Regional Structure and Stratigraphic Framework in Kansas and Relationship to Oil and Gas Accumulation

WATNEY, W. L., and D. L. BAARS, Kansas Geological Survey, Lawrence, KS, G. STEVENSON, Consultant, Durango, CO, J. A. FRENCH and J. C. WONG, Kansas Geological Survey, Lawrence, KS, L. LAMBERT, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, and J. HARFF, Akademie der Wissenschaften der FRG, Pottsdam, Federal Republic of Germany

A regional structural and stratigraphic analysis of pre-Permian strata was conducted in Kansas. The study is part of a program to define the sequence stratigraphy of the Kansas City Group linking near-surface and surface reservoir analogs in eastern Kansas with reservoirs in western Kansas, a distance of 400 mi (640 km). Specific objectives of the regional study were (1) to establish detailed correlations of Pennsylvanian strata between eastern and western Kansas using physical and biostratigraphic methods; (2) to describe the evolving structural framework and its influence on sedimentation; (3) to provide parameters for use in stratigraphic modeling; and (4) to relate stratal characteristics to distribution and productivity of oil and gas wells and leases.

Correlations of many Pennsylvanian stratal markers are established between eastern and western Kansas, including individual depositional sequences of the Upper Pennsylvanian. Correlations of Paleozoic strata have been accomplished through a network of regional wireline and lithologic cross sections covering shelf and basinal settings in Kansas. Conodont biostratigraphy verifies physical correlations of Pennsylvanian marine flooding units (transgressive limestones) and condensed sections (black shales). Many of the black shales are correlative throughout most of the region. Varying subsidence and sediment input, and changes in shelf slope produce significant variations in the facies of these stratal packages. These changes are compared to reservoir type and petroleum production.

A statistical procedure called regionalization is used to identify areas that have similarities between mapped horizons and sequence attributes. Regular spatial patterns observed between maps correlate closely to basement geology and to variations in oil productivity.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91008©1991 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Kansas Geological Society, Wichita Kansas, September 22-24, 1991 (2009)