--> Abstract: Temporal Variation in Carbonates and Mississippian Oolite Reservoirs in the United States, by B. D. Keith and C. W. Zuppann; #90987 (1993).

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KEITH, BRIAN D., Indiana Geological Survey and Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN; and CHARLES W. ZUPPANN, Indiana Geological Survey, Bloomington, IN

ABSTRACT: Temporal Variation in Carbonates and Mississippian Oolite Reservoirs in the United States

Oolitic limestone reservoirs of Mississippian age represent an important domestic petroleum resource because: (1) significant hydrocarbon production from oolitic rocks of Meramecian and Chesterian occurs in four areas in North America--the Illinois, Anadarko (including the Hugoton embayment), and Appalachian basins, and, to a lesser extent, the Williston basin; (2) exploration potential for these reservoirs is high even at relatively shallow depths in densely-drilled basins because they occur in areally small stratigraphic traps; and (3) oil recovery from these reservoirs tends to be efficient because their primary porosity is commonly preserved and dolomitization is generally lacking.

The abundance of oolitic rocks and their tendency to perform well as hydrocarbon reservoirs can be related to the temporal variations of major factors affecting carbonate sedimentation and diagenesis. Four times in the Phanerozoic are known for peak oolite deposition: the late Cambrian, later Mississippian, late Jurassic, and Holocene. Each time corresponds to a first-order rise or fall of sea level, rather than a highstand or lowstand. Other temporal variations contributing to widespread oolitic deposition during the Mississippian include the relative absence of framework-building organisms that occupy the same high-energy niche; and (2) tectonic events during the Meramecian and Chesterian time that produced broad expanses of shallow water at low paleolatitudes with little terrigenou clastic input. The fall in sea level during Mississippian time was followed by a period of maximum emergence, which was unfavorable for subsequent widespread dolomitization.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.