Structural History and Reservoir Characteristics (Mississippian) of Nesson Anticline, North Dakota

Robert F. Lindsay, S. B. Anderson, J. A. Lefever, L. C. Gerhard, R. D. Lefever

Nesson anticline is the largest hydrocarbon productive structure in the North Dakota portion of the Williston basin. Nesson anticline was discovered in 1951, just a few months after discovery of oil in the Williston basin. Fifty-four fields, producing from 14 lower to middle Paleozoic formations, are scattered along the north-south length of the anticline. Nesson anticline fields have produced a total of 377 million bbl of oil, with the Madison Group accounting for two-thirds of the total production. Central and southern parts of the anticline were subdivided into nine areas that revealed episodic and independent structural movement since the late Precambrian.

All Phanerozoic periods are present within the stratigraphic section. Unconformity-bound, major tectonic-eustatic sequences were mapped along the length of the Nesson anticline, and sedimentary tectonics were documented for the entire Phanerozoic. Greatest amounts of tectonic development of the anticline were during the Devonian to Early Mississippian. Post-Greenhorn, Laramide tectonism was responsible for the last major structural deformation of the anticline.

Selected oil fields, productive from the Madison Group, were studied where they are productive from the Mission Canyon Formation and the Rival ("Nesson") subinterval. These intervals record sediment infill of a slowly shrinking epeiric sea, as a series of shorelines separated by brief transgressions prograded toward the center of the basin. The Mission Canyon Formation can be characterized as a major shallowing-upward sequence, which upsection is (1) shallow open marine, (2) transitional open to restricted marine, (3) restricted marine, and (4) fringing marginal marine. Barrier island and shoreline buildup complexes developed along the shoreline, with bedded evaporites located away from the anticline toward the east and south. To the north, production is from high-energy, open marine nd barrier island to shoreline limestone buildup facies, and in the south, production is from interbedded limestones and dolostones deposited in transitional open to restricted and restricted marine environments. After a brief transgressive event deposited the State A marker, the Rival ("Nesson") subinterval progradation covered the southern half of the Nesson anticline. The Rival ("Nesson") subinterval is subdivided into lower and upper halves because of a subtle transgressive event with the Rival. The lower half was deposited as barrier island and shoreline buildup complexes to the north and as bedded evaporites to the south. The upper half was deposited in an offshore shallow marine setting to the north and center and in a restricted to marginal setting to the south. Both shoreline an offshore limestone beds are productive.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91033©1988 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, Bismarck, North Dakota, 21-24 August 1988