HOPKINS, JOHN F., Exxon Exploration Company, Houston TX; and TIMOTHY R. CARR*, Kansas Geologic Survey, Lawrence Kansas

Abstract: Subsurface Structure and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Western Margin of the Hugoton Embayment, Morton County, Kansas

In low-relief basins mapping the subtle structural and stratigraphic features required for effective exploration and production of hydrocarbons can be difficult. The Hugoton embayment, containing the giant Hugoton and Panoma gas fields, is an example of such a basin. We have used digital wireline logs and a new approach, called pseudoseismic, to map subtle structural and stratigraphic features on the western edge of the Hugoton embayment in Morton County, Kansas. Mapped were four previously poorly constrained faults and low-relief structural noses plunging into basin.

Eight Wolfcampian sequences were also defined and mapped. The extreme landward position of these sequences has influenced their geometries, and results in a modified sequence-stratigraphic model for the Wolfcampian rocks of southwest Kansas. The sequence model places nonmarine-dominated strata in the late-highstand systems tract. Pinchouts of marine-dominated reservoir-prone lithologies within the Wolfcampian sequences, coupled with structural features, appear to be controlling factors on production from the Hugoton and Panoma gas fields.

These stratigraphic and structure problems are not unique to the Hugoton embayment. The approaches and results could have widespread application in other basins and mature exploration provinces.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90921©1999 AAPG Mid-Continent Section Meeting, Wichita, Kansas