--> Abstract: Hydrocarbon Potential of the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Northern New York: A Frontier Basin Investigation, by D. A. Billman and J. P. Fagan; #90930 (1998).

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Abstract: Hydrocarbon Potential of the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Northern New York: A Frontier Basin Investigation

BILLMAN, D. A.
Geologic Consultant, Mars, PA
and J. P. FAGAN
Pearson, deRidder and Johnson, Inc., Lakewood, CO

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) commissioned a research project to delineate the oil and natural gas potential of the St. Lawrence Lowlands of St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton Counties, New York.

The St. Lawrence lowlands is that part of the Appalachian Basin north of the Adirondack Mountains and south of the St. Lawrence River. The study area is predominantly comprised of 1) the basal, transgressive Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone, 2) the Theresa Formation, predominately a sandy dolomite, and 3) the Lower Ordovician Ogdensburg member of the Beekmantown. The area is structurally complex; Middle to Late Cambrian extension tectonics was overprinted by collision tectonics and thrusting which, in turn, was overprinted by the Adirondack Uplift.

Only one known well has been drilled in the study area, the Morrisonville well drilled outside of Plattsburgh, New York. A "trifling amount of oil" was reported from one bed of the Potsdam. A more optimistic example of hydrocarbon potential is St. Haven Field in Quebec, which has produced 5.7 BCFG from two Beekmantown wells.

To aid in the analysis of such a large area, the study utilized an existing high-resolution aeromagnetic survey. 5,115 line mi of highquality, public domain magnetics were acquired for one component of this project. A series of alternating magnetic highs and lows paralleling the St. Lawrence River may be indicative of basement horsts and grabens that control depositional patterns, sediment thickness, and hydrocarbon potential of the Cambro-Ordovician section which produces prolifically in southern Quebec.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90930©1998 AAPG Eastern Section, Columbus, Ohio