Abstract: New Structural and Stratigraphic Interpretation of Lake Superior Basin from Hydrocarbon Exploration Geophysics and Geology

Albert B. Dickas

Between October 1987 and April 1992, two deep boreholes were drilled along the south shore of Lake Superior in a test of the hydrocarbon potential of the conglomerate, sandstone and shale composing the Middle Proterozoic Oronto Group (~1 billion years). These drilling ventures, preceded by geophysical programs, and combined with wireline and core information, support new interpretations of the structural and stratigraphic geology associated with the Midcontinent Rift System in the Lake Superior district.

#7-22 Terra-Patrick: A stratigraphic, but not structural fit. This borehole in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, drilled an expected sequence of Oronto Group clastic red-beds. No viable hydrocarbon shows were encountered. Six second reflection seismology profiles collected in northwestern Wisconsin indicate the Douglas Fault decreases in throw in an easterly direction, changing to a fold northeast of the borehole. This termination is associated with the south flank of White's Ridge, a pre-rift residual high identified through modeling studies and seismic interpretations by local absence of Midcontinent Rift volcanics and overlying strata. To the southwest of Isle Royale, the pre-rift Grand Marias Ridge exhibits similar characteristics.

#1-29 St. Amour: A structural, but not stratigraphic, fit. Drilled in Alger County, Michigan, the St. Amour well appears to bottom in pre-rift metamorphic basement rocks. This hole was 100% cored. No hydrocarbon shows were reported. Reflection seismology profile analyses verify a change in strike, from northeast to southeast, of the Keweenaw Fault in the eastern Lake Superior Basin. The drilled section included 6,000 feet of pre-Paleozoic red-beds containing cross-bedding, ripple marks, and multiple fining-upward strata.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90950©1996 AAPG GCAGS 46th Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas