Geology topics
David W. Houseknecht
Publications and source records attributed to David W. Houseknecht.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the West Greenland-East Canada Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal effort. The West Greenland-East Canada Province is essentially the offshore area between west Greenland and east Canada and includes Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Nares Strait west of and including Kane Basin. The tectonic evolution of the West Greenland-East Canada Province led to the formation of several major structural domains that are the geologic basis for the five assessment units (AU) defined in this study. The five AUs encompass the entire province. Each AU was assessed in its entirety for undiscovered, technically recoverable (assuming absence of sea ice) oil and gas resources, but the assessment results reported here are only for those portions of each AU that are north of the Arctic Circle, as that latitude defines the area of the Circum-Arctic oil and gas assessment.
Circum-Arctic resource appraisal: Estimates of undiscovered oil and gas north of the Arctic Circle
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has completed an assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in all areas north of the Arctic Circle. Using a geology-based probabilistic methodology, the USGS estimated the occurrence of undiscovered oil and gas in 33 geologic provinces thought to be prospective for petroleum. The sum of the mean estimates for each province indicates that 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids may remain to be found in the Arctic, of which approximately 84 percent is expected to occur in offshore areas.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Timan-Pechora Basin Province, Russia, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the Timan-Pechora Basin Province in Russia as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal program. Geologically, the Timan-Pechora Basin Province is a triangular-shaped cratonic block bounded by the northeast-southwest trending Ural Mountains and the northwest-southeast trending Timan Ridge. The northern boundary is shared with the South Barents Sea Province (fig.1). The Timan-Pechora Basin Province has a long history of oil and gas exploration and production. The first field was discovered in 1930 and, after 75 years of exploration, more than 230 fields have been discovered and more than 5,400 wells have been drilled. This has resulted in the discovery of more than 16 billion barrels of oil and 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Siberian Basin Province, Russia, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the West Siberian Basin Province in Russia as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal program. This province is the largest petroleum basin in the world and has an areal extent of about 2.2 million square kilometers. It is a large rift-sag feature bounded to the west by the Ural fold belt, to the north by the Novaya Zemlya fold belt and North Siberian Sill, to the south by the Turgay Depression and Altay-Sayan fold belt, and to the east by the Yenisey Ridge, Turukhan-Igarka uplift, Yenisey-Khatanga Basin, and Taimyr High. The West Siberian Basin Province has a total discovered oil and gas volume of more than 360 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Ulmishek, 2000). Exploration has led to the discovery of tens of giant oil and gas fields, including the Urengoy gas field with more than 3500 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and Samotlar oil field with reserves of nearly 28 billion barrels of oil (Ulmishek, 2003). This report summarizes the results of a reassessment of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of that part of the province north of the Arctic Circle; a previous assessment that included the entire province was completed in 2000 (Ulmishek, 2000). The total petroleum system (TPS) and assessment units (AU) defined by the USGS for the assessments in 2000 were adopted for this assessment. However, only those parts of the Aus lying wholly or partially north of the Arctic Circle were assessed for this study.
Assessment of gas hydrate resources on the North Slope, Alaska, 2008
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed the first assessment of the undiscovered technically recoverable gas-hydrate resources on the North Slope of Alaska. Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the USGS estimates that there are about 85 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrates in northern Alaska.
Geologic map of the Point Lay quadrangle, Alaska
This map is a product of the USGS Digital Geologic Maps of Northern Alaska project, which captures in digital format quadrangles across the entire width of northern Alaska. Sources include geologic maps previously published in hardcopy format and recent updates and revisions based on field mapping by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Division of Oil and Gas, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Individual quadrangles are digitized at either 1:125,000 or 1:250,000 depending on the resolution of source maps. The project objective is to produce a set of digital geologic maps with uniform stratigraphic nomenclature and structural annotation, and publish those maps electronically. The paper version of this map is available for purchase from the USGS Store.
