Gas-producing submarine-fan channel-levee complexes in Forbes Formation, Arbuckle field, central Sacramento basin, California
The Campanian Forbes Formation was deposited as a south-prograding basin-plain, deep-sea fan and slope turbidite system in the Late Cretaceous Great Valley forearc basin of California. Gas production from the Arbuckle field is from the middle deep-sea fan deposits of the Forbes Formation at depths of 5500-7000 ft. The field is located approximately 7 mi east of the western erosional margin of the Sacramento basin, where the Forbes Formation crops out and dips steeply to the east. The field has a proven acreage of 3450 and contains 25 producing wells. A north-trending anticline, which is present on the regional easterly dip, provides 150-200 ft of closure in the southern part of the field. Detailed maps and cross sections of the gas-producing intervals of the Forbes Formation in the Arbuckle field have been constructed from correlation of 77 well logs and detailed examination of the nearby outcrops. Well-log correlations and sedimentary facies identified in outcrop indicate that the gas-producing intervals are chiefly channel-levee complexes in a mud-rich deep-sea fan system. These channel-level complexes trend southward, are slightly sinuous, and are as much as 1 mi wide. A comparison of structure-contour maps with net-sandstone maps and gas production data indicates that not all gas production is structurally controlled. Channel-axis sandstone that is as thick as 250 ft generally produces gas only within structural closure, whereas thinner, more shale-rich, channel-margin and levee deposits produce gas from updip stratigraphic pinch-outs into interchannel shale.
- Research Organization:
- Applied Earth Technology, Inc., Redwood City, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5950783
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880301-
- Journal Information:
- AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States), Vol. 72:2; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, TX, USA, 20 Mar 1988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CALIFORNIA
NATURAL GAS FIELDS
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CRETACEOUS PERIOD
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FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
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MINERAL RESOURCES
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030200* - Natural Gas- Reserves
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