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Petroleum geology of northern part of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Northeastern Alaska

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6921158
; ;

The northern part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent Native lands, an area between the Brooks Range and the Beaufort Sea encompassing about 2.4 million ac, is judged to have the geologic characteristics of a major petroleum province. Except for the undeformed northwest quarter, the area is involved in an east-west-trending and northeast-trending, north-verging imbricate fold and thrust-fault system related to Brooks Range deformation. Analyses of hydrocarbons from oil seeps and oil-stained rocks in out-crop suggest that three types of oil are present, all dissimilar to oils from the Prudhoe Bay area. The Hue Shale is postulated to be the most important source rock for oil. With a present-day geothermal gradient of about 30/sup 0/C/km (1.6/sup 0/F/100 ft), oil generation is expected to occur between depths of 3.7 and 6.9 km (12,000-22,500 ft), mostly within the thick Cretaceous and Tertiary (Brookian) sequence. Oil generation, accompanied by clay-mineral transformation and abnormal fluid-pressure development, probably began about 50 Ma at the southern edge of the coastal plain and progressed northward, reaching the coastline about 10 Ma.

OSTI ID:
6921158
Report Number(s):
CONF-880301-
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ALASKA
CARBONATE ROCKS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION X
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
GEOPHYSICS
GROUND UPLIFT
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NATURE RESERVES
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SHALES
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
USA