Suzanne Weedman | Geology Reports

USGS2001

Energy Resources Program of the U.S. Geological Survey

Our Nation faces the simultaneous challenges of increasing demand for energy, declining domestic production from existing oil and gas fields, and increasing expectations for environmental protection. The Energy Information Administration (2000) forecasts that worldwide energy consumption will increase 32 percent between 1999 and 2020 because of growth of the world economy. Forecasts indicate that in the same time period, U.S. natural gas consumption will increase 62 percent, petroleum consumption will increase 33 percent, and coal consumption will increase 22 percent. The U.S. Geological Survey provides the objective scientific information our society needs for sound decisions regarding land management, environmental quality, and economic, energy, and strategic policy.

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USGS1996

Diagenesis, compaction, and fluid chemistry modeling of a sandstone near a pressure seal: Lower Tuscaloosa Formation, Gulf Coast

Petrographic, isotopic, and fluid-inclusion evidence from normally and overpressured sand-stones of the lower Tuscaloosa Formation (Upper Cretaceous) in the Gulf Coast documents quartz-overgrowth precipitation at 90°C or less, calcite cement precipitation at approximately 100° and 135°C, and prismatic quartz cement precipitation at about 125°C. Textural evidence suggests that carbonate cement dissolution occurred before the second phases of calcite and quartz precipitation, and was followed by precipitation of grain-rimming chlorite and pore-filling kaolinite. Geochemical calculations demonstrate that present-day lower Tuscaloosa Formation water from 5500 m depth could either dissolve or precipitate calcite cements in model simulations of upward water low. Calcite dissolution or precipitation depends on P CO2 variability with depth (i.e., whether there is one or two-phase flow) or on the rate of generation of CO 2 with depth. Calculations suggest that 10 5 -10 6 rock volumes of water are required to flow through the section to precipitate 1-10% calcite cement. Compaction analysis suggests that late-stage compaction occurred in normally pressured sandstones after dissolution of carbonate cements, but was hindered in overpressured sandstones despite the presence of high porosity. These results document the inhibition of compaction by overpressured fluids and constrain the timing of pressure seal formation. Modeling results demonstrate that the proposed paragenesis used to constrain timing of pressure seal formation is feasible, and that most of the cement diagenesis occurred before the pressure seal became effective as a permeability barrier.

Louisiana↗