Print this pageSequence Stratigraphy and Resource Extraction in the Aux Vases Sandstone (Mississippian), Illinois Basin, USA
LEETARU, HANNES E.
In different areas of the Illinois Basin, the Aux Vases Sandstone (Mississippian) can be either a major oil producer, a significant aquifer, or a useful quarrying material. Detailed sedimentary facies analysis in conjunction with the delineation of key boundary surfaces can lead to new insights useful for the recovery of oil, water, and rock from the Aux Vases.
The Aux Vases is a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposit with significant erosional surfaces at both the top and the base. These erosional surfaces are marked by paleosois at the top and conglomerates at the base. In the southwestern Illinois Basin, the sandstone is up to 100 feet thick, was deposited as an incised valley fill, and forms an important aquifer. The petroleum-producing portion of the Aux Vases occurs in the middle of the basin and was deposited in a marine environment consisting of channels and bars that have been heavily reworked by tidal processes. To the east and southeast the Aux Vases becomes calcareous and forms beds of limestone and calcareous sandstone which are quarried for highway construction materials. Surface and subsurface data from all these areas were integrated into a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic model that provides a tool for improving recovery from the Aux Vases.