Geologic model for oil and gas assessment of the Kemik-Thomson Play, central North Slope, Alaska
A geologic model was developed to assess undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Kemik-Thomson Play of the Central North Slope, Alaska. In this model, regional erosion during the Early Cretaceous produced an incised valley system on the flanks and crest of the Mikkelsen High and formed the Lower Cretaceous unconformity. Locally derived, coarse-grained siliciclastic and carbonate detritus from eroded Franklinian-age basement rocks, Carboniferous Kekiktuk Conglomerate (of the Endicott Group), Lisburne Group, and Permian-Triassic Sadlerochit Group may have accumulated in the incised valleys during lowstand and transgression, forming potential reservoirs in the Lower Cretaceous Kemik Sandstone and Thomson sandstone (informal term). Continued transgression resulted in the deposition of the mudstones of the over-lying Cretaceous pebble shale unit and Hue Shale, which form top seals to the potential reservoirs. Petroleum from thermally mature facies of the Triassic Shublik Formation, Jurassic Kingak Shale, Hue Shale (and pebble shale unit), and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Canning Formation might have charged Thomson and Kemik sandstone reservoirs in this play during the Tertiary. The success of this play depends largely upon the presence of reservoir-quality units in the Kemik Sandstone and Thomson sandstone.
Estimating the amount of eroded section in a partially exhumed basin from geophysical well logs: An example from the North Slope
The reconstruction of burial and thermal histories of partially exhumed basins requires an estimation of the amount of erosion that has occurred since the time of maximum burial. We have developed a method for estimating eroded thickness by using porosity-depth trends derived from borehole sonic logs of wells in the Colville Basin of northern Alaska. Porosity-depth functions defined from sonic-porosity logs in wells drilled in minimally eroded parts of the basin provide a baseline for comparison with the porosity-depth trends observed in other wells across the basin. Calculated porosities, based on porosity-depth functions, were fitted to the observed data in each well by varying the amount of section assumed to have been eroded from the top of the sedimentary column. The result is an estimate of denudation at the wellsite since the time of maximum sediment accumulation. Alternative methods of estimating exhumation include fission-track analysis and projection of trendlines through vitrinite-reflectance profiles. In the Colville Basin, the methodology described here provides results generally similar to those from fission-track analysis and vitrinite-reflectance profiles, but with greatly improved spatial resolution relative to the published fission-track data and with improved reliability relative to the vitrinite-reflectance data. In addition, the exhumation estimates derived from sonic-porosity logs are independent of the thermal evolution of the basin, allowing these estimates to be used as independent variables in thermal-history modeling.
Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Fortress Mountain and Torok Formations exposed along the Siksikpuk River, North-Central Alaska
An exposure of the Lower Cretaceous Fortress Mountain and Torok Formations along the Siksikpuk River in north-central Alaska provides a rare opportunity to observe the stratigraphic contact between these two formations and to interpret the depositional facies and sequence stratigraphy of the exposed strata. The Fortress Mountain Formation at the base of the measured section includes braided-fluvial and coastal-plain facies deposited in a lowstand-systems tract, and an overlying succession of mostly shallow marine facies deposited in the basal part of a transgressive-systems tract. The overlying Torok Formation includes a thick, upward-deepening succession of marine-shelf to marine-slope facies deposited in the upper part of the transgressive-systems tract. The upper part of the section includes marine-slope and incised-slope-channel turbidite deposits of the Torok Formation, interpreted as a highstand-systems tract. Consideration of the balance between accommodation and sediment flux inferred from the sequence-stratigraphic analysis suggests that both tectonics and eustasy may have influenced deposition of the lowstand-systems and transgressive-systems tracts. In contrast, the highstand-systems tract may have been primarily influenced by progradation of a regional sediment-dispersal system and by subsidence induced by sediment loading.
Stratigraphy and facies of Cretaceous Schrader Bluff and Prince Creek Formations in Colville River Bluffs, North Slope, Alaska
Stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies of facies of the Upper Cretaceous rocks along the Colville River Bluffs in the west-central North Slope of Alaska identified barrier shoreface deposits consisting of vertically stacked, coarsening-upward parasequences in the Schrader Bluff Formation. This vertical stack of parasequence deposits represents progradational sequences that were affected by shoaling and deepening cycles caused by fluctuations of sea level. Further, the vertical stack may have served to stabilize accumulation of voluminous coal deposits in the Prince Creek Formation, which formed braided, high-sinuosity meandering, anastomosed, and low-sinuosity meandering fluvial channels and related flood plain deposits. The erosional contact at the top of the uppermost coarsening-upward sequence, however, suggests a significant drop of base level (relative sea level) that permitted a semiregional subaerial unconformity to develop at the contact between the Schrader Bluff and Prince Creek Formations. This drop of relative sea level may have been followed by a relative sea-level rise to accommodate coal deposition directly above the unconformity. This rise was followed by a second drop of relative sea level, with formation of incised valley topography as much as 75 ft deep and an equivalent surface of a major marine erosion or mass wasting, or both, either of which can be traced from the Colville River Bluffs basinward to the subsurface in the west-central North Slope. The Prince Creek fluvial deposits represent late Campanian to late Maastrichtian depositional environments that were affected by these base level changes influenced by tectonism, basin subsidence, and sea-level fluctuations.
Color shaded-relief and surface-classification maps of the Fish Creek Area, Harrison Bay Quadrangle, Northern Alaska
The northeastern part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) has become an area of active petroleum exploration during the past five years. Recent leasing and exploration drilling in the NPRA requires the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to manage and monitor a variety of surface activities that include seismic surveying, exploration drilling, oil-field development drilling, construction of oil-production facilities, and construction of pipelines and access roads. BLM evaluates a variety of permit applications, environmental impact studies, and other documents that require rapid compilation and analysis of data pertaining to surface and subsurface geology, hydrology, and biology. In addition, BLM must monitor these activities and assess their impacts on the natural environment. Timely and accurate completion of these land-management tasks requires elevation, hydrologic, geologic, petroleum-activity, and cadastral data, all integrated in digital formats at a higher resolution than is currently available in nondigital (paper) formats. To support these land-management tasks, a series of maps was generated from remotely sensed data in an area of high petroleum-industry activity (fig. 1). The maps cover an area from approximately latitude 70°00' N. to 70°30' N. and from longitude 151°00' W. to 153°10' W. The area includes the Alpine oil field in the east, the Husky Inigok exploration well (site of a landing strip) in the west, many of the exploration wells drilled in NPRA since 2000, and the route of a proposed pipeline to carry oil from discovery wells in NPRA to the Alpine oil field. This map area is referred to as the "Fish Creek area" after a creek that flows through the region. The map series includes (1) a color shaded-relief map based on 5-m-resolution data (sheet 1), (2) a surface-classification map based on 30-m-resolution data (sheet 2), and (3) a 5-m-resolution shaded relief-surface classification map that combines the shaded-relief and surface-classification data (sheet 3). Remote sensing datasets that were used to compile the maps include Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper+ (ETM+), and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) data. In addition, a 1:250,000-scale geologic map of the Harrison Bay quadrangle, Alaska (Carter and Galloway, 1985, 2005) was used in conjunction with ETM+ and IFSAR data.
