--> Deep cores through the Pennsylvanian section of western Kentucky, Illinois Basin

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Deep cores through the Pennsylvanian section of western Kentucky, Illinois Basin

Abstract

Two deep, continuous coalbed-methane exploration cores, which were drilled south of the Rough Creek Fault System in the deepest part of the Western Kentucky Coal Field for coalbed methane exploration, have been donated to the Kentucky Geological Survey. Although thick coal beds and some roof shales were removed for analyses prior to donation, these cores are the most continuous cores through Pennsylvanian strata in western Kentucky, and for that matter, the Illinois Basin.

The Suncor SCC-H1 Louise Shelton core was drilled in the Bordley Quadrangle, Union County. The core is 2,121 ft long, and extends from the Lower Pennsylvanian Caseyville Sandstone (within 10 ft of the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian unconformity) upwards to approximately 160 ft above the base of the Upper Pennsylvanian Mattoon Formation. The well has an accompanying high-resolution gamma-density log.

The Suncor DCC-H2 Willoughby and Carver core was drilled in the Slaughters Quadrangle, Webster County. The core is 2,162 ft long, and extends from the Upper Mississippian Kinkaid Limestone beneath the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian unconformity upwards to approximately 150 ft above the base of the Upper Pennsylvanian Mattoon Formation. The well has an accompanying gamma-compensated density log.

Both cores have been described and correlated. These cores provide insight into several stratigraphic intervals that are rarely cored in the deeper part of the coal field, including (1) thin rooting zones, coals, and fossiliferous shales in the Tradewater and Caseyville Formations, and (2) thin rooting zones, coals and carbonates in the McLeansboro Group. These two cores also provide a rare opportunity to observe the highly variable lithofacies represented by the seldom-cored Tradewater Formation. By comparing these cores to nearby well logs, we can better calibrate geophysical signatures to key beds and sequence surfaces and improve correlations within the basin.