Upper Devonian deposystems of Catskill delta, West Virginia

Conference · Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1984 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5851358

Donaldson, A C; Lewis, J S; Mumcuoglu, C; Boswell, R; Peace, K; Jewell, G

The oil and gas reservoir rocks of the Upper Devonian of West Virginia were deposited as shoreline sands along a coastal plain characterized by marine-dominant deltas (Catskill delta complex). The oil-bearing sandstones occur in strike trend (north-south) in north-central West Virginia connected by feeder channel sandstones with dip trends (east-west). In outcrop, the strike-trending sanstones contain occasional marine fossils, are well sorted, and exhibit sedimentary structures that suggest depositional environments ranging from shoreface to tidal delta and back barrier. Channel sandstones with herringbone bedding suggest tidal influence. These beds change to cross-bedding of unidirectional paleoflow origin in upstream fluvial counterparts of red-bed facies. The interpreted fluvial and tidal channels combine to represent distributary channels that supplied the sands to the barrier islands and delta front. Isolith maps show anastomosing belts trending east-west with both vertical and offset stacking. Stream avulsion and stream piracy probably account for lateral shifting of tidally influenced river distributaries. Gridlike patterns of sandstone belts result from the dynamic interference of tidal-fluvial channels with wave-constructed shoreline barrier islands and bars, complicated by onlap and offlap cycles. Subsurface informally named oil and gas sands generally are multiple sandstones.

• Research Organization: West Virginia Univ., Morgantown
• OSTI ID: 5851358
• Report Number(s): CONF-8410269-
• Journal Information: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Vol. 68:12; Conference: AAPG Eastern Section meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 10 Oct 1984
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
03 NATURAL GAS
RESERVOIR ROCK
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
LITHOLOGY
WEST VIRGINIA
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
DEPOSITION
DEVONIAN PERIOD
FEDERAL REGION III
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
RESOURCES
USA
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
030200 - Natural Gas- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration