Reservoir Quality, Sediment Source, and Regional Aspects of Norphlet Formation, South State Line Field, Greene County, Mississippi

A. Thomson, R. J. Stancliffe, R. D. Shew

South State Line field, discovered in 1970, is centrally located in the productive Jurassic Norphlet trend of the eastern Gulf Coast. The Norphlet Formation at South State Line has produced gas and condensate from normally pressured eolian sandstones at depths of more than 17,900 ft (5,455 m).

The 600-ft- (183-m) thick Norphlet Formation is composed of 100% sandstone and consists of two reservoir types: a poorer quality upper sandstone having low permeability (0.6 md) and a good-quality lower sandstone with better permeability (15.5 md). The upper sandstone exhibits tighter compaction of framework grains and more cement than the lower sandstone. Significantly, the upper sandstone contains authigenic illite (which promotes pressure solution), whereas the lower sandstone contains authigenic chlorite (which inhibits cementation and possibly pressure solution). On a regional scale, illite is the principal diagenetic clay mineral in the western area of the Norphlet trend (Mississippi to Texas), whereas chlorite is the principal diagenetic clay mineral in the east (Alabama to Flo ida). Not surprisingly, reservoir quality is poorer in the western portion of the trend.

A comparison of framework grains in the upper and lower sandstones shows no significant compositional differences. Both are mature arkosic sandstones with a transitional-continental source (eastern Appalachians). No evidence was seen of a quartz-rich Ouachita or cratonic source.

Volcanic and plutonic rock fragments are slightly more abundant in the lower sandstone, possibly reflecting a shifting of compositional terranes within a single source area along the eastern side of the Appalachians. The lower Norphlet sandstone may have been derived from Triassic volcanics, whereas the upper sandstone may have been derived from a more metamorphic source. Volcanic and plutonic rock fragments, upon weathering, may have contributed the iron and magnesium required to form authigenic chlorite.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91038©1987 AAPG Annual Convention, Los Angeles, California, June 7-10, 1987.