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Title: Facies relationships and depositional environments of lower Tuscaloosa Formation reservoir sandstones in McComb and Little Creek field areas, southwest Mississippi

Conference · · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6931956

Detailed core and electric log studies reveal that the main producing sandstone in the McComb field area (McComb sand) was deposited as a transgressive barrier-island complex along a coastline influenced by wave action and tides. Isopachs show the McComb sand thickens to the west. This thickening pattern is consistent with regional structural maps in the McComb field area, which indicate that seaward directions lay to the west and southwest during deposition of the lower Tuscaloosa Formation. The producing sandstone in Little Creek field (Denkman Sandstone) differs from those in McComb field with respect to depositional environment and stratigraphic position. The Denkman Sandstone occupies a lower stratigraphic position in the stringer sand section than the McComb sand. The McComb sand is approximately 50-60 ft below the base of the middle marine shale formation, a unit clearly of marine origin on the basis of glauconite occurrence and fossil evidence. The Denkman Sandstone is 70-80 ft below the middle marine Tuscaloosa Formation, closer stratigraphically to the Dantzler Formation (Lower Cretaceous), which is continental in origin. The results of this study show that two major depositional facies characterize producing lower Tuscaloosa Formation sandstone reservoirs in this area: a lower fluvial sequence (Little Creek) topped by nearshore marine deposits (McComb). The study also indicates that the McComb sandstone was deposited as a transgressed barrier-island system at a time when sand supply was diminishing. Thus, the barrier complex marks the shore zone of the Upper Cretaceous marine transgression in the McComb field area.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg
OSTI ID:
6931956
Report Number(s):
CONF-8610199-
Journal Information:
Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Vol. 70:9; Conference: 36. annual meeting of the Gulf Coast Association Geological Societies and the Gulf Coast Section of SEPM, Baton Rouge, LA, USA, 22 Oct 1986
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English