Petrological Analysis of a Core Sample from the Granite Wash

Lukas Thompson

The Granite Wash is a tight sand formation located in the Anadarko Basin on the Northern face of the Wichita Mountains. This formation consists of a system of Pennsylvanian Age washes deposited in series of alluvial and deltaic fan systems that originated from the basement rocks uplifted during Ouachita Orogeny. It does not represent a homogenous package, but is the eroded remnants of the uplifted granite intermixed with deltaic marine sediments. The Granite Wash has been a hydrocarbon producing formation since the early 1900's, but due to the low porosity and permeability characteristics, its production remained sporadic until the recent technological advancements. With the advent of horizontal drilling and advances in seismic imaging, it has seen a renewed interest. The focus of this research is a petrologic analysis of a rock core, donated for graduate research, to determine mineralogical content and approximate porosity and permeability trends within the section. The expected results of the project are a detailed mineralogical analysis of the Granite Wash core via thin sections, and an approximation of the porosity and permeability range present within the core. These results will provide a qualitative summary of the mineral content and composition of the core. 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90176©AAPG Mid-Continent Meeting, Wichita, Kansas, October 12-15, 2013