Hylton Northwest Field's Tectonic Effect on Suggs Ellenburger Producing Area, Nolan County, Texas

Benjamin F. Hoffacker, Jr.

An evaluation of the geology of Hylton Northwest field in southeastern Nolan County, Texas, indicates that the pre-Pennsylvanian tectonics associated with this field may have affected the producing zone of Suggs Ellenburger field 6 mi (9 km) west. Both fields are located along the Fort Chadbourne fault system of the Eastern shelf of the Midland basin. The study of the depositional environment of the Suggs Ellenburger field reveals some interesting aspects of the tectonostratigraphic terrane that appears to have in part influenced the development of the reservoir rock. The tectonics of the Cambrian-Ordovician (Ellenburger) period in Hylton Northwest field created a southwest-trending fault system with associated fractures. The fractures allowed percolating surface waters t leach carbonate rocks in the area, creating vuggy secondary porosity in the intercrystalline rock fabric. The faults were modified to a karst topography by periods of subaerial erosion of the Cambrian-Ordovician depositional plain. Sea level fluctuations that occurred in the area were associated with the alternating uplift and subsidence of the Hylton Northwest field's tectonic feature. As a result, environmental zones of porosity with varying vertical subaerial erosion formed within the overall Cambrian-Ordovician (Ellenburger) interval. The producing zone of the Suggs Ellenburger field occurs at approximately 6,400 ft (1,951 m).

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91037©1987 AAPG Southwest Section, Dallas, Texas, March 22-24, 1987.