Subsurface Facies Analysis of the Late Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone in Western Ohio (Midcontinent North America)

The Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone (MSS) is a possible unconventional gas reservoir in the Illinois, Michigan, and Appalachian Basins, but comparatively little is known about the unit. This study used core and well logs from two deep exploratory wells to interpret the depositional environment of the MSS under western Ohio, where the MSS is about 120 m thick and found 1060 m below ground surface. In western Ohio, the MSS unconformably overlies the Precambrian Middle Run Formation, is conformably overlain by the Cambrian Eau Claire Formation, and has a distinctive gamma-ray log-signature. In well DGS-2627, the MSS consists of tan, friable, moderately sorted, rounded, coarse- to very coarse-grained siliceous quartz arenite with minor heterolithic sandstone-mudstone couplets (rhythmites) and quartz granule conglomerate. Features indicative of tidally-influenced, shallow marine settings include tidal rhythmites, lenticular-, flaser-, and wavy-bedding, herringbone cross-bedding, mud-drapes, tidal bundles, reactivation surfaces, intraclasts, and bioturbation. The unit generally coarsens- and thickens-upward, and is interpreted as migration of a tidally-influenced transgressive barrier sequence. A subsurface facies model for the MSS is developed by interpreting geophysical logs and cores from DGS-2627l, and this model is semi-quantitatively tested by first interpreting well BP-4 using geophysical logs alone, then confirming the results using core.

[1]  J. Collinson.  The sedimentology of the Grindslow shales and the Kinderscout grit; a deltaic complex in the Namurian of northern England , 1969 .

[2]  Book Review: Current Ripples. J. R. L. ALLEN, North Holland, Amsterdam, 1968, 447 pp., 445 figs., Dfl. 108.00 , 1970 .

[3]  A. Janssens.  Stratigraphy of the Cambrian and Lower Ordovician rocks in Ohio , 1973 .

[4]  P. C. Selley.  Subsurface Facies Analysis , 1976 .

[5]  Diagenesis of the Mt. Simon and Rose Run Sandstones in Western West Virginia and Southern Ohio , 1977 .

[6]  W. Dickinson,et al.  Plate tectonics and sandstone compositions , 1979 .

[7]  M. Visser.  Neap-spring cycles reflected in Holocene subtidal large-scale bedform deposits: A preliminary note , 1980 .

[8]  T. V. Weering,et al.  Holocene marine sedimentation in the North Sea basin , 1981 .

[9]  Robert H. Dott,et al.  Tidal Deposition in the Basal Upper Cambrian Mt. Simon Formation in Wisconsin , 1981 .

[10]  R. Dalrymple.  Morphology and internal structure of sandwaves in the Bay of Fundy , 1984 .

[11]  W. Nemec,et al.  Alluvial and Coastal Conglomerates: Their Significant Features and Some Comments on Gravelly Mass-Flow Deposits , 1984 .

[12]  R. Tye,et al.  Recognition and characterization of Holocene tidal inlet sequences , 1985 .

[13]  J. Demarest,et al.  Stratigraphic Record of Quaternary Sea Levels: Implications for More Ancient Strata , 1987 .

[14]  R. Stevens,et al.  Evolution of a Lower Paleozoic continental margin carbonate platform, northern Canadian Appalachians , 1987 .

[15]  J. Lucius,et al.  Aeromagnetic and gravity anomaly constraints on the crustal geology of Ohio , 1988 .

[16]  J. T. Cottingham.  Cambrian-Early Ordovician Sequence Stratigraphy and Mount Simon Sandstone Petrology-Michigan Basin , 1990 .

[17]  Douglas L. Shrake.  Lithologic and geophysical description of a continuously cored hole in Warren County, Ohio: including description of the middle run formation (Precambrian?) and a seismic profile across the core site , 1990 .

[18]  E. Kvale,et al.  Characteristics of Two, Pennsylvanian-Age, Semidiurnal Tidal Deposits in the Illinois Basin, U.S.A. , 1991 .

[19]  G. E. Reinson,et al.  Transgressive barrier island and estuarine systems , 1992 .

[20]  R. Walker.  Wave-and storm-dominated shallow marine systems. , 1992 .

[21]  L. Babcock.  Biostratigraphic significance and paleogeographic implications of Cambrian fossils from a deep core, Warren County, Ohio , 1994, Journal of Paleontology.

[22]  A. W. Archer.  Modeling of cyclic tidal rhythmites based on a range of diurnal to semidiurnal tidal-station data , 1995 .

[23]  D. C. Harris,et al.  Cambrian pre-Knox Group play in the Appalachian Basin , 1997 .

[24]  T. Ehlers,et al.  Tidal Sedimentology and Estuarine Deposition of the Proterozoic Big Cottonwood Formation, Utah , 1999 .

[25]  T. Berg,et al.  STRUCTURE CONTOUR MAP ON THE PRECAMBRIAN UNCONFORMITY SURFACE IN OHIO AND RELATED BASEMENT FEATURES , 2002 .

[26]  J. Hagadorn,et al.  Stranded on a Late Cambrian shoreline: Medusae from central Wisconsin , 2002 .

[27]  Robert A. Crovelli,et al.  Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province, 2002 , 2003 .

[28]  A. G. Harris,et al.  Stratigraphic framework of Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in the central Appalachian Basin from Medina County, Ohio, through southwestern and south-central Pennsylvania to Hampshire County, West Virginia , 2003 .

[29]  Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Appalachian Basin Province, 2002 , 2003 .

[30]  Eric Croiset,et al.  CO2 sequestration in Ontario, Canada. Part I: storage evaluation of potential reservoirs , 2004 .

[31]  Joel Sminchak,et al.  Geologic storage of CO2 from refining and chemical facilities in the midwestern US , 2004 .

[32]  Ronald R. Charpentier,et al.  Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the U.S. portion of the Michigan Basin, 2004 , 2005 .

[33]  D. Cant.  Subsurface Facies Analysis , 2007 .

[34]  Allison R. Palmer,et al.  High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of lower Paleozoic sheet sandstones in central North America: The role of special conditions of cratonic interiors in development of stratal architecture , 2007 .

[35]  Christopher S. Swezey,et al.  Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Illinois Basin, 2007 , 2007 .

[36]  Roger G. Walker,et al.  Facies models : response to sea level change , 2008 .

[37]  C. Swezey.  Regional Stratigraphy and Petroleum Systems of the Michigan Basin, North America , 2008 .

[38]  M. Trippi,et al.  Geologic Cross Section E-E' through the Appalachian Basin from the Findlay Arch, Wood County, Ohio, to the Valley and Ridge Province, Pendleton County, West Virginia , 2008 .

[39]  J. Terwindt.  Origin and Sequences of Sedimentary Structures in Inshore Mesotidal Deposits of the North Sea , 2009 .

[40]  D. Long,et al.  The Early Cambrian Bradore Formation of Southeastern Labrador and adjacent parts of Quebec: Architecture and genesis of clastic strata on an early Paleozoic wave-swept shallow marine shelf , 2009 .

[41]  V. M. Brown,et al.  Unconformity-bounded seismic reflection sequences define Grenville-age rift system and foreland basins beneath the Phanerozoic in Ohio , 2009 .

[42]  B. Hart,et al.  Gravelly Shoreface and Beachface Deposits , 2009 .

[43]  D. D. Vleeschouwer,et al.  Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs , 2010 .

[44]  Subsurface facies analysis of the Late Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone in western Ohio (Midcontinent, U.S.A.) , 2012 .