Abstract: Reservoir Fairways in the Cisco-Canyon (Upper Pennsylvanian), Northwest Shelf of the Permian Basin

MAZZULLO, LOUIS J., RG, Ameristate Exploration, LLC, Albuquerque, NM & Midland, TX

During Late Pennsylvanian time, a widespread carbonate platform and algal reef system developed on the Northwest Shelf of the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico. This platform was contemporaneous with part of a similar reef system developed on the Horseshoe Atoll and Garza Platform in the northern Midland Basin. The Cisco-Canyon in the northern Midland Basin is documented as a series of discrete time-depositional units that have undergone repeated subaerial exposure during intervening low sea level stands. As much as 600 feet of sea level fluctuation has been documented during the Late Pennsylvanian here.

On the Northwest Shelf, the Cisco-Canyon series is likewise comprised of a series of discrete time units that were deposited in response to the same eustatic and tectonic influences that affected deposition in the Midland Basin. Deposition of shelf-edge algal reefs here was also influenced by the shallow slope of the bathymetric ramp on which they were deposited, which resulted in continuum of depositional units that are spread out over a lateral distance of over 20 miles. These algal reef fairways are found in parallel trends and appear to be developed as discontinuous and reworked units that are preferentially developed upon pre-existing deeper structures. The most noteworthy algal reef complexes discovered to date are in the Indian Basin and Dagger Draw Fields in Eddy County, which are developed in different parts of the Cisco Canyon section along separate fairway trends. Other, smaller algal reef fairways have been discovered, but many remain underdeveloped or undiscovered. Potentially productive Cisco Canyon algal complexes can be defined by coordinated subsurface mapping, lithologic analyses, and evaluation of 2-D and 3-D seismic data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90936©1998 AAPG Southwest Section Meeting, Wichita Falls, Texas