Geological Characterization of the Woodford Shale in Kingfisher County, Northern Oklahoma

Abstract

The Woodford Shale represents one of the main reservoirs in the Mid Continent U.S.A. In recent years, the well-known STACK (Sooner trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher County) play started to generate a high amount of interest due to its potential reserves.

The Woodford Shale in the study area is characterized by variable thickness that can be related to the subaerial erosion surface (unconformity) at the top of the shallow water carbonate platform deposit of the underlying Hunton Group before deposition of the Woodford Shale. The typical paleo-surface is represented by karsted minibasins (sinkholes) and incised valleys. A well-developed complete section of Woodford deposits in this setting show the transition from a deeper, anoxic, and organic rich environment to a shallower, thinner, and less organic interval going from the northeast towards the southwest. By considering the organic (Rock Eval Parameters); inorganic parameters (X-ray Fluorescence and X-Ray Diffraction) and the sequence stratigraphy of The Woodford Shale, a preliminary geological characterization in Kingfisher county was generated using its mineralogical proxies and organic content as a main objective to understand its depositional history and its relationship with hydrocarbon potential.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90292 © 2017 AAPG Southwest Section, Midland, Texas, April 29 - May 2, 2017