Rourke gas field - a model of three-dimensional facies relationship in Minnelusa Formation, Powder River Basin, Wyoming

Conference · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5864082

Reel, C L; Horne, J C; Truman, J B

The vast majority of stratigraphic trapping mechanisms found in the Permian upper Minnelusa Formation are associated with an unconformity at the top of the formation. More recent exploration programs have focused on the identification of stratigraphic traps resulting from lateral facies changes found in these eolian to shallow marine strata, the most common being the juxtaposition of porous eolian sandstones down dip of nonporous interdune sandstones and carbonate/evaporate sequences. The growing maturity of the Minnelusa play has led geologists to both develop and explore progressively deeper sandstone bodies in frontier areas. Due to the depth (greater than 10,000 ft) and relative thinness of these sandstone bodies (averaging less than 40 ft, 15 m), their identification (with an associated seal rock) is, at best, extremely difficult based on seismic data alone. There exists, however, a predictive tool based on vertical sequences observed in the Rourke Gap field and vicinity that can be utilized in areas where existing well data are shallower than the planned objective. In Rourke Gap field, the most significant relationship for the explorationist is the en echelon arrangement of reservoir-potential eolian sandstones in succeeding stratigraphic intervals. Moreover, there is an inverse thickness relationship between dune sandstones and the overlying carbonate-evaporite seals. This relationship is the result of syndepositional paleotopography and the influence of syndepositional and postdepositional compaction in marine carbonates and interdune carbonate-evaporite sequences. These observations can provide useful clues to explorationists for predicting underlying unit thickness distribution in areas where drill-hole data do not penetrate the objective interval with sufficient frequency.

• Research Organization: RPI International, Boulder, CO
• OSTI ID: 5864082
• Report Number(s): CONF-870606-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 71:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
030200* -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
GEOLOGY
MATURATION
MINERAL RESOURCES
MONTANA
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NATURAL GAS FIELDS
NORTH AMERICA
POWDER RIVER BASIN
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
STRATIGRAPHY
USA
WYOMING