Petroleum geology of Carter sandstone (upper Mississippian), Black Warrior Basin, Alabama

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5358213

Bearden, B L; Mancini, E A

The presence of combination petroleum traps makes the Black Warrior basin of northwestern Alabama an attractive area for continued hydrocarbon exploration. More than 1,500 wells have been drilled, and more than 90 separate petroleum pools have been discovered. The primary hydrocarbon reservoirs are Upper Mississippian sandstones. The Carter sandstone is the most productive petroleum reservoir in the basin. Productivity of the Carter sandstone is directly related to its environment of deposition. The Carter accumulated within a high constructive elongate to lobate delta, which prograded into the basin from the northwest to the southeast. Carter bar-finger and distal-bar lithofacies constitute the primary hydrocarbon reservoirs. Primary porosity in the Carter sandstone has been reduced by quartz overgrowths and calcite cementation. Petroleum traps in the Carter sandstone in central Fayette and Lamar Counties, Alabama, are primarily stratigraphic and combination (structural-stratigraphic) traps. The potential is excellent for future development of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Upper Mississippian Carter sandstone. Frontier regions south and east of the known productive limits of the Black Warrior basin are ideal areas for continued exploration.

• Research Organization: State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama, Department of Geology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
• OSTI ID: 5358213
• Journal Information: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Vol. 69:3; ISSN AAPGB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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