traceable standard; and to test technologies for investigating the horizontal variability of turbulence in real-world tidal channels.

Geoscience » Source Rock & Depositional Environment

Nova Scotia-Morocco Conjugate Biostratigraphy Project

September 2018 – June 2019

Biostratigraphy, the study of fossils to determine the age and depositional conditions of the sediments from which they are recovered, is a critical input to the seismic reconstruction of the Nova Scotia and Morocco margins.  Detailed biostratigraphical analyses have been completed by an internat

Remote Acoustic Measurements of Turbulence in High-Flow Tidal Channels during High Wave Conditions

April 2018 – April 2019

Many of the high-flow tidal channels targeted for worldwide in-stream hydro-electric development are impacted by surface gravity waves incident from a large exterior basin (e.g. the Bay of Fundy/Gulf of Maine/North Atlantic).

Optimized Combinations of Tidal, Wind and Solar Electricity Generation with Energy Storage to Meet Nova Scotia’s Electrical Demand

August 2018 – March 2019

Wind, solar and tidal-generated electricity each have different, but potentially complimentary, cyclic times.

STREEM: Sensor Testing Research for Environmental Effects Monitoring

October 2018 – March 2019

The research goal was to enhance understanding on sensor performance and sensor-to-sensor interactions to inform environmental effects monitoring (EEM) protocol for future tidal turbine deployments.

Innovative Solutions for De-risking Species Detections in Tidal Energy Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs

April 2018 – March 2019

With collaboration from Genome Atlantic, this research project is using a new environmental DNA technology to rapidly identify and determine abundance of different fish species in high-flow marine conditions. Experiments were conducted at Dalhousie University’s Aquatron facility. N

Geoscience » Source Rock & Depositional Environment

Predictive Modelling of Sandstone Reservoir Quality in the Scotian Basin

May 2016 – December 2018

This project uses existing knowledge of inferred drainage basin areas and paleoclimate to model multiple river inputs to the Scotian Basin. The modelled sedimentary succession is compared with actual sediment thicknesses in the basin.

Feasibility Study: Tidal Sector Service Barge/Drydock

April – November 2018

The study investigates the feasibility of developing a generic, shared-use, multi-function turbine transport deployment and retrieval barge/drydock for use by the Nova Scotia tidal energy sector.