Compilation of In Situ Stress Data from Alberta and Northeastern British Columbia (tabular data, tab delimited)

This digital dataset is the compilation of an analysis of the in situ stress regime in several regions of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia conducted by Dr. Sebastian Bell under a contract with the Alberta Geological Survey from 1999 to 2004. The dataset includes both new and previously published estimates for vertical stress gradients, minimum horizontal stress gradients, and stress orientation. Understanding the state of stress in the subsurface has always been important in the development of energy resources. The recent development of unconventional oil sand and low permeability hydrocarbon deposits, waste fluid disposal, greenhouse gas sequestration, and potential geothermal energy extraction all require knowledge of the state of stress to operate safely and economically. A lack of understanding of the state of stress in a given project area has the potential to negatively affect the economics of such projects and may expose operators to increased liabilities. Regional-scale studies of the stress regime indicate that in southern and central Alberta the vertical stress (Sv) is the largest principal stress. The Sv magnitude is determined from the overburdened load and is calculated by integrating the bulk density log from ground surface to the depth of interest. This dataset contains 724 vertical stress gradient measurements from 126 wells in Alberta. The minimum horizontal stress (Shmin) can be evaluated using a variety of tests. While leak-off tests and fracture breakdown pressures have been used in the past for estimating the magnitude of the Shmin, mini-fracture tests (also known as DFITS) are currently considered a more accurate and consistent method. This dataset includes only mini-fracture test data, consisting of 106 minimum horizontal stress gradient measurements in 83 wells. Alberta was one of the first regions in the world where stress mapping began, originating in the pioneering 'borehole breakout' developments of Dr. Bell from the Geological Survey of Canada in Calgary and Dr. Gough from the University of Alberta. The Shmin orientations can be determined from borehole breakouts, which are spalled cavities that occur on opposite walls of a borehole. This dataset contains 214 stress orientation measurements from 133 wells.

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• 72E
• 72L
• 72M
• 73D
• 73E
• 73L
• 73M
• 74D
• 74E
• 74L
• 74M
• 82G
• 82H
• 82I
• 82J
• 82N
• 82O
• 82P
• 83A
• 83B
• 83C
• 83D
• 83E
• 83F
• 83G
• 83H
• 83I
• 83J
• 83K
• 83L
• 83M
• 83N
• 83O
• 83P
• 84A
• 84B
• 84C
• 84D
• 84E
• 84F
• 84G
• 84H
• 84I
• 84J
• 84K
• 84L
• 84M
• 84N
• 84O
• 84P
• ALBERTA
• BRITISH-COLUMBIA
• CANADA
• GEOLOGY
• GEOSCIENTIFICINFORMATION
• HORIZONTAL-STRESSES
• MINIFRAC
• STRESS-ORIENTATION
• STRESSES
• VERTICAL-GRADIENT
• VERTICAL-STRESSES

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (54%)
• Maturity Level 2 (31%)
• Maturity Level 3 (11%)
• Maturity Level 4 (10%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (0%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 00:44 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 00:44 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title Title for the Dataset.	Compilation of In Situ Stress Data from Alberta and Northeastern British Columbia (tabular data, tab delimited)
Description A description of the dataset.	This digital dataset is the compilation of an analysis of the in situ stress regime in several regions of Alberta and northeastern British Columbia conducted by Dr. Sebastian Bell under a contract with the Alberta Geological Survey from 1999 to 2004. The dataset includes both new and previously published estimates for vertical stress gradients, minimum horizontal stress gradients, and stress orientation. Understanding the state of stress in the subsurface has always been important in the development of energy resources. The recent development of unconventional oil sand and low permeability hydrocarbon deposits, waste fluid disposal, greenhouse gas sequestration, and potential geothermal energy extraction all require knowledge of the state of stress to operate safely and economically. A lack of understanding of the state of stress in a given project area has the potential to negatively affect the economics of such projects and may expose operators to increased liabilities. Regional-scale studies of the stress regime indicate that in southern and central Alberta the vertical stress (Sv) is the largest principal stress. The Sv magnitude is determined from the overburdened load and is calculated by integrating the bulk density log from ground surface to the depth of interest. This dataset contains 724 vertical stress gradient measurements from 126 wells in Alberta. The minimum horizontal stress (Shmin) can be evaluated using a variety of tests. While leak-off tests and fracture breakdown pressures have been used in the past for estimating the magnitude of the Shmin, mini-fracture tests (also known as DFITS) are currently considered a more accurate and consistent method. This dataset includes only mini-fracture test data, consisting of 106 minimum horizontal stress gradient measurements in 83 wells. Alberta was one of the first regions in the world where stress mapping began, originating in the pioneering 'borehole breakout' developments of Dr. Bell from the Geological Survey of Canada in Calgary and Dr. Gough from the University of Alberta. The Shmin orientations can be determined from borehole breakouts, which are spalled cavities that occur on opposite walls of a borehole. This dataset contains 214 stress orientation measurements from 133 wells.
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	72E 72L 72M 73D 73E 73L 73M 74D 74E 74L 74M 82G 82H 82I 82J 82N 82O 82P 83A 83B 83C 83D 83E 83F 83G 83H 83I 83J 83K 83L 83M 83N 83O 83P 84A 84B 84C 84D 84E 84F 84G 84H 84I 84J 84K 84L 84M 84N 84O 84P ALBERTA BRITISH-COLUMBIA CANADA GEOLOGY GEOSCIENTIFICINFORMATION HORIZONTAL-STRESSES MINIFRAC STRESS-ORIENTATION STRESSES VERTICAL-GRADIENT VERTICAL-STRESSES
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.	2015-09-15
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.	2016-06-30
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).	unrestricted
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Alberta
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/gda-dig_2016_0040
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Alberta Geological Survey
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset	English
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	https://geodiscover.alberta.ca/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/faa3e30adf144040b4c55c43f8d24d9f
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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