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...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.展开更多
The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flour...The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flourished respectively. According to the international correlation this paper proposes the third Ordovician conodont faunal region—Qinling Faunal Region, in which cold-water conodont faunas were well developed in the Early to middle Middle Ordovician and warm-water conodont faunas were well developed in the late Middle and Late Ordovician, indicating that the Qinling Region was situated in high latitudes earlier and in low latitudes later. The origin was only due to plate movement. In the Qinling Region the time interval of the change of the conodont fauna from the cold- to warm-water type was 4 Ma (from 474 to 470 Ma), during which the fauna geographically spanned 40° of latitudes, with a movement velocity of nearly 1.12 m/a, indicating that the high-latitude plates were divorced and reduced in the late Middle Ordovician, while the low-latitude plates were converged and accreted. According to the features of the conodont faunas, the Qinling Faunal Region can be divided into the North Tarim, Wudang, Scandic and Pingliang provinces.展开更多
文摘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.
文摘The Ordovician conodont faunal provinces were previously divided into the Midcontinent and Atlantic Faunal Regions situated respectively in low and high latitudes, where warm- and cold-water type conodont faunas flourished respectively. According to the international correlation this paper proposes the third Ordovician conodont faunal region—Qinling Faunal Region, in which cold-water conodont faunas were well developed in the Early to middle Middle Ordovician and warm-water conodont faunas were well developed in the late Middle and Late Ordovician, indicating that the Qinling Region was situated in high latitudes earlier and in low latitudes later. The origin was only due to plate movement. In the Qinling Region the time interval of the change of the conodont fauna from the cold- to warm-water type was 4 Ma (from 474 to 470 Ma), during which the fauna geographically spanned 40° of latitudes, with a movement velocity of nearly 1.12 m/a, indicating that the high-latitude plates were divorced and reduced in the late Middle Ordovician, while the low-latitude plates were converged and accreted. According to the features of the conodont faunas, the Qinling Faunal Region can be divided into the North Tarim, Wudang, Scandic and Pingliang provinces.