Assessment of coalbed gas resources in Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks on the North Slope, Alaska, 2006
The North Slope of Alaska is a vast area of land north of the Brooks Range, extending from the Chukchi Sea eastward to the Canadian border. This Arctic region is known to contain extensive coal deposits; hypothetical coal resource estimates indicate that nearly 4 trillion short tons of coal are in Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks. Because of the large volume of coal, other studies have indicated that this region might also have potential for significant coalbed gas resources. The present study represents the first detailed assessment of undiscovered coalbed gas resources beneath the North Slope by the USGS. The assessment is based on the total petroleum system (TPS) concept. Geologic elements within a TPS relate to hydrocarbon source rocks (maturity, hydrocarbon generation, migration), the characteristics of reservoir rocks, and trap and seal formation. In the case of coalbed gas, the coal beds serve as both source rock and reservoir. The Brookian Coalbed Gas Composite TPS includes coal-bearing rocks in Cretaceous and Tertiary strata underlying the North Slope and adjacent Alaska State waters. Assessment units (AUs) within the TPS (from oldest to youngest) include the Nanushuk Formation Coalbed Gas AU, the Prince Creek and Tuluvak Formations Coalbed Gas AU, and the Sagavanirktok Formation Coalbed Gas AU.
Potential tight gas resources in a frontier province - Jurassic through Tertiary strata beneath the Brooks Range foothills, Arctic Alaska
Beneath the foothills of the Brooks Range, rocks of the Lower Cretaceous-Tertiary Brookian and Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Beaufortian megasequences have been deeply buried and exhumed, and now exhibit characteristics of 'tight gas sandstones'. The data recovered from drilling, well tests, and cores exhibit the potential for substantial gas reserves over a large area. These data include recovery of gas from drillstem tests, indications of overpressure from well tests and mud weights, low porosity and permeability in sandstones, and vitrinite reflectance values ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 percent throughout substantial depth intervals.
Oil and gas resources of the Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province
The Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province, encompassing all the lands and adjacent Continental Shelf areas north of the Brooks Range-Herald arch, is one of the most petroleum-productive areas in the United States, having produced about 15 billion bbl of oil. Seven unitized oil fields currently contribute to production, and three additional oil fields have been unitized but are not yet producing. Most known petroleum accumulations involve structural or combination structural-stratigraphic traps related to closure along the Barrow arch, a regional basement high, which has focused regional hydrocarbon migration since Early Cretaceous time. Several oil accumulations in stratigraphic traps have been developed in recent years. In addition to three small gas fields producing for local consumption, more than 20 additional oil and gas discoveries remain undeveloped. This geologically complex region includes prospective strata within passive-margin, rift, and foreland-basin sequences. Oil and gas were generated from multiple source rocks throughout the region. Although some reservoired oils appear to be derived from a single source rock, evidence for significant mixing of hydrocarbons from multiple source rocks indicates a composite petroleum system. Both extensional and contractional tectonic structures provide ample exploration targets, and recent emphasis on stratigraphic traps has demonstrated a significant resource potential in shelf and turbidite sequences of Jurassic through Tertiary age. Recent estimates of the total mean volume of undiscovered resources in the Arctic Alaska Petroleum Province by the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Minerals Management Service are more than 50 billion bbl of oil and natural-gas liquids and 227 trillion ft3 of gas, distributed approximately equally between Federal offshore and combined onshore and State offshore areas.
Geologic map of the Lookout Ridge quadrangle, Alaska
This map is a product of the USGS Digital Geologic Maps of Northern Alaska project, which captures in digital format quadrangles across the entire width of northern Alaska. Sources include geologic maps previously published in hardcopy format and recent updates and revisions based on field mapping by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Division of Oil and Gas, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Individual quadrangles are digitized at either 1:125,000 or 1:250,000 depending on the resolution of source maps. The project objective is to produce a set of digital geologic maps with uniform stratigraphic nomenclature and structural annotation, and publish those maps electronically. The paper version of this map is available for purchase from the USGS Store.
Geologic map of the Utukok River quadrangle, Alaska
This map is a product of the USGS Digital Geologic Maps of Northern Alaska project, which captures in digital format quadrangles across the entire width of northern Alaska. Sources include geologic maps previously published in hardcopy format and recent updates and revisions based on field mapping by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and Division of Oil and Gas, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Individual quadrangles are digitized at either 1:125,000 or 1:250,000 depending on the resolution of source maps. The project objective is to produce a set of digital geologic maps with uniform stratigraphic nomenclature and structural annotation, and publish those maps electronically.