--> Abstract: Development Of A 3-D Sequence Stratigraphy For Mississipian Limestone Reservoirs Of Subsurface Appalachian Basin, West Virginia And Kentucky, by T. C. Wynn and J. F. Read; #90928 (1999).

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WYNN, THOMAS C., and J. FRED READ
Dept. of Geological Sciences Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

Abstract: Development of a 3-D Sequence Stratigraphy For Mississipian Limestone Reservoirs Of Subsurface Appalachian Basin, West Virginia And Kentucky

The sequence stratigraphic framework of Al-Tawil, based on outcrops and shallow cores along the Appalachian Basin margin can be traced into the subsurface to provide a sequence stratigraphic framework for the Mississippian Limestone reservoirs on this mixed carbonate-siliciclastic ramp. The gamma ray response of key outcrop sections have been measured to provide reference sections of reservoir analogs; shales show the greatest response, argillaceous carbonates and sands are intermediate, whereas the oolitic limestones are lowest. Detailed lithologic successions in the subsurface can be defined by binocular examination of well cuttings (which show relatively little vertical mixing), and wireline logs because the wells are shallow (0 to 4000 ft). This then is being used, in conjunction with the outcrop data, to derive a high resolution sequence stratigraphy with up to 12 depositional sequences in the late Meramecian-Chesterian. Sequences along the ramp margin have a distinctive gamma ray signature characterized by increasing values into the mfs and gradually decreasing values into the highstand. Updip on the ramp, sequence and parasequence boundaries show a strong gamma ray response due to argillaceous content, which decreases and then increases into the transgressive to highstand tracts. The cuttings/log analysis will ultimately allow us to document the regional trends, 3-D geometries and sequence stratigraphic setting of on-ramp, high stand oolitic reservoirs and low-stand, ramp margin quartz sandstone reservoirs over some 40,000 sq. miles of the Appalachian basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas