Drilling data represents a wealth of essential information about the geological and geotechnical characteristics of the subsurface. They play an indispensable role in various industrial sectors such as petroleum exploration, mining, construction, and water resource management. At Géostack, we fully leverage public data from the hydrogeological information system (SIH), the geotechnical investigation site (SIG), the geomineral information system (SIGÉOM), and the oil and gas geoscience information system (SIGPEG). In addition to helping us better plan and optimize the collection of geophysical data based on the specific conditions of the sites we study, this data also guides the interpretation of our results and contributes to improving the accuracy of our geophysical, geological, geotechnical, and hydrogeological models.
The SIH is a database maintained by the Ministry of Environment, Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) that gathers more than 244,000 boreholes drilled in Quebec's territory since 1967. The data mainly originates from drilling reports for groundwater intake facilities serving private residences with drinking water. The SIG includes surveys produced by or for the Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility (MTMD) since the 1990s, as well as an inactive database containing drilling and survey data compiled by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MRNF) in the 1970s and 1980s. The SIGÉOM is a database of geoscientific information maintained by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MRNF), including maps and reports characterizing Quebec's bedrock as well as diamond drilling data primarily executed within mining exploration works. Lastly, the SIGPEG contains data from wells drilled in Quebec (approximately 980) related to natural gas or oil exploitation.
Most online platforms used to publish Quebec's public drilling data do not present the data in a format that facilitates their consultation or interpretation. As a result, significant efforts are often needed for researching and formatting this data. That's why we developed Forinto, an application aimed at presenting publicly available drilling data in Quebec in a simplified and harmonized format, facilitating rapid consultation and tailored to our needs.
However, we quickly noticed that these drilling data, originating from various sources, exhibit a high degree of heterogeneity regarding reliability, level of detail, and standardization of lithological descriptions. Consolidating and presenting these data on a single platform thus poses significant challenges and work. Moreover, data validation is a crucial step when building a multisource database. While several relatively simple data validation techniques can be used, validating the content of drilling descriptions presents a much more challenging and tedious task.
In our initial efforts, we integrated only the data from the SIH into Forinto. Ongoing efforts are currently underway to add drillings from the SIG, as well as additional information to lithological descriptions such as groundwater levels, soil elevation, and rock type.
You can access Forinto via the Géostack website or directly at the following address: https://www.geostack.ca/forinto.
