Abstract: Depositional Dip-Oriented Cross-Section through the Lower Silurian "Clinton" Sands and Medina Group in Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania

KEIGHIN, C. W., and R. D. HETTINGER

A subsurface cross-section was constructed through the lower and middle Silurian Niagaran Provincial Series in Ohio and Pennsylvania to: a) illustrate the geometry of hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs, and b) determine if stratigraphic controls affect hydrocarbon accumulation. The 70-mile long cross-section utilized geophysical logs from 62 wells, and was constructed along a northwest-southeast depositional dip-oriented transect.

The study interval thins northwestward from about 380 feet in western Pennsylvania (Mercer County) to 235 feet in central Ohio (Lake County). The base of the interval overlies the Upper Ordovician Queenston Shale, and is defined by the 4- to 14-foot thick Whirlpool Sandstone/Medina sand which is interpreted as a fluvial dominated deposit. The overlying Cabot Head Shale is interpreted as a lower shoreface mudrock containing irregularly distributed upper shoreface sandstones. The Cabot Head is overlain by the Grimsby Formation (in Pennsylvania) and coeval deposits in the "Clinton" sands and upper Cabot Head Shale (in Ohio); this interval contains laterally discontinuous sandstone and mudrock that we interpret as deposits of fluvial and tidally influenced environments. The top of the study interval contains several offshore carbonates, such as the Dayton and Reynales limestones, separated by inner shelf mudrocks. The carbonate units coalesce to the northwest, and form a 15- to 20-foot thick unnamed limestone in Lake County, Ohio.

Facies dislocation interpreted along the transect may provide sequence stratigraphic interpretations for the "Clinton"/Medina interval in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. Perforated zones and initial production data are available from the wells, but additional work is necessary to relate stratigraphic relationships to production characteristics.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90939©1997 AAPG Eastern Section and TSOP, Lexington, Kentucky