An Integrated Exploration Model for Council Run Field Analogs: Regional Geology and Seismic Stratigraphy of Devonian "6th" Elk Sandstones

KELLEHER, GREG, and RICK JOHNSON, CNG Producing, New Orleans, LA

A geologic study of the Devonian Lock Haven "6th" Elk formation along the structural front of Pennsylvania and Maryland suggests that present-day structures were active at the time of deposition. These structures barred deposition to the west and helped to localize sands in a northeast-southwest fairway. The "6th" Elk sandstones occur in two major depositional lobes (located in Centre and Somerset counties in Pennsylvania, and Garrett County, Maryland) and were deposited on a shallow-marine shelf by turbidity currents and later modified by storm-generated currents. Deposition of "6th" Elk sands may also have been influenced by cross-strike discontinuities.

A seismic study of Council Run field aids in subsurface identification of the "6th" Elk. A high-amplitude seismic anomaly across the Council Run field is correlated with increasing sand thickness. Two-dimensional modeling suggests that the seismic response is extremely

sensitive to specific acquisition and processing techniques including filter and phase variability. Additional attribute analysis integrates the seismic data with the forward models. This results in a predictive method for potentially identifying "6th" Elk sandstone development from seismic data.

Applying the results of the seismic modeling at Council Run field to a seismic grid across the previously defined "6th" Elk depositional fairway has identified many exploratory prospects in Lycoming and Bradford counties, Pennsylvania. This area coincides with the site of a third, previously documented, Upper Devonian depositional lobe.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91005 © 1991 Eastern Section Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 8-10, 1991 (2009)