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Title: INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR DETECTION OF FRACTURE-CONTROLLED SWEET SPOTS IN THE NORTHERN APPALACHIAN BASIN

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/838912· OSTI ID:838912

The primary goal was to enter Phase 2 by analyzing geophysical logs and sidewall cores from a verification well drilled into the Trenton/Black River section along lineaments. However, the well has not yet been drilled; Phase 2 has therefore not been accomplished. We have switched oil and gas exploration and production companies, and are now, in conjunction with Fortuna, planning to retrieve 18 m of horizontal core across a gas-charged zone in the Trenton/Black River in central New York State, the ''hottest'' play in the Appalachian Basin. Secondary goals in Phase I were also completed in previous reporting period. Although new structural data were collected and analyzed for a few regions where we had no data, the results did not change the previous conclusions. We have also continued analyzing remote sensing images to determine, by using the weights-of-evidence method, which images and processing techniques result in lineaments that best reflect the fractures found in outcrop. We have tested the lineaments from EarthSat (1997), as well as lineaments we identified on Landsat and ASTER images. For fracture intensification domains (FIDs) along Seneca Lake, we found that lineaments identified on a fused image of Landsat and ASTER images produced better correlation to FIDs than lineaments from EarthSat (1997) and ASTER alone. This relationship held true for all orientations of FIDs except E-striking FIDs, which showed a better correlation with lineaments observed on ASTER lineaments than on the fused Landsat and ASTER image lineaments. For Cayuga Lake FIDs, lineaments identified on a fused image of Landsat and ASTER images also produced significantly better correlation to FIDs than lineaments from ASTER alone for NW- and NNW-striking FIDs. However, for NE-, ENE- and E-striking FIDs, ASTER lineaments generally showed the closest match. These data continue to demonstrate that integration of aeromagnetic and remote sensing lineaments, surface structure, soil gas and seismic allows us to extrapolate Trenton-Black River trends away from confirmatory seismic lines.

Research Organization:
State University of New York (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
(US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC26-00NT40698
OSTI ID:
838912
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Mar 2005
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English