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Research about Michigan Basin

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Michigan Basin.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2015

Geologic assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the U.S. portion of the Michigan Basin

In 2004, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the U.S. portion of the Michigan Basin. For this assessment, the Michigan Basin includes most of the State of Michigan, as well as parts of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The assessment was based on the geologic elements of each of the six total petroleum systems defined in the basin, including (1) hydrocarbon source rocks (source-rock maturation and hydrocarbon generation and migration), (2) reservoir rocks (sequence stratigraphy and petrophysical properties), and (3) hydrocarbon traps (trap formation and timing). Using this geologic framework, the USGS estimated mean technically recoverable undiscovered continuous and conventional resources that total 990 million barrels of oil, 11.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 219 million barrels of natural gas liquids. Digital Data Series 69-T (DDS-69-T) is cataloged in the Pubs Warehouse as Data Series 69-T (DS-69-T).

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisc↗
USGS1998

Hydrogeologic framework of the Michigan Basin regional aquifer system

Mississippian and younger geologic units form a regional system of aquifers and confining units in the central Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The area of the regional aquifer system is about 22,000 square miles. The aquifer system consists of three bedrock aquifers, which are separated by confining units. Bedrock aquifers and confining units are overlain by surficial glaciofluvial aquifers, which are complexly intercalated with confining beds composed of glacial till and fine-grained lacustrine deposits. Geophysical and geologic logs were used to characterize the hydrogeologic framework of this regional aquifer system and to delineate and map boundaries of aquifers and confining units. Geophysical logs and water-quality data were used to delineate the base of freshwater within the aquifer system and to determine geologic controls on the distribution of freshwater in the aquifer-system units. Pleistocene glaciofluvial deposits are the largest reservoir of fresh ground water in the mapped region, and the thickness of this aquifer unit exceeds 900 feet in some areas. The Saginaw aquifer, the composite of sandstones of Pennsylvanian age, typically ranges in thickness from 100 to 350 feet in areas where this unit is used for water supply. In the western part of the aquifer system, the Saginaw aquifer is separated from glacial deposits by 100 to 150 feet of Jurassic "red beds." "Red beds" are a confining unit, and the Saginaw aquifer contains saline water where it is overlain by these deposits. The Saginaw confining unit, which is principally shale, separates the Saginaw aquifer from the underlying Parma-Bayport aquifer. Thickness of the Saginaw confining unit is about 50 feet in the eastern and the southern parts of the aquifer system, about 100 feet in the north, and 100 to 250 feet in the west. The Parma-Bayport aquifer, which consists mostly of permeable sandstones and carbonates, is 100 to 150 feet thick in most areas. The ParmaBayport aquifer contains freshwater only in subcrop areas where it is in direct hydraulic connection with glacial deposits. Dissolved-solids concentration of ground water increases down regional dip in the ParmaBayport aquifer, and saline water or brine is present in this aquifer where it is overlain by the Saginaw confining unit. The Michigan confining unit, which is about 300 to 400 feet thick in most of the area mapped, is primarily interbedded shale, carbonate, and evaporite. This confining unit overlies the Marshall aquifer, which consists of one or more stratigraphically continuous sandstones of Mississippian age. Composite thickness of blanket sandstones that form the Marshall aquifer is typically 75 to 200 feet. Freshwater is present in the Marshall aquifer only in areas where it is a subcrop beneath glacial deposits. Dissolved-solids concentration of ground water in the Marshall aquifer increases down regional dip, and saline water or brine is present in this unit where it underlies beds of the Michigan confining unit. The Mississippian Coldwater Shale forms the base of the regional aquifer system. Relief on the base of freshwater is about 600 feet. Altitudes of the base of freshwater are low (200 to 400 feet) along a 30- to 45-mile-wide north-south-trending corridor near the center of the aquifer system. The trend of this corridor corresponds to an area where thickness of the Saginaw aquifer ranges from 100 to 370 feet. In isolated areas in the northern and the western parts of the aquifer system, the altitude of the base of freshwater is below 400 feet; however, the altitude is above 400 feet in most of the mapped area. In the southern and the northern parts of the aquifer system, where the Saginaw aquifer is thin or absent, altitudes of the base of freshwater range from 700 to 800 feet and from 500 to 700 feet, respectively. Geologic controls on the distribution of freshwater in the regional aquifer system are (1) direct hydraulic connection between sandstone aquifers and freshwater-bearing, permeable glacial deposits; (2) impedance of upward discharge of saline water from sandstones by lodgment tills with very low permeability; (3) impedance of recharge of freshwater to bedrock (or discharge of saline water from bedrock) by very low permeability Jurassic "red beds"; and (4) the presence of units characterized by very low vertical-hydraulic-conductivity, which are within and between sandstone units.

Michigan↗
USGS1991

Upper Devonian biostratigraphy of Michigan Basin

The Late Devonian Michigan Basin was floored by the Middle and Upper Devonian Squaw Bay Limestone, which was deposited during the downwarping that produced the basin within a former Middle Devonian carbonate platform. The Squaw Bay comprises three beds, each having a different conodont fauna. The two upper beds, deposited during the transitans Zone, have different conodont biofacies that reflect this deepening. The basin was largely filled by the deep-water, anaerobic to dysaerobic, organic-rich, black Antrim Shale, which has a facies relationship with the prodeltaic, greenish gray Ellsworth Shale that prograded into the basin from the west. The Upper Devonian (Frasnian to Famennian) Antrim Shale is divided into four members, from base to top: the Norwood, Paxton, Lachine, and upper members. These members are more or less precisely dated by conodonts. The Norwood was deposited during the transitans Zone to Ancyrognathus triangularis Zone, and the Paxton was deposited from that zone probably through the linguiformis Zone at the end of the Frasnian. The overlying Lachine was deposited during the early Famennian and has yielded faunas of the Upper crepida and Lower rhomboidea Zones. Only the lower part of the upper member is exposed, and near Norwood, Michigan, it yielded conodonts of the Lower marginifera Zone. The widespread Famennian floating plant Protosalvinia (Foerstia) has not yet been found in outcrops of the Antrim, and should not be expected to occur except in the upper member or highest part of the Lachine Member. Its range in terms of conodont zones is from the Upper trachytera Zone through the Lower expansa Zone and possibly into the Middle expansa Zone. One known subsurface occurrence might be datable as rhomboidea or Lower marginifera Zone, depending on gamma ray correlations to outcrops. Black shale deposition ended when the Late Devonian mud delta of the Bedford Shale prograded across the Michigan Basin from the east and then retreated as the regressive Berea Sandstone was being deposited during the major eustatic sea-level fall that ended the Devonian. The Bedford was deposited during the Upper expansa to Lower praesulcata Zones, and the Berea was deposited during the Middle to Upper praesulcata Zones. Both formations contain the spore Retispora lepidophyta, which is a global indicator of latest Devonian age.

Michigan↗