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Characterization Of Cretaceous Chalk Microporosity Related To Depositional Texture: Based Upon Study Of The Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation, Denver-Julesburg Basin, Colorado And Wyoming, P D. Pahnke

Theses and Dissertations

Prompted by increased interest in understanding microporosity, recent efforts at describing and classifying pore types in mudstones have focused primarily on siliceous, gas producing unconventional reservoirs with little attention being paid to carbonate, mixed oil-and-gas producers. The Niobrara Formation in the Denver-Julesburg Basin is a self-sourced resource play producing oil and natural gas from low permeability chalks. Key reservoir lithologies consist of chalk, chalky marl and marl. These lithologies contain flattened chalk fecal pellets which play a significant role in providing porosity. Integration of depositional fabric with pore-type distribution emphasizes the unique textural and depositional nature of chalk and provides …