Earth Sciences Commons^™

Stratigraphic Controls On Diagenetic Pathways In The St. Peter Sandstone, Michigan Basin, Stephen A. Zdan

Masters Theses

The Middle Ordovician St. Peter Sandstone in the Michigan Basin is a target for hydrocarbon exploration/production, and carbon sequestration and geologic storage. The St. Peter is predominantly a marine sandstone with four dominant lithofacies. The uppermost facies contains zones of porosity and good reservoir quality. Because of the mostly uniform detrital composition, diagenesis must play a leading role in reservoir quality development. This study tests stratigraphic controls on diagenesis and reservoir quality development. The distribution of diagenetic regimes is believed to result from depositional setting and related geologic processes, including variations in sediment accumulation rate. Early carbonate cements preserve pre-compaction …

Lower Aptian Comparative Stratigraphy Of The Basco-Cantabrian Region (Spain) And Eastern Cordillera (Colombia): Implications For Local Factors In The Depositional Record Of Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (Oae-1a), Tatiana Gaona Narvaez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important episode of carbon sequestration, Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a), characterizes the Lower Aptian worldwide, and is mostly known from deeper-water settings. The present work of two Lower Aptian deposits, Madotz (N Spain) and Curití Quarry (Colombia), is a multiproxy study that includes fossil assemblages, microfacies, X-ray diffraction bulk and clay mineralogy, elemental analyses (major, minor, trace elements), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, biomarkers, inorganic and organic carbon content, and stable carbon isotopes. The results provide baseline evidence of the local and global controlling environmental factors influencing OAE-1a in shallow-water settings. The data also improve our general understanding of the conditions under …

Integrating Depositional Facies And Sequence Stratigraphy In Characterizing Unconventional Reservoirs: Eagle Ford Shale, South Texas, Seth Jordan Workman

Masters Theses

The Mid-to-Late Cretaceous Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas is a mixed siliciclastic/carbonate, unconventional resource play with considerable oil and natural gas. Characterization of Eagle Ford reservoir quality and potential is made difficult by complex, small-scale heterogeneities.

The limited availability of subsurface data constrains previous subsurface Eagle Ford investigations. As a result, the internal variability of depositional facies and reservoir attributes remain poorly understood for these Eagle Ford rocks.

This investigation incorporates a representative group of four Eagle Ford cores, and core data, from within the current play area in order to: 1) determine facies successions, 2) establish a hierarchal …

Analysis Of Depositional Facies And Geological Controls On Reservoir Quality In Lower-Middle Devonian Sylvania Sandstone, Midland County, Michigan, Katherine A. Pollard

Masters Theses

The early-Middle Devonian Sylvania “Sandstone” is considered a target for potential CO₂ geosequestration. In order to develop geostatic models for CO₂ injection simulations, controls on reservoir properties must be addressed. The three objectives of this study involve: 1) develop an overview of depositional lithofacies and their vertical stacking relationships, 2) determine fluid sources and controls of diagenesis (dolomitization and silicification), and 3) examine geological controls on the distribution and character of reservoir facies.

The grossly transgressive Sylvania-Bois Blanc interval is a complex lithologic assemblage. Sylvania “Sandstone” strata transition from high energy, subtidal to lower-intertidal mixed carbonate-siliciclastic facies to …

Late Mississippian (Chesterian) Through Early Pennsylvanian (Atokan) Strata, Michigan Basin, U.S.A., Shannon M. Towne

Masters Theses

Over 2,000 linear feet of core material was analyzed to evaluate the stratigraphy and basin evolution of Carboniferous strata in the Michigan basin. Rock units were evaluated on the basis of lithofacies type, contact relationships, and existing regional geologic interpretations. The recovery of three distinct pollen and spore assemblages from core confirms the timing of deposition during the Late Mississippian Chesterian and Early-Middle Pennsylvanian Morrowan and Atokan regional stages within the Michigan basin.

The deposition of a marine carbonate succession with significant interstratified quartz sandstone occurred during the Chesterian regional stage. The Bayport interval (Bayport Limestone) is composed of seven …

Updated Glacial Chronology Of The South Fork Hoh River Valley, Olympic Peninsula, Washington Through Detailed Stratigraphy And Osl Dating, Cianna E. Wyshnytzky, Tammy M. Rittenour, Glenn D. Thackray

Cianna E Wyshnytzky

Four glacial advances are preserved and exposed in the stratigraphy of the South Fork Hoh River valley. The oldest of these advances extended beyond the South Fork valley into the Hoh River valley. The three younger advances are preserved in the stratigraphy cut bank exposures in the valley and geomorphically by moraines and outwash plains. One of these advances represents a re-advance to the same terminal position of the previous advance and has not previously been recognized in this valley or other glaciated valleys in the western Olympic Mountains. This finding advocates for a detailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic approach to …

Chronology And Provenance Of Last-Glacial (Peoria) Loess In Western Iowa And Paleoclimatic Implications, Daniel R. Muhs, E. Arthur Bettis Iii, Helen M. Roberts, Stephen S. Harlan, James B. Paces, Richard L. Reynolds

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Geologic archives show that the Earth was dustier during the last glacial period. One model suggests that increased gustiness (stronger, more frequent winds) enhanced dustiness. We tested this at Loveland, Iowa, one of the thickest deposits of last-glacial-age (Peoria) loess in the world. Based on K/Rb and Ba/Rb, loess was derived not only from glaciogenic sources of the Missouri River, but also distal loess from non-glacial sources in Nebraska. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages provide the first detailed chronology of Peoria Loess at Loveland. Deposition began after ~27 ka and continued until ~17 ka. OSL ages also indicate that mass …

Physical And Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Late Cretaceous Chispa Summit Formation, Jeff Davis County, Texas, Patrick Thomas Dietzel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Late Cretaceous Chispa Summit Formation of west Texas has historically been of interest to the petroleum industry; with new technologies, this old, uneconomical play could prove significant, if not for energy resources, for educational purposes, but little work has been conducted on the formation. The Eagle Ford Formation of southern Texas is time equivalent to the Chispa Summit Formation and is a highly prolific hydrocarbon resource.

Located in western Jeff Davis County, Texas, the Chispa Summit Formation consists of marine shales interbedded with limestone beds and sporadically located siliciclastic beds, measuring a total of 610 m at the type …

Middle-Upper Miocene Paleogeography Of Southern Turkey: Insights From Stratigraphy And Calcareous Nannofossil Biochronology Of The Olukpınar And Başyayla Sections (Mut-Ermenek Basin), Paola Cipollari, Eva Halásová, Kemal Gürbüz, Domenico Cosentino

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The age of the marine succession capping the basement rocks of the central Taurides in the Mut-Ermenek Basin is constrained using calcareous nannofossil biochronology. The Olukpınar section, which correlates with the biozones between MNN5a and MNN6b (late Langhian-late Serravallian), represents a deeper marine environment developed lateral to the Ermenek platform. The long-term transgressive-regressive cycle of the Olukpınar section, which corresponds to the middle-upper part of the TB2 supercycle, can be subdivided into 2 large-scale (10^6 years) cycles (TB2.4 and TB2.5) based on the occurrence of 2 major debris flow deposits linked to sea-level drop. The younger late Tortonian Başyayla section …